Rating: 
Summary: Much more than a mistery novel
Review: I would highly recommned the book to all the people who love good mistery novel, which beside a very good plot, offers much more. The story of an old flemish painting representing two friends playing chess and a woman, sitting in the back, reading a book becomes intelinked to the life of a Madrid's art expert Julia and her circle of friends. Through discovery of the history and story of the painting her life and lives of her friends come into danger through "a plot" what it seems to be diabolic and genious at the same time. It offers a challenge to every reader, because it really is much more than a mistery novel. Specially recommended to all the chess players outthere.
Rating: 
Summary: There was a movie made about this...
Review: A wonderful quirky book. At times it's a bit melodramatic, perhaps from the translation, or the Spanish culture. The answers to the mystery, come out of nowhere: what appears to be clues are just part of the book, and are not intended as red-herrings, this is true of The Games of Chess, "The Flanders Panel" itself.
Rating:
Summary: Clever, intriguing mystery!
Review: Arturo Perez-Reverte is an amazing and truly gifted writer. Not only is he gifted in the art of spinning a creative, sophisticated, literary mystery, but also in jumping the cultural and historical boundaries. Julia, a woman who restores paintings for a living, is asked to help restore a fifteenth-century masterpiece. The painting depicts a chess game between the Duke of Flanders and his knight. But there is a message within -- a message that begins a whodunit search that is flooring...
The Flanders Panel is a mystery enthusiast's dream come true. It breaks the tiresome mystery formula by adding bits and pieces of true originality. It is also filled to the brim with fascinating information about art, history and chess. I especially loved the history references centered on art. This effort flabbergasted me. I so look forward to reading more books from this brilliant author!
Rating:
Summary: A deadly game of chess.
Review: Arturo Perez-Reverte's mystery, "The Flanders Panel," takes place in Madrid and was translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. It deals with a mysterious work of art, "The Game of Chess," that was painted by a Flemish artist, Pieter Van Huys, in 1471. Julia, an art expert who has been restoring this painting prior to its being auctioned off, suddenly unearths a message hidden in the painting. The message, "Quis necavit equitem?" is Latin for "Who killed the knight?" It prompts intense speculation as to why the painter first included this message in his painting and later painted over it.It turns out that the game of chess depicted in the painting provides clues to the meaning of the message, which relates to matters of political intrigue in the fifteenth century. Suddenly, the intrigue reaches into the present when a noted art historian is found dead under mysterious circumstances. It soon becomes apparent that the murderer is an individual with a macabre sense of humor and a thorough knowledge of chess. I was disappointed in "The Flanders Panel." The characters, including Cesar, who is Julia's surrogate father, Menchu, Julia's best friend and the owner of an art gallery, and Señor Muñoz, a chess expert, are all rather flat and uninteresting. The book is talky and plodding, the plot is too complicated, and the references to chess are incomprehensible to a non-player. The sole aspect of the book that interested me was the history of the painting and the meaning of the hidden message. It is unfortunate that the rest of the novel lacks enough plausibility, suspense, and excitement to make "The Flanders Panel" an entertaining mystery.
Rating:
Summary: A deadly game of chess.
Review: Arturo Perez-Reverte's mystery, "The Flanders Panel," takes place in Madrid and was translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. It deals with a mysterious work of art, "The Game of Chess," that was painted by a Flemish artist, Pieter Van Huys, in 1471. Julia, an art expert who has been restoring this painting prior to its being auctioned off, suddenly unearths a message hidden in the painting. The message, "Quis necavit equitem?" is Latin for "Who killed the knight?" It prompts intense speculation as to why the painter first included this message in his painting and later painted over it.
It turns out that the game of chess depicted in the painting provides clues to the meaning of the message, which relates to matters of political intrigue in the fifteenth century. Suddenly, the intrigue reaches into the present when a noted art historian is found dead under mysterious circumstances. It soon becomes apparent that the murderer is an individual with a macabre sense of humor and a thorough knowledge of chess.
I was disappointed in "The Flanders Panel." The characters, including Cesar, who is Julia's surrogate father, Menchu, Julia's best friend and the owner of an art gallery, and Senor Munoz, a chess expert, are all rather flat and uninteresting. The book is talky and plodding, the plot is too complicated, and the references to chess are incomprehensible to a non-player. The sole aspect of the book that interested me was the history of the painting and the meaning of the hidden message. It is unfortunate that the rest of the novel lacks enough plausibility, suspense, and excitement to make "The Flanders Panel" an entertaining mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: A Valiant Effort
Review: I enjoyed reading this book very much. Not being a chess expert I may have enjoyed it more than some reviewers that complained that the chess puzzle was not clever. I suppose it is true that not being an expert of chess helped me be interested in the book, yet, in spite of that, if you are a chess expert, lighten up and enjoy anyway. Mr Perez Reverte is a journalist and a writer, not Jose Raul Capablanca. the plot was nicely laid and the writing very good, and the only reason I did not rate this a full 5 stars was because some of the characters, Julia and Munoz, kind of diasppointed me, but I also suspect that the author never meant to give us perfect human beings. And also, I felt I got the answer of who killed (took) the knight too soon. I certainly recommend this book to anyone wanting a mystery with style. Finally, I simply am amazed that one reviewer called this book homophobic. How can someone so misread a book?
Rating:
Summary: thinks it's smarter than it is
Review: I wasn't into this book at the beginning because I found all the characters completely unsympathetic. Then Julia, Cesar, and Munoz started to grow on me (the others I never cared about), and I began to enjoy their repartee. I cruised through the middle section, getting interested in the whodunnit aspect, but was completely disappointed and unimpressed with the resolution. It was "unpredictable" in the most predictable way, and relied on characters having hidden sides of their personalities for years from their nearest and dearest. Plus, I just don't buy the emotional impact that chess seems to have on these people. I don't play, so maybe I'm not qualified to judge, but when characters start making major life-changing decisions based on the bishop's "deep thrusting diagonal movement" and how that resonates with their subconscious, that's when I decide those characters are pathetic. Chess might be a metaphor for life, but life is not a metaphor for chess.
Rating:
Summary: Strategy and Suspense
Review: I'm a chessplayer. The theme of this book caught my attention and, in many ways, lived up to its promise. The chess and real life dramas are woven smoothly, and the chess strategy and reasoning made sense (with one or two moments of artistic license). The opening intrigued me, the middle game complicated matters, and the endgame brought things to a tidy conclusion. I couldn't help but wonder if I was missing some of the writer's heart in the translation. The characters are expertly crafted, but lacked heart and connection with me. Although I enjoyed the moves of the deadly game, I had little feeling for those that give their lives in the course of the chess maneuvering. The language, while tight and European-sounding, seemed to be a bit generic at points. Overall, the threads of the mystery draw tighter and tighter and the author leaves a few surprises for the reader. Some may find intrigue in the chess aspects or the art aspects...I found myself primarly drawn into the strategizing of the villain and those trying to unmask the villain's identity. The suspense was based on the unfolding strategy, such as in a game of chess. And I was captured. Check and mate.
Rating:
Summary: There was a movie made about this...
Review: If I am not mistaken, there was a movie made about this book in the early 90's which starred a very, very young Kate Beckinsale. Seemed to me it was her first movie. I couldn't remember the movie's title. Might be the same but "The Flanders Panel" doesn't ring a bell on me. Although I have not read this book (but I am giving it 3 stars based on the plotline), I would think reading the book is a lot better than the movie - which I personally think stunk bec of the acting. I rented the DVD from Blockbuster only bec I was intrigued by storyline synopsis. Watching the movie just ruined it for me before becoming aware that it was from a book.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Premise
Review: In modern Madrid, Julia the art restorer prepares a Flemish masterpiece for auction. The painting depicts two men playing chess, watched by a woman in black. But beneath the varnish lies a hidden message alluding to the centuries'-old murder of one of the chess players. Julia brings historians and chess experts into the mix trying to unravel the old mystery, but sets off a new round of murders and thefts. It's an interesting plot device, that the real chess game depicted in a classic painting would yield clues to both the old and the new murders. Perez-Reverte is a good writer, though he tends to over-write by repeating the same idea three or four times in a paragraph or explaining at length what is blindingly obvious. Other reviewers have noted that the chess game itself is not expert-level and that it makes the plot drag a bit. Fair enough. Readers who played chess in high school will be able to follow the game.
One quibble: even though the painting and the artist in question are fictional, it would have been useful to have a reproduction of whatever painting the author referred to as he wrote the book. Maybe a reproduction on the cover. It's a fun book, an easy read. A definite cut above the typical mystery dreck available these days.
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