The Masterpiece

     BOOK REVIEW:   A successful Los Angeles artist, Roman Valesco appears to have everything he could possibly want---money, women, fame. Only Grace Moore, his reluctant, newly-hired personal assistant, knows how little he truly has. The demons of Roman's past seem to echo through the halls of his empty mansion and out across his breathtaking Topanga Canyon view. But Grace doesn't know how her boss secretly wrestles with those demons: by tagging buildings as the Bird, a notorious but unidentified graffiti artist---an alter ego that could destroy his career and land him in prison. 
     Like Roman, Grace is wrestling with ghosts and secrets of her own. After a disastrous marriage threw her life completely off course, she vowed never to let love steal her dreams again. But as she gets to know the enigmatic man behind the reputation, it's as if the jagged pieces of both of their pasts slowly begin to fit together.....until something so unexpected happens that it changes the course of their relationship---and both of their lives---forever.


     MY REVIEW:   Francine Rivers is a favorite author of mine, and this book is just as exceptional as her others. But there is one let-down---Grace is divorced. And Roman's indecorous lifestyle is sometimes rather bluntly portrayed.  But for the book itself and it's message I give a high rating. The story is exceptionally well-done. Francine flips between past and present, of two different people, in no apparent chronological order. It takes a truly gifted author to succeed at that without confusing or exasperating the reader.
     If you do read this book, be sure to look in the very last pages, behind the author's notes, and discover the inspiration for the cover. We are only shown a fragment of the picture, and in the back of the book, you can see the whole thing.
     The fact that no sin is too large, nor sinner too evil, to be saved by God is very well-expressed in this book. As I neared the end, I didn't have a clue how on earth Francine was going to be able to make Roman "good" by the time she ran out of pages. But she found a way!! And not an unrealistic, fell-out-of-bed-on-the-right-side-and-never-sinned-again-and-sold-all-his-possessions-to-give to-the-poor-and-lived-a-saint-with-no-temptation-of-former-life way. But rather, a dramatic conversion, then help from a faithful pastor and friend.
     I will say, I wish Francine had included images of some of the graffiti mentioned. Some of it sounded really neat. I liked how she described both the paintings themselves, and the creation of them. She must have put in a lot of time researching all this!
     I really enjoyed this book, and read it through with no interruption. You don't have to struggle through deep theology, yet there is a message to be grasped, and you won't walk away wishing to regain those wasted hours.

  I received a copy of this book from TYNDALE PUBLISHERS and was not required to give a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.