A review by tavibbbbb
Stealing the Show: A History of Art and Crime in Six Thefts by John Barelli

3.0

This book had a lot of potential - the author is a really interesting person and clearly has many unique life experiences worth sharing. However, I found myself disappointing in its execution. Somewhere in between true crime and memoir, the author attempts to be both in under 200 pages, giving brevity to what I considered more interesting anecdotes and spending pages noting less important figures. I honestly think that the main problem is the organization and the editing - this was co-written with Zachary Schisgal, an editor, so I attribute the main weaknesses of the book to his lack of a heavy-hand editing. That being said, Barelli certainly knows his stuff and has some great stories. If you approach the book like you're listening to your dad talk about his day at work (unnecessary details, a little bias, and questionable storytelling) rather than a professional art crime novel, you may like it - and it's pretty short if you do want to give it a whirl.