Customer Reviews

The Goring Collection

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I can't believe this book has such great reviews! I had to give up less than 50 pages in because it was so terribly written.

As someone who has studied art crime for years and works in the field, I was surprised that I hadn't heard of this book until recently. Now I know why. The number of grammatical errors made this impossible to read. A sample sentence: "But as doctor's bills piled up, just to make ends meet; he occasionally sold pot and cocaine on the street to supplement his income." I wish I was making this up! On top of the errors, there are a number of asides concerning the Civil War and character history that are completely unnecessary to the plot line. And the writing feels stilted and boring.

So few novels are written about art crime and I really wanted to like this book. It was simply unreadable. Don't waste your time or money.

The book, "The Goring Collection," by Tom Barnes is well-researched and fast-paced with a series of interesting events, building up to a very exciting climax. It made me, a former graduate student in history, to think about how and why the Nazis established a system of stealing valuable art pieces from innocent Jewish victims, under the pretext of "confiscating the illegal artifacts from the so-called criminals." It kept me reading without stopping.

This is a well-researched and crafted mystery which will appeal to any art lover or fan of quality stories. The author goes into great detail to tell the story of how several famous paintings disappeared after World War II. The work of undercover detectives finally solves the mystery, but not without some dramatic twists and turns in the story which will keep the reader trying to guess the outcome.

Some readers may have forgotten or never knew that Hermann Goring, Hitler's ruthless second in command, was in charge of looting and hiding thousands of museum paintings created by some of Europe's most famous artists and some whose work would become more valuable during proceeding decades. They have become known as The Goring Collection. Hundreds of these paintings are still missing today.

Tom Barnes has written a well researched, exciting story initiated by a stolen painting. Jacob Meyers saw his father's Pissarro among the paintings at The Old World Auction House in Manhattan. When he starts asking questions, the painting disappears. Since Mayers owns an intelligence agency, he immediately alerts Interpol . Two paintings, a Manet and a Cezanne sold as copies by an international cartel in Berlin show up at the Berghoff Gallery in Chicago. Mayers's agency investigates this con game of the cartel from a mansion in the state of Georgia across the country to a notorious odds maker in Las Vegas. The action and excitement of the story are propelled by the characters in the agency who are tracking the stolen paintings. Their intriguing personalities and working relationships make you hope the author writes a sequel to allow them to solve more international mysteries.

Very much enjoyed this book, with great characters that you can truly relate to, wonderful, plausible, thought-provoking story line and many twists and turns to keep interest peeking. Terrific read.