The Van Gogh Deception

Lost Art Mysteries Series, Book 1

By: Deron Hicks

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

A Sunshine State Young Readers Award nominee

Dan Brown meets Jason Bourne in this riveting middle-grade mystery thriller. When a young boy is discovered in Washington DC's National Gallery without any recollection of who he is, so begins a high-stakes race to unravel the greatest mystery of all: his identity.

As the stakes continue to rise, the boy must piece together the disjointed clues of his origins while using his limited knowledge to stop one of the greatest art frauds ever attempted.

©2017 Deron Hicks (P)2020 Tantor

Great story, so so narration.

I seldom write reviews, but I would recommend you read this one in print. It is an exciting story of Art Fraud. The characters are interesting. But I absolutely had to force myself to listen all the way through. PJ Ochlan does a fair job with the voice characterization, but when it comes to the exposition, of which there is much, he is dull, dull, dull. The exact same emphasis and drop In timbre for every single sentence.

Excellent for middle school student

My husband and I always read/listen to each book assigned to my grandson for his summer reading before he begins the book. It is sad to say that many of the options from the summer reading list are worthy only of the trash bin. Many have dumbed down sentence structures, verbose passages, simplistic plots, and bland characters.
However, The Van Gogh Deception is an exception. It is fast paced, has two interwoven character perspectives, intelligent children, surprising twists, intrigue, creative solutions to problems, and targeted dialogue. The children are respectful and responsible. My husband and I read it and liked it so much that we both finish it the same day we started.
I definitely recommend. ….and I plan to download the sequel for my own listening pleasure.
Well done! Thank you!

Excellent story. Terrible narrator.

The narrator was difficult to listen to and I only stuck with it due to the excellent plot.

Great book!!!!

Very good book no cap!! Very interesting and it is so easy to put your self in the situation because all of the details! No Cap🧢🧢🧢🧢

Compelling Storyline, Static Narration

We all enjoyed listening to the story and were well entertained by the narrative throughout. It is a bit of a cross between a pre-teen Jason Bourne (without the terror and brainwashing) and some City Spies cleverness. However the narrator reads this as though he's reading back a police report, very dry and every sentence sounds the same.