THE LOST VAN GOGH - Jonathan Santlofer


Luke Perrone, an artist, and his girlfriend, Alexis Verde, purchase a painting for cheap at an antique shop. While looking to clean up they discover that there's something underneath the layer of paint and it turns out to be a layer of paper which is on top of another painting. Carefully removing it they discover what they believe to be a lost Van Gogh self-portrait.  A known painting of Van Gogh's went missing during World War II, often believed destroyed. In Jonathan Santlofer's novel The Lost Van Gogh, the painting was rescued and hidden with a painting on top of it.

Unfortunately, before Perrone and Verde can even get it verified and before anyone should even known they have the painting, it is stolen from them. With help from Interpol, Perrone and Verde become embroiled in a high-stakes, black-market art game with some serious and powerful people not wanting anyone to get in the way of whatever they want.

This book flashes back to 1940's, war-era Europe and reminds us often of the massive art thefts the Nazi's engaged in and the struggle for the families of the original owners to get the works' returned.  Just who does artwork belong to in these situations?

I'm fascinated by the art-theft crime world - amazed that artwork can have so much value, and yet, it is so highly obvious that the thieves/owners can never let the world know what they have.  Is it valuable anymore then? The subject mater here was highly interesting.

The writing - the story  ... ? Not so much.

First off, these characters had no definition to them.  Was I supposed to know who they were?  Is there a series of books with these people? I don't know. But we jump right into action and we never really get to know those involved.. Of course I'm specifically meaning our primary characters mentioned at the top, but there's a HUGE cast of characters here - dizzyingly so - and I know I never got them all straight, which suggests I didn't really need to be introduced to so many people.

And while, on the one hand, there seems to be constant action with travel and threats and curiosity and danger, I also felt like we didn't accomplish a lot, almost as if the constant movement was a distraction to the fact that there wasn't much going on.

All in all, this was a bust for me.  I've only read two Santlofer short stories prior to this, one that I liked and one that didn't leave any impression and I'm not in a huge hurry to read more of his work, despite the art themes that I typically like.

Looking for a good book? A general concept is really all that holds together The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Lost Van Gogh

author: Jonathan Santlofer

publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

ISBN: 9781728260174

hardcover, 400 pages

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