- Doors Open
-
For other uses, see Doors Open Days.
Doors Open Author(s) Ian Rankin Country Scotland Language English Genre(s) Crime fiction novel Publisher Orion Press Publication date 2008 Pages 272 pp ISBN 0752890700 OCLC Number 232712930 Doors Open is a 2008 novel by crime writer Ian Rankin.[1][2] It is his first stand alone thriller in over 10 years. The story was originally published as a serial novel in The New York Times Magazine.
Plot outline
Mike Mackenzie is a software entrepreneur who has sold his company for a substantial amount of money, but is now bored and looking for a new thrill. His new found wealth has funded a genuine interest in art so when his friend Professor Robert Gissing presents him with a plan for the perfect crime, he willingly helps set that plan in motion.
With a vast collection but limited wall space, the National Gallery of Scotland has many more valuable works of art in storage than it could ever display. The plan is to stage a heist at the Granton storage depot on "Doors Open Day" during which a selected group of paintings will be "stolen". The gang will then give the appearance of having panicked and fled without the works of art, however they will actually have switched the real paintings with high quality forgeries good enough to convince anyone investigating the matter that no theft has been committed.
As they begin to flesh out the plan, it becomes clear that they need some "professional assistance" and a chance encounter with Chib Calloway, a local gangster who Mike went to school with, fulfils that need.
Related works
Rankin's 2002 collection of short stories, Beggars Banquet, includes a story "Herbert in Motion" whose plot is also concerned with the theft of undisplayed works of art from the storage facilities of a major gallery, and their replacement with high quality forgeries to mask the crime.
References
- ^ "Doors Open by Ian Rankin". The Times. 5 October 2008. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article4875095.ece. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
- ^ "'Doors Open,' by Ian Rankin". San Francisco Chronicle. 5 March 2010. http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-03-05/entertainment/18376963_1_edinburgh-ian-rankin-scheme. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
Novels The Flood (1986) · Knots and Crosses (1987) · Watchman (1988) · Westwind (1990) · Hide and Seek (1991) · Tooth and Nail (1992) · Strip Jack (1992) · The Black Book (1993) · Witch Hunt (1993) · Mortal Causes (1994) · Bleeding Hearts (1994) · Let it Bleed (1995) · Blood Hunt (1995) · Black and Blue (1997) · The Hanging Garden (1998) · Dead Souls (1999) · Set in Darkness (2000) · The Falls (2001) · Resurrection Men (2002) · Fleshmarket Close (2003) · A Question of Blood (2004) · The Naming of the Dead (2006) · Exit Music (2007) · Doors Open (2008) · A Cool Head (2009, Quick Reads) · The Complaints (2009)Short story collections A Good Hanging and Other Stories (1992) · Beggars Banquet (2002)Non-fiction Rebus's Scotland: A Personal Journey (2005) · Jackie Leven Said (2005, With Jackie Leven)Graphic novels Dark Entries (2009)Short stories An Afternoon (1984) · Voyeurism (1985) · Colony (1986) · Trip Trap (1992) · Marked For Death (1992) · Well Shot (1993) · Someone Got to Eddie (1994) · A Deep Hole (1994) · Adventures in Babysitting (1995) · Natural Selection (1996) · Auld Lang Syne (1997) · Principles of Accounts (1997) · Death is Not the End (1998) · The Hanged Man (2000) · Saint Nicked (2003) · Soft Spot (2005) · Not Just Another Saturday (2005) · Sinner: Justified (2006)Related articles This article about a thriller novel of the 2000s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.