I happened upon The Lost van Gogh unexpectantly when the author, Jonathan Santlofer, was a guest on one of Jane Cleland’s “Mastering Writing Craft” free webinars, held monthly, which I regularly attend and highly recommend to anyone interested in writing fiction.
What first drew me to this thriller was its dual timeline – contemporary and historical. Since I’m currently working on a mystery that invokes similar elements, I was interested in how this successful author intertwined them. I was not disappointed on that front, but it was the story itself about solen-art and its deep historical roots that kept me coming back.
I would recommend this action-packed thriller to anyone interested in the world of art, past and present. However, the audio version threw me off a bit, taking me longer than usual to get into the novel. Once I did, I was hooked. Sometimes narrators enhance a story for me and sometimes they don’t. So, this month, I also learned I should always listen to the audio sample before selecting it over print.
Author Joyce Carol Oates sums up The Lost van Gogh this way: “Ingeniously plotted, irresistibly readable, brimming with inside information about the high-stakes art world of theft, forgery, and murder.” I second that.
