Thief of Light

When his top forgery artist is murdered, underworld art dealer Adrian Sellers is forced to flee for his life from an aggressive Japanese mob while confronting his heroin addiction and falling in love with a compassionate colleague. 125,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo. BOMC Alt. Tour.

Tension builds with the force and speed of a high-ticket auction in Ramus's gem of a first novel, as an art dealer's greed and a brutal murder spark a scavenger hunt through the back rooms of Manhattan's elite galleries in a frantic bid to evade Yakuza retribution. Narrator Adrian Sellars and his partner, Steven Ballard, are making enough to keep Adrian in heroin and Steve in the good life by selling admittedly forged Old Masters to Yakuza power thug Ryuichi Tanaka-until Adrian finds their master forger brutally murdered by thieves in his TriBeCa loft. Panicked, Adrian spills all (including a plan to return Tanaka's hefty deposit since the forger's death precludes delivery of a sham Monet) to his heroin supplier and lover, Marta Batista, which turns out to be a big, big mistake. The Yakuza, expecting fulfillment of a contract, force a meeting at which the partners present their case. But Tanaka insists on a Monet, threatens Adrian's family and kills Steven to emphasize the point. Adrian soon hits bottom and breaks down at the apartment of his assistant, Devon Berenson, who allows him to stay with her to withdraw from heroin in order to better deal with the crisis. Romance follows in short order, as do further complications and twists, until the swift action climbs to a brutal peak at an auction at Christie's and a nearby East Side townhouse. Despite a penchant for stock characters(the evil Marta, who's beautiful; the good Devon, who's not quite; the obviously villainous Yakuza) Ramus, himself a former heroin addict and art dealer, proves himself a wizard of a storyteller, presenting his action scenes with a sure hand while setting New York's glittery art scene against a realistically rendered cityscape. This is smart, savvy entertainment, a crime novel to savor. 125,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; BOMC alternate selection; simultaneous audio from HarperAudio; foreign rights sold in 13 countries; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Who is David Ramus and how did he sell this, his first novel (his first published writing of any kind), for $1 million? Ramus was a high-stakes art dealer during the volatile 1980s when art became as hip a commodity as junk bonds and narcotics. When the whole inflated scene self-destructed, Ramus was left in dire straits: his debts were enormous; he was the subject of a federal investigation; and he was addicted to heroin. These alarming experiences lie at the heart of his slick and readable tale of corruption, revenge, and redemption in the New York art world. Adrian Sellars is a brash young dealer with a lucrative scam, selling perfect forgeries of paintings by such masters as Monet. He earns enough money to run a seemingly legitimate and lavishly appointed gallery and to support his drug habit. Life is good until his forger is brutally murdered the night before he's scheduled to deliver a very important painting to Adrian for sale to a demanding Japanese businessman. The action takes off along typical thriller lines. There's a love interest and plenty of scheming, double-crossing, dumb luck, close calls, and gratuitous violence. True, Ramus does turn some nice phrases when he writes about painting, but aside from a touch of class and a likable enough hero, this is pretty standard fare. The publisher, however, believes otherwise and has planned a hefty first printing and an all-out publicity push, so there will be a demand. Donna Seaman