While this is a riveting tale of six years of adept thievery, much credit goes to Michael Finkel for unspooling the true story in the most captivating manner. In the late 1990s, Stephane Breitwieser performed over 200 robberies, using sleight-of-hand methods and nothing more than a Swiss Army multi-tool and his girlfriend as look-out. His targets were the many small museums throughout France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, institutions with small budgets, few guards and little in the way of cameras or other security tools. For six years, he accumulated an estimated two billion dollars worth of antiquities, objects of artistic and historical significance, and paintings and tapestries, all locked in his attic living space, all for personal enjoyment.

His methods were simple— with agility, misdirection, and a cool demeanor, Breitwieser lifted, stashed and boldly carried out all these objects, at a steady and busy rate. His psychological profile is intriguing, a sort of manic activity. Selections were not random— he engaged in extensive research, and approached desired objects with considerable knowledge of their worth. While he did engage in many impulsive thefts, he was a self-schooled, erudite student of art history, often more aware of an object’s value than the museum holding it. He was a collector and connoisseur, using illegal means to support his compulsive acquisitions.

Breitwieser’s relationships with his complicit girlfriend, and dysfunctional loving mother, in whose home he lived and amassed his pilfered collection, are also intriguing. I think you will find this story fascinating on several levels, the art and history, exotic European locations, the psychological profiles, the attempts of detectives to patiently corner the thief, and the audacity and skill of Breitwieser, all making this a real page-turner. Highly recommended.