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Les bêtes sauvages de Wuhan (2012)

par Ian Hamilton

Séries: Ava Lee (3)

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1135239,663 (3.71)2
Wong Changxing, a rich Chinese powerbroker, has just been bilked out of $100 million in an elaborate art forgery con. His one hope of recovering the money, and of saving face, is Ava Lee--a forensic accountant with a talent for tracking down untraceable funds. With the help of her mentor, the Triad-connected Uncle, Ava traces the provenance of the meticulously forged paintings to Denmark, the Faroe Islands, New York, and London. As she infiltrates one of the most prestigious auction houses in the world, she uncovers a massive web of corruption, where high art and high-stakes fraud threaten more than just her client's business--this is one scam that could get her killed. Ava Lee is one of the most scintillating, unique heroines to come along in years.… (plus d'informations)
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5 sur 5
I happen to like this series about Ava Lee, a Canadian forensic accountant of Chinese descent. Her business partner (Uncle) and she visit with a successful businessman in Wuhan to find out that he and his primary wife (#2) have been duped into buying $75 million of forged Fauvist paintings. Ava is afraid of retribution but is cajoled by May (wife #2) to help. Following a thin trail that winds through Hong Kong, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, London, and NY, Ava is a world class sleuth and is forced to educate herself about the art world. The secondary characters in Hamilton's work are usually colorful and entertaining, but Ava's family and love life are tiring and repetitive. ( )
  skipstern | Jul 11, 2021 |
An influential businessman and his wife from Wuhan find out that some of their collection of Fauvist paintings are fakes. They ask Ava Lee to get their money back but since the gallery owner is dead and his records destroyed, where can she start?

I had no idea forensic accountants lived such exhausting lives criss-crossing the globe like this. Good, intriguing mystery and not quite as violent as usual. ( )
  Robertgreaves | May 24, 2019 |
This is my 4th in the Ava Lee series in less than one month. That tells you all you need to know about how compelling this series is. Ava Lee is like no forensic accountant you have ever met. She is the James Bond, Reacher and/or Lisbeth Salander (pick your favourite ruthless/relentless hero/heroine) of forensic accounting.

This time the case involves Ava chasing down the dealers and painters behind a forged collection of Fauvist (i.e. French name for the "Wild Beast" painters such as Matisse, Derain, etc. ) paintings sold to a billionaire art collector in Wuhan province in China. Ava is off to Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Dublin, London and New York and back as she pursues the scammers. But the collector and his 2nd wife have more in mind than just retrieving their money, putting Ava in a tight spot between her clients and her mentor/partner 'Uncle'.

If you are as late catching on to this series as I am then I envy you, because you have 7 thrill rides yet to experience (probably an 8th by the time you finish the 7th as, thankfully, author Ian Hamilton is quite prolific).

Bonus points for the introduction to Jóhanna av Steinum sweaters and to the Faroe Islands knitwear industry in general :D ( )
  alanteder | Oct 13, 2014 |
Ian Hamilton has envisioned his Ava Lee series as a multi-volume work. When he finishes writing one volume, he begins writing the next on the following day.

Ironically, the action in the second volume (The Disciple of Las Vegas) actually also picks up on the following day, immediately following the action of the first volume The Water Rat of Wanchai.

Here, Ian Hamilton begins writing the following day, but Ava has taken a two-month break from chasing bad debts.

The Wild Beasts of Wuhan opens when she is on a cruise with her family, having left her girlfriend, Maria, back in Toronto.

Tensions on the family front are as remarkable as the tensions were in Ava's last case; just as the reader is wondering if things will escalate to outright blows on the deck or in the next port-of-call, Uncle calls with another forensic accounting job for Ava.

Although the dynamics of the family situation are interesting (Ava's mother, Jennie, is her father's second wife, and he later took a third wife), how much readers respond to this aspect of the novel will depend on their investment in Ava as a character.

Of course, not all mystery readers are looking for substantial character development; although Ava Lee is a tantalizing invention in The Water Rat of Wanchai, there isn't a lot of development in the series' next two volumes.

Readers actually meet characters they've only heard of, or have only heard on the telephone (e.g. Uncle, Ava's business partner, in the second book, and Marcus, Ava's father, in the third book), but there is little dimension added as the pages turn.

Surprisingly, the same is true of Ava's character. There are glimpses of her sense of being abandoned by her father, and of her difficulty forming and sustaining lasting emotional relationships, but readers' relationships with Ava are necessarily distanced.

Just as the image of a woman's silhouette on the cover of each book is the same, Ava's profile (typically clad in either a Brooks Brothers shirt and tailored black pants or a Giordano black T-shirt and Adidas running pants) is largely static throughout the books. It's appropriate, in that sense, that what readers do know about Ava is largely reduced to external preferences and details.

But readers who seek a persistently-paced plot, who simply enjoy returning to a series for what Victor Watson describes as a "paradoxical search for familiarity combined with strangeness", will be happy to return to the land of Ava Lee.

Readers who enjoy travelling to a variety of destinations (Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the Faeroe Islands, Dublin, London, and New York in this volume), who want to run through the city parks with Ava, will be pleased with Ian Hamilton's works also.

Readers who enjoy shopping vicariously as much as they enjoy armchair travelling in their mystery reading: these readers likely will be satisfied too.

This volume has Ava seeking to recover funds invested in a series of paintings which have been proven to be forgeries long after the initial sales, and the glimpse into the art world is interesting indeed.

Ultimately, the readers who enjoyed the company of Ava Lee in the series' second volume, The Disciple of Las Vegas, as much as in the first, The Water Rat of Wanchai, will likely enjoy The Wild Beasts of Wuhan as much, if not more.

The first volume remains my favourite, but my interest was revived in the later pages of this third volume, given the way in which this case was -- and was not -- resolved.

(My longer response to this work is here, if you're still keen to read more.)
  buriedinprint | Aug 29, 2012 |
Quick read, best of the series to date. Ava Lee steps into the world of art forgery which takes her from Hong Kong to New York via the Faroe Islands. She does her usual forensic accountant detective work in support of clients that are less moral, and certainly less likable than the fraudulent artists and art dealers she is tracking. Along the way she shops, drinks at least eight cups of Starbucks Via instant coffee, beats up some Russian sailors and cheats on her girlfriend. Only the last of these actions helps to build a sense of a developing character, and it might not seem like much, but it helps to create a more interesting heroine, someone who isn't as perfect as the 5 star hotels she frequents. ( )
  amobogio | Feb 19, 2012 |
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Wong Changxing, a rich Chinese powerbroker, has just been bilked out of $100 million in an elaborate art forgery con. His one hope of recovering the money, and of saving face, is Ava Lee--a forensic accountant with a talent for tracking down untraceable funds. With the help of her mentor, the Triad-connected Uncle, Ava traces the provenance of the meticulously forged paintings to Denmark, the Faroe Islands, New York, and London. As she infiltrates one of the most prestigious auction houses in the world, she uncovers a massive web of corruption, where high art and high-stakes fraud threaten more than just her client's business--this is one scam that could get her killed. Ava Lee is one of the most scintillating, unique heroines to come along in years.

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