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The Spectacle
- Author
- Anna Barrington
- Narrator
- Juliette Goglia, Nick Thurston
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Publish Date
- 8 July 2025
- Run Time
- 14 hours 2 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Nobody knows quite who Rudolph Sullivan is, or how he ascended so quickly to the glittering top of New York’s art scene. When aspiring artist and struggling gallery assistant Ingrid meets the charismatic dealer at a party, she falls fast—Rudolph offers her a seductive taste of luxury and an escape from her humdrum existence.
But Rudolph is hiding much more than his dazzling facade lets on. With insatiable tastes and a need to keep up appearances, his debts mount rapidly, and he turns to double dealing to stay afloat. As his adversaries close in, Rudolph realizes his fall from grace could cost him more than his reputation. Panicking, paranoid, and willing to sacrifice anyone to maintain his precarious foothold, he plans his most audacious gambit yet—and Ingrid is at the center of it.
Critics Review
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"The status-obsessed, money-fueled New York art scene provides the backdrop for a page-turning new social thriller."—People.com
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“A high-powered page-turner, The Spectacle does a deep dive into what lies beneath the shiny veneer of the art world. With unique insights and cutting satire, Anna Barrington reveals the ambition, greed, and fraud that fuels this multibillion-dollar business—not to mention a bracing love story. Highly recommended.”—B. A. Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger and The Lost Masterpiece
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"Seductive and tense, The Spectacle pulls you behind the velvet ropes of New York’s ultra-exclusive art world and into its darker undercurrents. . . . In Anna Barrington’s thrilling debut, a love story intertwines with scheming dealers, pretentious artists, and ruthless collectors. The question is: will the lovers survive their own ambitions? Fans of Katy Hays’s The Cloisters and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Swan Thieves will love this sensational addition to the art world thriller."—Lauren Nossett, author of The Professor
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"A highbrow fever dream of a novel, The Spectacle is tailor-made for the discerning reader who craves getting lost in a world that is chic and severe in equal measure. I inhaled this decadent glimpse into the underbelly of the art world, led with aplomb by a character of such disturbing charm, the shades of Tom Ripley and Patrick Bateman were impossible to ignore. Anna Barrington delivers a biting and brilliant debut more than deserving of its perfect title."—Rachel Koller Croft, USA TODAY–bestselling author of Stone Cold Fox
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Anna Barrington
- Narrator
- Juliette Goglia, Nick Thurston
- Duration
- 14 hours 2 minutes
- Release Date
- 8 July 2025
- ISBN
- 9781668653197
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Genre
- Thriller / suspense fiction, Thriller / suspense fiction, Crime and mystery fiction, Fiction: general and literary
Synopsis
A powerful art dealer who presents a convincing portrait of international success pulls an idealistic young gallery assistant into his web of lies. This sharp, edgy social thriller explores the price of ambition in the decadent underbelly of the high-end art world.   Nobody knows quite who Rudolph Sullivan is, or how he ascended so quickly to the glittering top of New York’s art scene. When aspiring artist and struggling gallery assistant Ingrid meets the charismatic dealer at a party, she falls fast—Rudolph offers her a seductive taste of luxury and an escape from her humdrum existence.        But Rudolph is hiding much more than his dazzling facade lets on. With insatiable tastes and a need to keep up appearances, his debts mount rapidly, and he turns to double dealing to stay afloat. As his adversaries close in, Rudolph realizes his fall from grace could cost him more than his reputation. Panicking, paranoid, and willing to sacrifice anyone to maintain his precarious foothold, he plans his most audacious gambit yet—and Ingrid is at the center of it.  
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