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Robert Mallon has lived for ten quiet years in affluent Santa Barbara, when an encounter on a beach with a mysterious young woman shatters his peaceful, carefully constructed life. Despite Mallon's desperate attempts, he loses her and becomes obsessed with discovering why. He hires detective Lydia Marks to uncover the secrets of this stranger's life, and what they learn propels them into a terrifying world of sinister secrets and deadly hatreds.
Thirteen bodies are found in a Louisville restaurant. When the police can find no suspect or motive, the family of one of the victims seeks the services of the enigmatic and solitary specialist Roy Prescott, known for his ability to find people who don't want to be found.
When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn't the man she thought she married?
Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own. It's none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he's been ordered to take out Kramer's widow, he figures there's a bigger secret at work - and maybe a bigger payoff.
A careful, methodical young data analyst for a California insurance company, John Walker knows when people will marry, at what age they will most likely have children, and when they will die. All signs point to a long successful career---until Max Stillman, a gruff security consultant, appears without warning at the office. It seems a colleague with whom Walker once had an affair has disappeared after paying a very large death benefit to an impostor.
When Leroy "Chinese" Gordon breaks into a professor's lab at the University of Los Angeles, he's after some pharmaceutical cocaine, worth plenty of money. Instead, he finds the papers the professor has compiled for the CIA, which include a blueprint for throwing a large city into chaos. But how is the CIA to be persuaded to pay a suitable ransom, unless of course someone actually uses the plan to throw a large city into chaos - Los Angeles, for instance?
Six years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy Harper disappear. But now her ex-boyfriend and former business partner, Eric Fuller, is being framed for her presumed murder in an effort to smoke her out, and Till must find her before tango-dancing assassins Paul and Sylvie Turner do. With masterful plotting and unnerving psychological insight, Thomas Perry delivers another mesmerizing thrill ride.
Robert Mallon has lived for ten quiet years in affluent Santa Barbara, when an encounter on a beach with a mysterious young woman shatters his peaceful, carefully constructed life. Despite Mallon's desperate attempts, he loses her and becomes obsessed with discovering why. He hires detective Lydia Marks to uncover the secrets of this stranger's life, and what they learn propels them into a terrifying world of sinister secrets and deadly hatreds.
Thirteen bodies are found in a Louisville restaurant. When the police can find no suspect or motive, the family of one of the victims seeks the services of the enigmatic and solitary specialist Roy Prescott, known for his ability to find people who don't want to be found.
When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn't the man she thought she married?
Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own. It's none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he's been ordered to take out Kramer's widow, he figures there's a bigger secret at work - and maybe a bigger payoff.
A careful, methodical young data analyst for a California insurance company, John Walker knows when people will marry, at what age they will most likely have children, and when they will die. All signs point to a long successful career---until Max Stillman, a gruff security consultant, appears without warning at the office. It seems a colleague with whom Walker once had an affair has disappeared after paying a very large death benefit to an impostor.
When Leroy "Chinese" Gordon breaks into a professor's lab at the University of Los Angeles, he's after some pharmaceutical cocaine, worth plenty of money. Instead, he finds the papers the professor has compiled for the CIA, which include a blueprint for throwing a large city into chaos. But how is the CIA to be persuaded to pay a suitable ransom, unless of course someone actually uses the plan to throw a large city into chaos - Los Angeles, for instance?
Six years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy Harper disappear. But now her ex-boyfriend and former business partner, Eric Fuller, is being framed for her presumed murder in an effort to smoke her out, and Till must find her before tango-dancing assassins Paul and Sylvie Turner do. With masterful plotting and unnerving psychological insight, Thomas Perry delivers another mesmerizing thrill ride.
When the cousin of Los Angeles underworld figure Hugo Poole is found shot to death in his Portland, Oregon, home, police find nothing at the scene of the crime except several long strands of blonde hair hinting that a second victim may have been involved. Hotel security tapes from the victim's last vacation reveal an out-of-focus picture of a young blond woman entering and leaving his room. Could she also be a murder victim?
Thomas Perry's Edgar Award-winning debut novel follows a professional hitman on the run from both the mafia and the government.
Jane Whitefield is a Native American guide who leads solitary outcasts through hostile territory to escape the vengeance of their enemies. But the shaded forest paths her Seneca ancestors might have followed on such missions have all been converted to superhighways, and now the safest way stations are crowded urban buildings that offer the camouflage of anonymity. Still, the supply of runaways - and the need for a woman who will take great risks to save them - have never been greater.
An aging but formidable strip-club owner, Claudiu "Manco" Kapak, has been robbed by a masked gunman as he placed his cash receipts in a bank's night-deposit box. Enraged, he sends his half-dozen security men out to find a suspect who is spending lots of cash and is new enough to Los Angeles not to know he was robbing a gangster.
To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big mutts and a grown daughter he keeps in touch with by phone. But most 60-year-old widowers don't have multiple driver's licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country, and a bugout kit with two Beretta Nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run.
Riske is a freelance industrial spy who, despite his job title, lives a mostly quiet life above his auto garage in central London. He has avoided big, messy jobs - until now. A gangster by the name of Tino Coluzzi - once a compatriot of Riske - has orchestrated the greatest street heist in the history of Paris: a visiting Saudi prince had his pockets lightened of millions in cash, and something else. Hidden within a stolen briefcase is a secret letter that could upend the balance of power in the Western world. The Russians have already killed in an attempt to get it back.
Who is Nola Brown? Nola is a mystery. Nola is trouble. And Nola is supposed to be dead. Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she's dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Lord Alexander Hawke is a direct descendant of the legendary English pirate Blackhawke and highly skilled in the cutthroat's deadly ways himself. While still a boy, on a voyage to the Caribbean, Alex Hawke witnesses an act of unspeakable horror. Hidden in a secret compartment on his father's yacht, Alex sees his parents brutally murdered by three modern-day pirates. It is an event that will haunt him for the remainder of his life. Now, fully grown and one of England's most decorated naval heroes, Hawke is back in the same Caribbean waters on a secret mission for the American government.
Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets - i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.
Virgil Flowers kicked around for a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff." He's been doing the hard stuff for three years now, but never anything like this.
Court Gentry is known as The Gray Man - a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible, and then fading away. And he always hits his target. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. Now, he is going to prove that for him, there's no gray area between killing for a living-and killing to stay alive.
Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none, as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor. But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn.
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.
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.
26 of 26 people found this review helpful
What did you like best about Forty Thieves? What did you like least?
Liked best = overall set up of story
Liked least = the ending and the unending shoot outs throughout
What was most disappointing about Thomas Perry’s story?
Felt the ending to be quite unsatisfactory. Don't want to print a spoiler but, personally, I felt the ending was like a Saturday Nigh Live sketch that was entertaining throughout but then suddenly ends as if the writers ran out of material.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Strange accent - almost "country" - and little difference between characters.
Could you see Forty Thieves being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
As a matter of fact, I could see the basic "hero" characters in a comic-trip type of series. (Like Castle)
17 of 18 people found this review helpful
I have refrained over the years with respect to the butchering of words - however in this rendering, where the reader tells us, not once but twice, wherein the 'barrister' and not the 'barista' is producing a delightful Starbuck's beverage makes one scream in disbelief.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
Sid & Ronnie Able (white hat detectives) meet Ed & Nicole Hoyt (black hat assassins). The pairing's a bit forced for Perry who's usually faultless in his story telling. While I listened to the end, over a long vacation drive, I'd expected more from the Ables and less from the Hoyts. From time to time, Perry suffers from a soft spot in his heart for his villains. This is one of those.
On balance, I'd probably not have bought this book knowing what I do now. Maybe you should pass it up as well. Regardless, I won't spoil the thinner-than-usual Perry-plot by explaining why.
31 of 35 people found this review helpful
Would you listen to Forty Thieves again? Why?
I will listen to it again. And I am sure it will entertain me just as much on the second go-around. It was fun and a new storyline. Listening to it brought back old movies, like the Thin Man series. His Girl Friday. Love a husband and wife team, or a couple team.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Forty Thieves?
Ed & Nicole letting Sid and Ronnie slip by without shooting them when they had the chance. And Ed & Nicole going back to the house to shoot the Russians. I would have kept on going.
What about Peter Berkrot’s performance did you like?
I think it was a pretty good performance. He didn't try to over perform on the reading.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I laughed in parts of the book. I had sympathy for Sid & Ronnie's losses of her house and possessions. Experienced some of that myself.
Any additional comments?
Storyline moves along and kept me listening. I would rewinding and go back over parts during the listen to chuckle at the humor or just because I wanted to hear it again. I enjoyed this book. i hope Mr. Perry does more like this book. I enjoyed the twists he created in the story for the characters. I echo what Ken C said in his review. Good for the beach, airplane, pool, etc...
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
Good story, moved along, no steamy sec scenes, thank you and the story stood on its own merits. Will look for this author again.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
The is story had a good plot line. The best narrator is interesting and keeps the flow going. There were few lag spots. I recommend it and would read it again.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful
I started listening to Thomas Perry with The Old Man, and have followed him along on a few more. This one is one of my favorites. You immediately like Sid and Ronnie Abel, the investigators, and you are drawn into liking their adversaries Ed and Nicole Hoyt in spite of the latter being pretty much heartless assassins. You assume this is your standard morality play, but Mr. Perry has a different idea in mind.
One thing I like about Perry is that his characters are not plastic and interchangeable. Many authors simply use the same stick figures and put different names on them (here inner the name of any historical fiction or Harebrained Romance novel). Mr. Perry puts a lot of thought into who these folks are before he writes about him. It's this meticulousness that shows in his story.
Having seen that Mr. Perry has created a few series characters, I was hoping to see another one in his list where Sid and Ronnie or Ed and Nicole came back for an encore. I hope he considers doing this. This was a very enjoyable book, and the narration was also very good.
This is one of those that you'll want to listen to all the way through, and then listen to a second time to appreciate the author's command of the environment and his voice.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
The story line is just completely lost in the banal banter of two couples who are so lustfully in love after being married for quite a few years that it's just boring. After 8 chapters it's just ridiculous to waste my listening on this book. The poor man who died has just been tossed aside.
And the narrator is just as bad as the story line and the sex lives of the two middle to late middle age couples. His portrayal of the throaty women is just plain irritating.
I bought this book either on sale or on the Audible Book of the Day Deal, which shows how this book ended up on the $2.96 sale price. It's so bad I'm not even going to get a refund. I'm done with it.
Run from this book.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What disappointed you about Forty Thieves?
Do you like mystery novels to only show the detective's POV? If so, this is not for you.
Both the villains and the heroes are too conveniently perfect, and cloyingly sweet with each other, especially for the circumstances.
How could the performance have been better?
The performer's voice did not work for me at all when the POV was with one of the female characters… which is at least half of the book. He would have been great for a Spencer book or similar.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
Meh.
Any additional comments?
Nope.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful