This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Hachette Books and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Truly interesting true crime read.

This was a super intriguing true crime and art history read, it did not feel as educational as it evidently was for me.

Fascinating and engagingly written. Con/Artist is a recommended purchase for collections where true crime and memoirs are popular.

This book is a memoir of art forger extraordinaire,Tony Tetro who I was unfamiliar with prior to reading Con/Artist, I wanted to google him before reading the book in so that I would have a general idea of exactly what he did, but I chose not to because I didn't want to spoil anything.

This book was FANTASTIC and NOW I will be googling about him because I need to know even more. What an extraordinary and unique tale. Still can't believe this guy managed to pull off what he did loll. Truly genius.

5/5 stars.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! In fact, I could not put it down. Cost me a couple of nights sleep, but it was just that good.
The story of a basically self-taught art forger, the book takes you on a wild ride. From humble beginnings to the upper reaches of society, the author experienced it all. How he got away with it is an amazing story. Why he didn't save some of his fortune is the part that puzzles me. Or maybe he did, I guess we will never know!
If you like reading stories of rags to riches, and back to rags again; or stories about crazy, non-violent criminals; or stories where the little guy sticks it to the big, fancy people; you will love this book!

I had never heard of Tony Tetro and don't have any particular knowledge of the art world, but I found this memoir to be absolutely fascinating. Tony Tetro is a self-taught artist who made copies of an incredibly wide range of artists and styles, both old masters and contemporary artists. His works were sold by dealers and hung in prominent people's homes and even museums. He was living the high life when it all came crashing down after an artist discovered a forged work of his being sold in a gallery. Tony Tetro spent years battling criminal charges, eventually running out of money to pay lawyers before ultimately agreeing to a plea deal. An engrossing look into an interesting life, and I learned a little about the art world at the same time.

I went into this fully expecting to be fascinated, because - come on, obvious reasons - art forgery, really, forgery of any type, - items created with just as much talent as the original - is something I find amazingly interesting. And, wow, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

Tony Tetro has put a lot of life into his seventy years and he shares some of the most captivating stories in this title. I enjoyed every page of this one.

A definite recommendation.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

Con/Artist felt less like an autobiography, more like a well-written piece of longform journalism, of creative nonfiction. It spans the entirety of Tony Tetro's art forgery career, from how he started to the consequences to his genuine self-reflections and self-growth.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in art history and art forgery.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC. This was a very interesting book, I like learning about forgeries and artists and this book definitely delivered. This was a chronicle of the authors rise and eventual fall as an art forger from the mid sixties (early life) to the present(ish) day. I really liked how straightforward this book was, it presented as a timeline, with the thoughts, motivations, and interesting tidbits from the author strewn throughout, and I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I really enjoyed the parts of this book that talked about the craft and the work the author put into creating the forgeries, it really honed it just how much forging is another art form and the hard work that goes into creating something that could be believable created by another person.

Tony Caravaggio grew up in the 50s and 60s in New York, but his heroes weren’t the mafia like most Italians in that era. Tony was impressed by the Italians he could be proud of Rembrandt, Ferrari ET see he was also a very impressive artist and just for fun and to fill time while working 9 to 5 he would copy famous paintings this is what led to him being the most influential call Man in the illegal Black market art scene. It is amazing the people he either was friends with or at the very least just worked with and it’s all in this book and what a book it is. Usually when you read a memoir or an autobiography there either the best of everything treated the worst, but in Tony’s book he pretty much tells it like it is anything talks about his wins and his losses and it comes or feeling very authentic and honest and interesting. I truly enjoyed this book it is one of the better memoirs I have read and although it’s about a Cano artist you can’t help but to like Tony. I highly recommend this book if you love True Crime you need to read it! I was given this book by Ned Galley and the author but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

Con/Artist is the memoir of Tony Tetro, art forger extraordinaire. He moves steadily recounting his life, first in his hometown newly married, to moving to California, and the ups and downs of his life. He had the assistance of an additional writer while working on this book.

This book has a simple writing style and language used throughout, but being unfamiliar with Tetro, that makes me think this is how he is everyday. It was hard to imagine this guy painting at home and walking into places to sell his art. How did he get watermarks into paper and other things to match the age? However it helped to set the time frame in mind comparing it to now, what we know and can look at with the internet and dating things.

Overall this was a very interesting, fun and funny memoir of someone who has experienced the highest highs and some low lows. I waited to google his name until after I had finished the book, so there is plenty to read after you finish this book. Lastly I’ll recommend this great cover design! Very eye-catching.

Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe. In 2019, it was revealed that Prince Charles received into his collection a Picasso, Dali, Monet, and Chagall, insuring them for over 200 million pounds, only to later discover that they’re actually “Tetros.” And the kicker? In Tony’s words: “Even if some tycoon finds out his Rembrandt is a fake, what’s he going to do, turn it in? Now his Rembrandt just became motel art. Better to keep quiet and pass it on to the next guy. It’s the way things work for guys like me.” The Prince Charles scandal is the subject of a forthcoming feature documentary with Academy Award nominee Kief Davidson and coauthor Giampiero Ambrosi, in cooperation with Tetro.

Throughout Tetro’s career, his inimitable talent has been coupled with a reckless penchant for drugs, fast cars, and sleeping with other con artists. He was busted in 1989 and spent four years in court and one in prison. His voice—rough, wry, deeply authentic—is nothing like the high society he swanned around in, driving his Lamborghini or Ferrari, hobnobbing with aristocrats by day, and diving into debauchery when the lights went out. He’s a former furniture store clerk who can walk around in Caravaggio’s shoes, become Picasso or Monet, with an encyclopedic understanding of their paint, their canvases, their vision. For years, he hid it all in an unassuming California townhouse with a secret art room behind a full-length mirror. (Press #* on his phone and the mirror pops open.) Pairing up with coauthor Ambrosi, one of the investigative journalists who uncovered the 2019 scandal, Tetro unveils the art world in an epic, alluring, at times unbelievable, but all-true narrative.

Thoughts : I like it and enjoy the reading experience. Highly recommended for anyone who likes art and want to know more about arts and forgeries. Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC. This was a very interesting book, I like learning about forgeries and artists and this book definitely delivered. This was a chronicle of the authors rise and eventual fall as an art forger from the mid sixties (early life) to the present(ish) day. I really liked how straightforward this book was, it presented as a timeline, with the thoughts, motivations, and interesting tidbits from the author strewn throughout, and I enjoyed reading this book a lot. I really enjoyed the parts of this book that talked about the craft and the work the author put into creating the forgeries, it really honed it just how much forging is another art form and the hard work that goes into creating something that could be believable created by another person. Some of this book seems so absurd it reads like fiction, but that’s a good thing and makes this book easy to devour.