The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer #bookreview

Thank you to Thoughts from a Page, Sourcebooks Landmark, #partner, for an advanced  e-copy of The Lost Van Gogh in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Published: January 2, 2024

Summary:

From the author of the much-praised The Last Mona Lisa comes another thrilling story of masterpieces, masterminds, and mystery.

For years, there have been whispers that, before his death, Van Gogh completed a final self-portrait. Curators and art historians have savored this rumor, hoping it could illuminate some of the troubled artist’s many secrets, but even they have to concede that the missing painting is likely lost forever.

But when Luke Perrone, artist and great-grandson of the man who stole the Mona Lisa, and Alexis Verde, daughter of a notorious art thief, discover what may be the missing portrait, they are drawn into a most epic art puzzles. When only days later the painting disappears again, they are reunited with INTERPOL agent John Washington Smith in a dangerous and deadly search that will not only expose secrets of the artist’s last days but draws them into one of history’s darkest eras.

Beneath the paint and canvas, beneath the beauty and the legend, the artwork has become linked with something evil, something that continues to flourish on the dark web and on the shadiest corridors of the underground art world.

My thoughts:

This book wasn’t even on my radar until Cindy from the Thoughts From a Page Podcast selected it for her Early Reads Patreon group to read. This is why I love participating in this early reads program as it exposes me to such great books!

I love reading books about the art world and this one was so fascinating. I ended up learning so much about Van Gogh that I did not know. This book, which I would classify as a historical mystery, focuses on the supported lost self-portrait of Van Gogh that went missing right around his death, but also delves into so much more. Moving back and forth from the present day to the past, it takes us on quite a journey into the art world bringing up issues of stolen art and forgeries.

I will say that there are a lot of characters in this book and it did take me a while to get them all straight. But, once I did, I quite enjoyed the story and loved that it was fast-paced and very engaging. The book takes some twists that I was not expecting and I quite enjoyed that – it certainly kept me on my toes, for sure!

I’m glad I gave this one a chance and I found out that this is a companion novel to Santlofer’s first book, The Last Mona Lisa, where a few of the characters are first introduced. I am definitely going to have to check that one out. I know nothing about that painting and can only imagine what I would learn from that book!