The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose (International Giveaway Included)

Synopsis From Back Cover: 

Haunted by his inability to stop the murder of a beautiful young painted twenty years ago, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work with the FBI's Art Crime Team.  Investigating a crazed collector who's begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation--dedicated to the science of past-life study.  There, to maintain his cover, he submits to the treatment of hypnosis.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world.  these journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him as the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: a fifteen-hundred-year-old sculpture the nation of Iran will do anything to recover.


I'm going to admit right now that I loved the beginning of this book.  It starts with such a violent act that I was a little stunned by the suddenness of it.  As I was reading it, I was struck by the randomness of the act.  It's only later that I found out the killing wasn't so random.

Despite how cool the beginning was, I almost gave up on this one within the first few chapters.  Lots of characters don't normally get annoying as quickly as they did this time out.  There were so many thrown at me so quickly, that I got annoyed rather suddenly.  I stuck with it though and by the end, while I can't say I was in love, I really enjoyed this one.  One thought I had about this was that it reminded me of watching a movie, one that quickly cuts back and forth between scenes in order to familiarize the audience with the players.  It's a technique I never think about when watching a movie, but tends to come across as too heavy in a book.

I loved the mix of art, history, mysticism, and mystery.  Outside of the occasional Dan Brown or Katherine Neville book, I'm not normally reading too much that combines them all.  I enjoy learning while I'm reading and this book allowed me to do that.  Art history is not something I have studied in the past or am likely to study anytime soon.  So I have to get the gleams of knowledge out of books like this.  The parts of this book that dealt with art and it's creation were my favorites.  Once the book got into the realms of hypnotism and reincarnation, subjects I'm unsure of myself, I stayed interested but never fully engaged.

There were some beautifully rendered scenes, when under hypnosis, Lucien is taken back to some of his past lives, lives that played a key role in his current case.  I found it to be a little too coincidental, but from what I understand of reincarnation, it makes sense.  Lucien, if the past lives are to be believed, is caught in a cycle that is forcing him to right the wrongs of his past and protect those who came back with him, something he failed to do earlier.  It's a fascinating subject that one of these days I'll study more and figure out my own beliefs on it.

As average as my feelings are for this book, I liked it but it didn't blow me away, I'm intrigued enough to think about reading the previous two books in the series.  It won't be something I run out and do, but if the opportunity presents itself, I will take it.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Books Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  You can visit the tour page for me detailed reviews, which I would encourage you to do.

Now for the giveaway!  (International at that!)

One lucky winner will be give the chance to read the book for themselves.  If you live in the US or Canada you will win a physical copy of the book mailed to you.  No PO Boxes will be accepted though.  Now if you live in any other country, you will win a pdf copy of it.  The giveaway will be open from 6/27/11 through 11:59 pm CST on 7/11/11.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment about the review and your email address.  You will not have to follow the blog to enter, but I hope you would do so anyway.  I will select 1 winner using random.org.  Once I have selected the winner, I will notify them by email.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond, if they do not, a new winner will be selected.  Good Luck!

Challenges: M&S