The Lost Van Gogh: A Novel
4.5/5
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About this ebook
When Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Monsieur Trabuc turns up unexpectedly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—a $50 million painting shipped from Argentina via UPS, like an ordinary package—the case goes to Clay Ryder, the NYPD Major Case Squad detective assigned to art theft.
Ryder discovers that in Paris, late 1944, a Jewish widow accused a German SS officer of stealing the painting. The officer was reported to have died in a car crash at the war's end, and the whereabouts of the Trabuc between then and now remain a mystery. Ryder's search for the widow's heirs leads him to Rachel Meredith, who teaches at NYU. The museum presents the painting to her in a spectacular public ceremony that winds up on the front page of newspapers around the world.
Though the case is closed, Ryder can't seem to shake it. When Rachel Meredith is attacked, she calls on him; what might be a simple assault doesn't quite add up. And he still wonders who sent the van Gogh from Argentina. One of his most reliable contacts in the art world floats a theory that ties the van Gogh portrait to a black market auction in the 70's that might have involved a Swiss art dealer and an international crime kingpin with unlimited cash. Then Israel's Mossad pays Ryder a clandestine visit; the news splash about the van Gogh is the first link they've had to the SS officer in decades.
Meanwhile, art dealers, auction houses, and museums vie to buy the van Gogh from Rachel Meredith. When she refuses to sell, the situation goes from predatory to violent. Ryder has to race against time to outmaneuver a cunning mastermind who will resort to as many murders as it takes to get hold of the Trabuc.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
A. J. Zerries
AL and JEAN ZERRIES are the husband-and-wife authors of the international thrillers The Lost Van Gogh and Stealing from the Dead. The Zerries worked in the creative side of advertising for 20 years. Al Zerries has won many awards for his portrait art.
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Reviews for The Lost Van Gogh
4 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Van Gogh, missing since WWII, resurfaces when it is sent to the Museum of Modern Art via UPS from a mysterious address in Argentina. The book opens with a string of art couriers being attacked and NYPD detective Clay Ryder stepping in to solve the crime. From the flap, I thought it was going to be more mystery than thriller; I couldn't have been more wrong! Once I figured out it was a thriller, I was sold. Tight story, lots of twists, turns, shoot-outs, car chases, Mossad agents, old South American Nazis, boat chases, hostages, forgeries, and evil art dealers...and it's only 346 pages long. Museums, auction houses, art dealers, forgers and Nazi history create the backdrop for the story, but its plot is action-driven.This is an older book (2006), but I was recently reminded of it while reading another; thus this review!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't read a lot of mystery style novels but this one I could not resist as I was very interested in the Stolen art/ Nazis angle and this novel didn't let me down. Include Mossad, NYPD, and The Met and I was happy as can be reading this.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I can’t resist pulling something out of the barging bin at my local bookstores. You know the really cheap remainders, usually books that never made a splash or by authors that have yet to establish themselves. Usually they turn out to be worth no more than what I paid. When one of these unknown works turns out to be worth the original full price, I am very happy. Such turned out to be the case for The Lost Van Gogh by a husband and wife team writing under the name of A J Zerries.The book is about a New York detective, Clay Ryder, who works as the “art guy” for the Major Case Squad. Ryder becomes involved with a case involving art stolen by the Nazis being sold at black market auctions and the return of one painting in particular to the descendant of the original owner. Once returned, the story gets deeper, involving deceptions going back many years and surviving Nazis trying to regain the picture.Make no mistake, this story is no Maltese Falcon, and the authors do not compare to Dashiell Hammett. There are a number of plot twists that, while entertaining, were not as subtle as they could have been. The action is well paced, the characters fairly well developed and the plot holes are minimal. This is written well enough, I could see someone optioning this for the big screen.Hardly a classic detective story, it is quite good for a contemporary police novel. If you enjoy that genre, you should appreciate this book. The Lost Van Gogh should also appeal to action / adventure readers. All around good escapist reading and deserving a solid four stars.