Mystery Scene Review

The Painter of Battles by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Random House, January, 2008

In a remote and crumbling tower near the sea, a war photographer has retreated to paint a mural on its circular walls. Andrés Faulques does not consider himself a great artist, and the painting is a pastiche of his photographs, battle scenes from works of art, and his own memories organized with "the geometry of chaos." Yet it's his masterwork, summing-up of everything he's seen and learned in life.

His solitude is interrupted when a man from his past makes an unexpected appearance. Ivo Markovic announces calmly that he has come to kill the artist, but not until they've had a chance to talk things over. Over the next few days, we learn why the ex-soldier wants revenge, and what happened to the photographer who inspired Faulques' art, a woman who "wanted to place her fingers on the terrible pulse of life, even if she drew them away stained with blood."

Here translated from Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden, The Painter of Battles is a book that must be read at its own pace. It's dense, intense and rich with images and ideas. It's central mysteries are not who did it, or even what was done, but what we human beings do to one another and whether an artist's eye can capture our worst moments with truth and meaning. It's a meditation on art and violence, and as such, should interest anyone who appreciates what Chandler called "the simple art of murder."

- Barbara Fister

This review appeared in the Winter 2008 issue (#103) of the magazine