The Art Thief

By Michael Finkel

A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser’s strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.

This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.

Hardcover with dust sleeve, 5.75" x 8.5", 222 pages.