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Title details for The Icon by Neil Olson - Available

The Icon

by Neil Olson
Eric Conger
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

When Matthew Spear, a young curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, meets the lovely Ana Kessler, an art dealer who has inherited an impressive group of pieces, he discovers a prize:the collection includes the Holy Mother of Katarini — a sacred icon long thought destroyed. But while Matthew recognizes the Icon's value as a work of art, he also discovers that it may carry a far greater significance.

Soon Matthew discovers that he has a strange and more personal connection to the Icon — one that thrusts him into a Byzantine web of death and deception. All involved believe the Icon to be a source of fantastic and inexplicable power, and all were somehow connected to the events that transpired during World War II. As he experiences the peculiar resonance of Icon, Matthew begins to see that the only way out of his entanglement is to discover what really happened in the past. Before he walks into the harrowing situation that will decide who lives and who dies, Matthew will be forced to re-examine virtually every aspect of his life — the loyalties within his family, his feelings for Ana, and even the question of his own faith.

In a stunning debut that spans more than half a century and two continents, The Icon asks us to reach into the very heart of all our questions about faith, power, and love.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 3, 2005

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780060796723
      • File size: 169401 KB
      • Duration: 05:52:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Olson's debut novel begins slowly and then picks up the pace dramatically. Clearly written with THE DA VINCI CODE in mind, the story concerns Nazis and Greeks and an icon known as the Holy Mother of Katarini, which allegedly contains pieces of the blood-stained robe of Jesus. Eric Conger's reading parallels the story. At first, the listener wonders at his vocal lassitude, but he comes alive as the plot intensifies. While the conclusion is predictable, the story is entertaining, and Conger's reading, particularly during the climax, makes for a satisfying, albeit uneven, novel. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 21, 2005
      Literary agent Olson (of the Donadio & Olson Literary Agency) moves to the other side of the desk with this gripping, intelligent first novel of art thievery, treachery and revenge. It's 1944, and a group of Greek partisans are hiding from the Germans near the village of Katarini. Their leader has put into play a scheme involving a German officer who wants to trade a cache of weapons that will be used to fight the Communists after the war for a painted icon known as the Holy Mother of Katarini. The plan goes awry, and the ancient Byzantine icon disappears, only to resurface 56 years later on the wall of a private chapel in the New York City home of a Swiss banker named Kessler. After Kessler dies, various parties—the Greek Orthodox Church, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an elderly Greek gangster and other mysterious characters—vie to acquire the icon, which is said to posses paranormal powers. Kessler's granddaughter Ana and young Matthew Spear, an assistant curator at the Met, are swept up in the tangled plots to buy or steal the icon. The story twists back and forth between wartime Greece and the present day as the history of the icon and the men who lust for it is gradually revealed. Only the violent and inevitable end brings understanding and a measure of peace to those under the icon's spell. Agent, Sloan Harris.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The Holy Mother of Katarini icon, believed to harbor supernatural healing powers and whose theft from a Greek village in 1944 resulted in mass executions and the burning of that village, is up for sale in contemporary New York City from the holdings of Herr Kessler, a shadowy collector recently deceased. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Greek Orthodox Church, a Greek hoodlum, and numerous nefarious characters vie for the icon. Though the narration spans continents and decades, Lewis Grenville remains sure-footed, guiding the listener slowly along a complex path of double and triple-crosses. He relies on subtle pacing, rather than unique voices, as the characters move through a maze of deceit. K.A.T. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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