The Art Thief

 The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel, 221 pgs. 

Most heist films start off with a big plan, a cadre of ruffians who each bring their A-game along with the latest technology for subterfuge. The Art Thief is the opposite of all that. Starting in the late 90s, Stephane Breitwieser, alongside his girlfriend and accomplice Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, strolled into a museum in Belgium wielding only a swiss army knife and stole a 17-century, ivory-carved statue of Adam and Eve. No trip wires. No midnight rappel from a rooftop window. He walked right in during the guards lunch hour, put the statue in his waistband, and went home. And so began his insane spiral into stealing art all across Europe.

Breitweiser spent the next decade filling his tiny apartment above his mother's house with artifacts, oil paintings, engravings, statues--anything that caught his aesthetic eye. Most of the work he nabbed was from that similar time period, and to hear his side of the story as told by the author, he was a lover of art--not a thief. To wit, he never threatened violence against anyone, never damaged museum property, and--here's the kicker--never tried to sell any of the art. Investigators believe that's what made him so hard to catch. To Stephane, there is a long history of people stealing art from other cultures and he saw himself as carrying on that legacy. Not to make money but to enjoy and become closer to the work. However, even the best criminals get sloppy.

This is an unbelievable ride of  book where you find yourself shouting at Stephane saying "how is he going to get away with this?!" And then he does, time and time again. For adults and teen art students. Highly recommended (reading the book, not stealing art).