The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan SantloferMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received an ARC of this book.
I am in the minority, but I did not like this book at all. I tried. I slogged through it. But it just seemed like a straight-to-home-video movie, instead of a summer-blockbuster mystery/action/thriller.
The quest that the main character, Luke, goes on to try to discover just exactly what happened when his great-grandfather stole the Mona Lisa just wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested. The characters were all two-dimensional and I felt no connection to them. Their motivations did not seem organic or realistic. The action scenes felt tacked-on. The chapters alternated points-of-view and narrators, and so switched from first person present-tense, to third person past-tense, to third person present-tense, and it felt jarring every time. My least favorite chapters were the ones narrator by Vincent. To me he came across as a self-absorbed, self-pitying, melodramatic guy who believed he was a great artist and should not be expected to take a "menial" job that would actually provide for his wife and unborn child. I had no patience with him. (For that matter, I didn't really like Luke, either. And don't get me started on Alex. Their insta-love was not at all believable.)
I would not recommend this book. But I know a lot of people have really enjoyed it. So what can I say? Maybe you'll love it, and maybe you won't. I certainly didn't.
View all my reviews
The quest that the main character, Luke, goes on to try to discover just exactly what happened when his great-grandfather stole the Mona Lisa just wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested. The characters were all two-dimensional and I felt no connection to them. Their motivations did not seem organic or realistic. The action scenes felt tacked-on. The chapters alternated points-of-view and narrators, and so switched from first person present-tense, to third person past-tense, to third person present-tense, and it felt jarring every time. My least favorite chapters were the ones narrator by Vincent. To me he came across as a self-absorbed, self-pitying, melodramatic guy who believed he was a great artist and should not be expected to take a "menial" job that would actually provide for his wife and unborn child. I had no patience with him. (For that matter, I didn't really like Luke, either. And don't get me started on Alex. Their insta-love was not at all believable.)
I would not recommend this book. But I know a lot of people have really enjoyed it. So what can I say? Maybe you'll love it, and maybe you won't. I certainly didn't.
View all my reviews
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