Paul Hoppe's The Curse of Van Gogh, part of the BookSparks 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, is a fast-paced, suspenseful, wild ride through the art world. And even if you do not know a van Gogh from a Picasso, or a Manet from a Monet, not to worry; this book is for anyone who loves a good thriller. Writing about art theft seems to be a trend right now, as I have read two books recently (B.A. Shapiro's The Art Forger and The Girl You Left Behind from JoJo Moyes) that deal with similar themes.
The book opens in Nazi Germany with a horrific accident involving a young man who is carrying a stolen van Gogh painting, and later we find out that this story has been circulating for years as support for the rumored "curse of van Gogh," where anyone who owns one of his paintings is doomed to either become possessed or meet a terrible end.
Cut to New York City just before the dawn of the new millennium, and we are introduced to Tyler Sears, a bartender at the Art Bar, who is just out of prison and the recipient of a mysterious invitation to a swanky event at a new building whose lobby doubles as an art gallery. As the messenger informs Ty, he is known to be good at handling matters that require the utmost discretion, which is why Komate Imasu, a billionaire art collector and chairman of a powerful global corporation, wants to meet with him.
At the reception, Imasu "suggests" (threatens) to Ty that he should do a job for him involving van Gogh's Starry Night, and in the course of the conversation lets it be known that he has way too much information about Ty's family and complicated, tragic past. That same night, Ty also runs into Lucy, a woman from years ago that he loved (and left) in Paris. Still feeling the attraction, she pulls a business card from the top of her Italian leather boots, a move that I need to try one of these days.
Will Ty agree to Imasu's plan, or will he counter with an offer of attempting to pull off an art heist for the ages? As the web tightens around him, is there anyone in his life that Tyler can trust? Can he ever tell Lucy the truth? Will he live to see tomorrow? And how about the femme fatale he meets on a train who is known as Chanel No. 5? Not only was Tyler drenched in sweat and fear at certain times of the book, so was I. As you make your way through this smart and stylish thriller, you might feel like the web is tightening around you.
The BooksSparks bio on the author says: "Paul Hoppe worked as a lobbyist in Washington DC, a stockbroker on Wall Street, and a screenwriter in Hollywood before writing his first novel. He has lived on four different continents and currently splits his time between the High Sierras and the beaches of Australia." Reading The Curse of Van Gogh, you can definitely see how he has written what he knows, and that he has a great love of the arts. I really loved how descriptive the novel was, with tons of details about famous paintings, gadgets used to pull of heists, buildings, and cities, and lots of references to classical music and poetry. At times, I felt like I was walking the streets of NYC and DC with Tyler, who I pictured as a cross between George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven, Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl, and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief (which is mentioned in the book).
Initially, it took me a minute to get into this book, but once I got sucked in I was hooked. Like, did not want to do the dishes, shower, work, or go to sleep so I could keep reading kind of hooked. And like The Da Vinci Code, many of the chapters are short, so you think, "Let me just read one more. And one more. And just one more..." I do want to give you a heads up that there are some graphic descriptions of violence, but you can easily skim over those parts if you are faint-hearted.
I have heard that this is the first in a series of books that Mr. Hoppe is planning to write, all involving art and museums, and I look forward to what will be coming next from him! And, inspired by The Curse of Van Gogh, I signed up to take a course on Expressionsim at Lacma. Although, unlike Tyler, I will NOT be planning on taking any masterpieces home with me...
