Forty Thieves

By: Thomas Perry

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

From Thomas Perry, the New York Times best-selling author of the Jane Whitefield series, comes a whip-smart and lethally paced standalone novel, Forty Thieves.

Sid and Ronnie Abel are a first-rate husband-and-wife detective team, both retirees of the LAPD. Ed and Nicole Hoyt are married assassins for hire living in the San Fernando Valley. Except for deadly aim with a handgun, the two couples have little in common - until they are both hired to do damage control on the same murder case. The previous spring, after days of torrential rain, a body was recovered from one of the city's overwhelmed storm sewers. The victim was identified as James Ballantine, a middle-aged African American who worked as a research scientist for a prestigious company and was well liked by his colleagues. But two bullets to the back of the head looked like nothing if not foul play.

Now, with the case turning cold, Ballantine's former employers bring in the Abels to succeed where the police have failed while the Hoyts' mysterious contractors want to make sure that the facts about Ballantine's death stay hidden. As the book races toward a high-octane climax, the Abels must fend for their own lives as they circle ever closer to the truth.

©2016 Thomas Perry. Produced by arrangement with The Mysterious Press, an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Perry keeps readers engrossed with wickedly smart protagonists.... [He] can really write." ( San Francisco Examiner)

"There are probably half a dozen suspense writers now alive who can be depended upon to deliver high-voltage shocks, vivid, sympathetic characters, and compelling narrative...Perry is one of them." (Stephen King)

Serviceable job with implausible story

Some of the author's protagonists in other books are better drawn and more interesting. Managing two opposing couples in this book was a hard assignment, and none of them as an individual really makes much of an impression. Instead of interaction, the author has the couples use "banter," which is usually juvenile and forced. Another shortcoming is inaccuracy, unrealism and unfamiliarity with firearms and combat shooting, which is routine in this kind of literature, and only bothers readers who know the actual disciplines. Perry's stronger skill is working out the logic of criminal identity management and some law enforcement procedures, which he has obviously tried to research, at least superficially. All together a decent story with enough twists to be interesting, if not believable. The reader, unfortunately, is not one of my favorites.

Maggielynn

Good story and narration. Easy to follow while working In the house. I will be looking for more by this author.

Not great

Interesting premise and promise but might be the worst of the 7-8 Perry books that I have read.

A Solid Suspense Novel

This is my first book by Thomas Perry. The idea of a husband and wife private investigator team who were former LAPD officers against a husband and wife assassin team intrigued me. This hooked me into buying the book.

I think it is great that the P.I. duo of Sid and Veronica Abel have been married for thirty years and have children and grandchildren. It gets tiresome to always have young beautiful heroes. Ed and Nicole Hoyt are the assassin team, not sure of their ages but maybe middle aged. Nicole is the sharpshooter and bomb maker and Ed is a former military instructor with multiple talents. Nicole attended a camp to train people for the military and help them decide if they want a military career. She discovered that she was a natural sharpshooter able to handle a variety of guns. Needless to say, Nicole did not go into the military but joined Ed as an assassin team.

Perry takes these interesting characters and puts them into a fast paced story with a carefully build plot that twists and turns. The suspense builds up constantly as we follow both couples throughout the story. I noted that Perry provides interesting tips in the story such as how to climb a staircase without making a sound. Perry has two sets of interesting characters; I wonder if this will be a stand alone book or will he launch these characters into one or two series. Peter Berkrot does a great job narrating the book.

Another Thomas Perry hit.

This is my third Thomas Perry book in a row, and all three have been entertaining and engaging from start to finish. Great narration and writing with plenty of action populated with a variety of interesting characters. I even like the way this one ended.