Wealthy, depraved and hugely gifted, Luigi Teramo likes to think of himself as a cross between a pagan fertility god and an evil wizard. Luigi has deliberately rejected his youthful talent for art in favour of making money, and of spending his fortune on young men and drugs. But he cannot bring himself to destroy the fruits of that rejected talent - his early paintings. And as the years pass, it starts to seem that those paintings possess a terrible power. A power that will cause Luigi's life to spin out of control, will destroy almost all who get close to him, and will end by involving him in blackmail, and murder. The Dark Paintings is both a thriller and a black comedy - entertaining, shocking and profoundly disturbing. 'A tinge of the supernatural, a titillating whiff of the perverse, and - topping it off - a compelling miasma of creepiness' - Books To Watch Out For