The Forger’s Requiem

Morrow (The Forger’s Daughter) brings his Forgers trilogy to a close with a disappointing finale that’s equal parts sluggish and overstuffed. A brawl between rival literary forgers Henry Slader and Will Gardener ends when Will’s daughter, 20-something Nicole, hits Henry with a shovel, then buries him in a shallow grave behind their house in the Hudson Valley. Despite nursing a concussion so severe he can’t remember his name, Henry manages to dig himself out of the ground before vandalizing Will’s home and setting out for revenge. He tracks down Nicole, and, after sowing doubts about her father’s loyalties, he convinces her to forge inscriptions by Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce, as well as a stack of letters between Mary Shelley and her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft. It soon becomes clear, however, that grown men underestimate Nicole at their own risk. Morrow builds his plot atop bits of amusing literary trivia, but the fleetness of the previous Forgers books is sorely missing, replaced by turgid storytelling that consistently grinds the action to a halt. It’s a letdown. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Jan.)

Correction: A previous version of this review incorrectly stated that Henry and Will forged inscriptions by Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and James Joyce. It was Nicole who did so. The review has been further updated for clarity.