Secrets of the Painter
The book details the life of Luís Mariano Malasaña, a poor young artist who arrives in Madrid a generation after the passing of Goya. Malasaña is a natural prodigy - and also a bitter man with a chip on his shoulder. When he discovers that his work has the unsettling side effect of killing everyone he paints, it seems a trivial detail to Malasaña - at first. The novel is less about the gruesome consequences of the painter's actions than Malasaña's approa...
