The Lost Van Gogh

by A.J. Zerries

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.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Art, Thriller, Crime, Suspense, Art History

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Ναταλί · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν ήταν άσχημο αστυνομικό βιβλίο. Διαβάζεται εύκολα αν και είχε κάποια σημεία που κούρασαν και κατά την γνώμη μου δεν χρειάζονταν. Πέρα από αυτό έχει και κάποια ιστορικά στοιχεία πάνω στους πίνακες που έχουν σχέση με τον 2ο παγκόσμιο πόλεμο. Από τα μισά και μετά γίνεται πιο ενδιαφέρον με γρήγορο ρυθμό απαγωγής και κυνηγητού.

[martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Detective fiction and especially those novels ambitious enough to build in a holocaust related thriller, really do need to be exciting enough so that you never put them down willingly. This one sadly fails the test. Yes, a clever idea but the latter half of the book got so disjointed and preposterous that I got bored. Too many poorly explained and badly constructed jumps in the plot where the detective has huge and completely incredible revelations about who's doing what and why. I like my crime thrillers to be smarter and more observant than I am but not to this extent. There has to be a reasonable chain of evidence and events leading to the solving of the crime

That said, the first half was interesting and well-written. Maybe the Zerries writing team will improve with experience - hope so.....!

[Jonathan Combs · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have used more careful editing. Someone should have told the Zerries that their attempts at humor were infantile, that the main character was unlikeable and whiny, that their attempts to draw parallels between a murderous Nazi inquisitor and the protagonist's controlling grandfather were insensitive and weak. There are a fair number of homophobic and racist instances (who calls the Japanese "Japs"?) and the cop "hero" puts an innocent woman in considerable danger by being a maverick and supposedly having to play fast and loose with the rules, even though it stretches credulity to think that B&E is an acceptable option to simply obtaining a warrant. Not unreadable, but disjointed, illogical, and a wasted opportunity to shed some light on the wholesale theft in which the Nazi regime engaged.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel was definitely a slow burn. And by the time you get to the end I didn’t like it nearly as much. I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary sexual violence and it’s not really used in anyway except as a plot device to make what happened to Rachel seem even worse. I have a thing about that so it took a lot of points off the top for me.

So aside from the fact it could’ve been 100 pages shorter, what kept me reading until the end? Well you don’t find out what happened to literally anyone until the last 15 pages, so you’re sucked in for sure. I really love the idea of returning a stolen painting after WW2. Now that I’m actually finished with the book, I’d like to go and read about the real painting and see if the story really happened in any way, shape or form.

I guess I would call this an adventure/mystery book. The adventure is the whole tracking down the painting and then the great really long escape afterwords. The mystery is who is doing what because there are actually multiple groups of people after this painting, but since one group is more evil than all the others, you end up with just one villain in the end. It was kind of unsatisfying that we don’t get to see the actual demise of said villain, but we did see the asshole husband get run over by a train, so that’s good. Think chunky salsa.

Like I said at the beginning of the sexual assaults seemed like they were just thrown in there to make a bad thing worse. I just feel like that’s a topic you shouldn’t mess with unless it is part of the story for a reason. Also the whole situation with Clay’s mom and his grandpa was just weird as hell and I could’ve done without it.

The book was written in the early 2000s or maybe the late 1990s, and some of it didn’t age very well. Just in terms of the content and The portrayal of women in general. Which was actually surprising because it was written by a husband and wife team sharing a pen name so you think it would be a little better than that.

So what I buy this book again? No. Was it a diverting enough read? Will it took me like three weeks to get through it so I think that answers that question. Will it go down in history as a classic? Nope. Perhaps an interesting study of life before 911, but that’s about it. Really wouldn’t recommend.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anti-Catholic Trash!

I bought this book from a discount bin at a bookstore while on vacation. It sounded interesting, but about 70 pages in the authors begin describing how a pope was aiding Nazis to move to Argentina for safety?! Seriously?! As a Catholic, I was infuriated. I actually threw the book in the garbage at that point, which is something I RARELY do. There is absolutely NO historical evidence to suggest that that would ever happen. It is never ok to make up lies about a religion. Yes, there have been horrible crimes committed by Church leaders, but that was never one of them. If you want a better idea of what happened with the Nazis then I suggest reading The Myth of Hitlers Pope by David G. Dalin.

[Caitlin Justice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot up until the last hundred pages where the author(s) decided that every single clue had to be explained in detail how they went together. Leave some mystery on how it connects, let the reader re-read and figure it out if they want, and don't bore the readers that already figured it out or don't really care how it all works together.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually like this genre--art mysteries-- but this one had too much language--lots of f bombs, which ruined it for me, and I really have lots of experience with real people who use them, so am not usually so easily discouraged. Maybe I objected to the language in this one because I was expecting it to be a tier up from that type of adventure.

[Cristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un talmeș balmeș. N-am citit-o pana la final

[Rroyce333 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author does NOT know their history. Pathetic childish writing to attack a loving Faith. SHAME ON YOU!

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Got to page 119 and lost interest. The plot seemed interesting on the book jacket, but the author failed, miserably in executing it!

[David Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real page turner and interesting about the sale of Nazi stolen art from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Lots of violence though.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Lost Van Gogh had an interesting but poorly executed premise, the cover is correct when calling this book a "rollercoaster" but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

The first part of the book is verbose with unnecessary details and flowery sophisticated language that wasn't fitting with the story or the characters, sounding pretentious and adding nothing to the narrative. This writing style petered off after a hundred or so pages, which was allowed for a better flow but didn't solve the pacing problems of this book. While the slow nature of police investigations was realistic the pacing issues made it an effort to finish.

Many of the plot elements were unrealistic the first major unrealistic element was that Hickey would be so insistent that the case was closed after the repeated attacks on Rachel. They never got a clear answer on the sender and with such high profile around the painting and the NYPD's help in returning it, you would think the DI would want all issues surrounding it fully resolved. But then again the entire plot made no real sense anyway.... the Nazi torturer who needed the money from the painting but didn't want to sell it (or was it he wanted his son to be the legitimate owner it wasn't really clear what exactly he wanted) and had seemingly endless resources to plot at least 8 years in advance and kill dozens of people - it was just a very out there and unbelievable plot. On top of that literally every auction house and art seller interested in the painting was corrupt, two of the biggest houses were made up of Holocaust opportunists and thieves while the other action house was corrupt - there was too much going on in that area with the Yakuza and everything else it just became too murky and unbelievable. I could go on but I have nothing good to say about this book other than I appreciated the realistic pacing of the investigation where it is solved over years and not days.

Overall this book is a hodgepodge mess of nonsense that is difficult to get through and ultimately not worth the effort.

[Deneen Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those books you start and then finish because you feel there must be something more and you don't want to feel that you have wasted your time reading the first few hundred pages. The writing is very verbose and I found myself skimming entire paragraphs because they didn't add to the story. The entire background of his father, mother and brother could have been deleted without impacting the story line in the least. And the whole thing about how he felt the other officers and commander treated him? I questioned his manhood really. I did enjoy the historical aspects of the book, which is why it got 3 stars instead of 2. And the fact that I actually finished it.

[Rick Elinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I read the whole thing! This is a highway-car-crash novel - you know you shouldn't keep reading but you can't help it. The Zerries have thrown everything into this stew - Nazi confiscated art, Manhattan dogs, art theft, gay pride parade, bombing, secret identities, art auctions and a dark art market, rich people, car crash death on the Long Island Expressway, NYU, Navy SEAL diving, photography, rape, murder, disgraced police officer, boating, etc. etc. etc. Adding to this gemisch, a crucial part of the story takes place in Lloyds Harbor on Long Island Sound. I live about 4 miles from that house, on the road that crosses Lloyds Neck to Lloyds Harbor.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing thriller so intense at times I had to stop reading. The story of two paintings by Van Gogh and their incredibly dark history- both stolen by an evil Nazi who sold one to make his escape at the end of WWII. The other
“Miraculous” returns to it’s rightful owner but the Nazi continued to weave his terror with a years, decades long plan to try to bring the painting to the open market. Caught in his web are the surviving relative and a cop who would not give up trying to figure everything out.

[Linda Smatzny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an art mystery that features stolen paintings, murder, Nazi killers, looted paintings and kidnapping. Most of the story takes place in the New York area. One of the detectives on the case can't get it out of head even if the police department considers the case closed. The book was an easy read.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

I kept with it hoping it would be better but skip reading the more verbose sections. Poorly constructed and boring in most parts. The action was unbelievable, the art aspect not very entertaining, and the writing only so so. A waste of time but marginally readable if staying close to home semi isolated by a pandemic.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read many books about WWII and a few books about Van Gogh and enjoyed them all immensely, so I had high expectations for this book. It did not live up to those expectations, it was okay but nothing special. I figured out the basic plot fairly early on so it seemed to move a bit slow.

[Marcia Ditter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into this book.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder mystery involving a lot of modern Jewish history. While this is about a murder, it's really about the Shoah and the theft of Jewish art by the Nazis.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a great mystery. It ties in elements of nazis in hiding and the path they took to escape. Has a great driving force to it.

[Suanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me of Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon series, but grittier and less intellectual. An enjoyable read. Couldn't put it down.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started slow but picked up about halfway through the book. Lots of twists at the end.

[Susan]

The beginning and the ending of this book were fantastic - lot's of exciting action. The middle kind of dragged out a bit.

[Koralia Timotheou · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best books I have ever read

[Matt Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very captivating thriller.

[Marie Raffl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books on art, WWII lost art and mysteries - this book has them all. I couldn't put it down- although it did get a bit gruesome in a few parts.

[Flavio De · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contém história interessante sobre artes e a Segunda guerra mundial. Script um pouco Hollywoodiano.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book in June of 2012. I finished it yesterday. It’s not that I've been reading one page a day for the last year or so; I just started on it, got about halfway through it, and then found something else to read. And then something else. And so on and so on. That might suggest that the book wasn't all that interesting, but it was just a matter of not really wanting to read, period, and that when I finally did want to, I was reading other things. But since I had reached the halfway point, and it was at least interesting enough for me to wonder what happened in the end, I finally picked it back up and decided to finish it.

The story is about two van Gogh paintings that have been missing since World War II, and the wild ride that takes place when one of them shows up at a dealer's office by FedEx. Clay Rider works for the NYPD, and his specialty is in art crimes, so of course he’s put on the case. He spends time tracking down where it came from, who sent it, how they got it, etc., which is a pretty big deal since this is one of two famously missing works by van Gogh. He eventually works out a line of ownership, which ends with a woman who lives in New York. She waffles over what to do with it (many major art dealers are trying to convince her to sell it), and she finally decides to keep it after hosting a big to-do at a gallery to introduce the painting to the world. Once she does, through, the story turns from a police procedural novel to a thriller of sorts, as suddenly the woman is the target of many attacks.

Now, I mentioned above that I read the first half of the novel and then set it aside for something different. All that I described above, up to the gallery exhibition, takes place in the first half of the book. The second half is the thriller part, which is an examination of the black market art underworld. The first half is entertaining and interesting, and is a bit more cerebral as Ryder has to track down who owned the paintings in the past. The second half is compelling and intriguing, due to the action and the setup of events. It took me by surprise — there's a twist that was unexpected, but turned out not to be out of place — and from then on, I had to see how the events played out.

The book winds up feeling like two different stories, which is good and bad. The way I read the book, the division was so clear and the time passed so great that I didn't feel like it was disjointed. Had I read it all at once, I might feel differently. But the two parts work well together, and they complement each other perfectly. You can't have the action without the investigation, and the way the authors (A.J. Zerries is a pen-name for a husband-wife writing team) created the backstory was pretty impressive. I don't know much about van Gogh, but apparently these two paintings really exist, and they really did go missing for a number of years. The true story is different from what the authors put together, but everything, from the start of the novel to the end, was put together so it was all important in one way or another.

The story reads like a beach read, but it's not quite as compelling as other beach read novels. The first half of the novel was a bit slower, and even when the action got underway in the second half, large chunks of the story were dialogue dumps where one character brought the others (and the reader) up to speed. It was necessary, but it slowed down the action, because those bits were so complex that they would take several pages to cover.

The characters were also less vivid than I'm used to. They weren't bad characters, nor were they inconsistent (that I can recall), but they just weren't as lively. I rooted for the protagonists, but there wasn't as much of an emotional attachment as I would have liked there to be. It was enough to keep me interested, but not so much that I couldn't wait a year to see what happened in the end.

It's hard to recommend it, despite what I liked about it. This isn't a memorable book, and I imagine there are other books out there in its two genres that are better than this. I don't regret reading it, but it's just not great enough to recommend it wholeheartedly. If you're into art and police novels, though, it's at least worth investigating.

[Occhi Aperti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good paced yarn that ties historical events with 9/11. Fun and quick read.