Start at the beginning of ‘The Mechanic’ By Ben Mezrich

Read all the available chapters for the fictional thriller that entwines a card shark, the legacy of Paul Revere, and the Gardner art heist.

Chapter 1: “Sitting pretty”

Chapter 2: “Close pursuit”

Chapter 3: “Taking his chance”

Chapter 4: “The man in the chair”

Chapter 5: “A night to remember”

Chapter 6: “A night to remember”

Chapter 7: “Dead reckoning”

Chapter 8: “Dead ends and dead men”

Chapter 9: “On the trail of trouble”

Chapter 10: “Loose ends”

Chapter 11: “Swallows and swans”

Chapter 12: “Flights of fancy”

Chapter 13: “Ring the Bell!”

Chapter 14: “Puzzles to solve”

Chapter 15: “This one’s gonna hurt”

Chapter 16: “The book of bells”

Chapter 17: “On an eagle’s wings”

Chapter 18: “A shot in the dark”

Chapter 19: “Role of a Lifetime”

Chapter 20: “Eagle of the Seas”

Chapter 21: “An ending and a beginning”

Talk about ‘The Mechanic’ with Ben Mezrich and the Globe
On Wednesday May 20, best-selling author Ben Mezrich will talk with the Globe and readers about the novella recently published in the Globe and on Globe.com. RSVP now to participate.

A note from Ben Mezrich
When The Boston Globe first approached me with the idea of writing a serialized novella that would run for 15 days in the paper and online, I was both excited and terrified.

Chapter 1: Sitting pretty
It was a little after 2 a.m. on a Wednesday, and Hailey Gordon was on the run of her life.

Chapter 2: Close pursuit
She cut hard to the right, and found herself in front of a bank of elevators leading up into the hotel.

Chapter 3: Taking his chance
As the elevator doors whiffed open and Nick Patterson stepped out into the carpeted hallway bisecting the sixth floor of the Encore Boston Harbor hotel, he felt something sweeping through his chest that he hadn’t felt in so long, it took him another step before he realized what it was.

Chapter 4: The man in the chair
The first thing Nick saw was the girl.

Chapter 5: A night to remember
It was the perfume that hit Charles Walker first.

Chapter 6: ‘Just the way you like it’
Charles saw the mug on the table — thankfully on a coaster — by the glass case. He still didn’t know quite what to say, so instead he retrieved the coffee and took a little sip.

Chapter 7: Dead reckoning
"There’s a Koons in the lobby and a Lichtenstein about two feet from where you’re standing. I think I’m right where I belong.”

Chapter 8: Dead ends and dead men
The Gardner Art Museum theft remains the most famous unsolved art heist in history, the subject of countless theories, tips, investigations, and dead ends.

Chapter 9: On the trail of trouble
If the past few hours were evidence of anything, it was confirmation of what Hailey’d learned at age 12: Bad decisions compounded, like interest.

Chapter 10: Loose ends
At first, the vast, open room was shrouded in darkness, save for the cone of light streaming in from the open doorway.

Chapter 11: Swallows and swans
Although a park bench in the middle of Boston’s Public Garden might seem an unlikely place for a clandestine meeting between two highly trained operatives in a dark, criminal trade, it was also the most logical setting.

Chapter 12: Flights of fancy
Perhaps it was his severe upbringing at the hands of his scientist parents, but Professor Adrian Jensen had never had patience for the opinions of fools or rivals.

Chapter 13: “Ring the Bell!”
Adrian hadn’t come to the church for religion or music; he was there searching for answers.

Chapter 14: Puzzles to solve
The ME was already on the scene, but from what Marsh had told Zack, the ME wasn’t going to be much help until he’d gotten the results of his toxicology reports.

Chapter 15: ‘This one’s gonna hurt’
Nick and Hailey took a trip across the harbor and back in time.

Chapter 16: The Book of Bells
Professor Adrian Jenson didn't much like the Boston Tea Party Museum, but he needed something there.

Chapter 17: On an eagle’s wings
Adrian noticed the object in the young woman’s hands, half covered by a checkered towel. "The eagle,” he gasped.

Chapter 18: A shot in the dark
One minute Hailey was reading the last page of the book in the foppish professor’s hands, and the next everything exploded around her.

Chapter 19: Role of a Lifetime
It took all of Hailey’s strength and a good bit of leverage to pull Nick the last few feet up the side of the massive, slowly rocking hull of a much bigger, much different ship.

Chapter 20: Eagle of the Seas
Hailey worked the muscles of her arms and legs, her hands white against the rope, lowering herself, closer and closer.

Chapter 21: An ending and a beginning
“Mr. Arthur,” Curt finally said, when he’d regained his composure. “I have unfortunate news to report.”

The Mechanic

Written for and published exclusively by The Boston Globe, the novella will unfold chapter-by-chapter over the next two weeks.

A serialized novella running exclusively in the Globe

An enigmatic card shark. An ex-con looking for the score of a lifetime. A priceless collection of stolen art. And a mystery as old as the country itself — a mystery that someone is willing to kill for.
What have we here?
The Globe’s commitment to covering the coronavirus pandemic continues unabated, as today’s paper and website make plain, but we thought a bit of a diversion might also be welcome. And so we asked best-selling author Ben Mezrich to write a novella, a work of fiction, to be published exclusively in the Globe and on Globe.com over the next two weeks. In “The Mechanic,” Mezrich takes us on a taut journey through his hometown of Boston, from the halls of Harvard to the glitz of a waterfront casino to the ominously silent galleries of a museum and a critical patch of local history we thought we knew, but apparently do not. Enjoy!