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A.J. ZerriesPUBLISHED WORKSTHE LOST VAN GOGH Tor/Forge 2006, hardcover Translation and film rights controlled by BBA. A Van Gogh portrait from his last years, long believed lost, suddenly shows up, as a UPS package in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. That’s the premise of “The Lost Van Gogh,” a headlong thriller by A. J. Zerries that pits a New York cop who is also an art expert (and a former Navy Seal) against ruthless art dealers and auction houses—as well as a sinister villain whose grasp on the $50 million painting goes all the way back to his life as a sadistic SS officer in World War II. "A great roller-coaster of a thriller . . . . The Lost Van Gogh is a masterful bend of suspense and police procedural, with a touch of history brilliantly added to give the tale resonance. Bravo!" - Jeffery Deaver "A fascinating look into the world of stolen art, The Lost Van Gogh, with its intricate and well-researched plot, will keep you engrossed and intrigued until the last page. A.J. Zerries uses a deft touch to create a tense and clever story that rises high above the usual art theft caper. This one will leave you breathless." - Nelson DeMille As the "Art Cop," NYPD detective Clay Ryder doesn't get much respect at headquarters. Not only does he appear to have a cushy beat, he's considered stuck-up, when, in reality, he is filled with remorse over the death of his wife. Not that he has time to brood once two priceless paintings are stolen from a Central Park penthouse, and a previously unknown van Gogh shows up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This smart, emotionally loaded, and strongly anchored art caper is the work of first-time wife and husband coauthors. Not only have the Zerries made powerful use of the always alluring stolen masterpiece motif, they have also cleverly, and affectingly, linked it to the Nazi pillaging of Jewish-owned art treasures, conjuring up an especially barbaric SS officer believed to have escaped to Argentina, the clever Mossad agents on his trail, and the heir to the van Gogh portrait, Rachel Meredith, a fetching and all-too-trusting film history professor. Great action sequences, complicated characters, swanky settings, dramatic betrayals, and intriguing art history make for a suspenseful and provocative tale about the perplexing union of beauty and evil. Booklist*STAR* |
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