THE SWAN THIEVES - ELIZABETH KOSTOVA

I had to read this after the Dracula story reviewed below. Another detailed read about a mad artist who, for a change, isn't Van Gogh or a Parisian dauber reduced to insanity by the attraction of Absinthe and wild women.  No, he's just mad.

Once again the slower narrative and detail make for a more interesting story and there are no early explosions or car crashes to attract younger readers. This is a book for grown-ups.  

Of course I have a complaint. Because this story switches between the present and the past it needs fine and accurate detail to be convincing. As we all know, American use of English has led to various bastardisations that grate with me, especially the lazy use of prepositions. Example, "I'll have a vodka tonic." No and or with, just lazy, too busy to say the extra tiny word.

Kostova uses letters for the earlier backstory, written conversations between two people who in the late 1800s use the words "I'm writing you", several times. No 'to'. It jars.