Forty Thieves by Thomas Perry
Published by Grove Atlantic/Mysterious Press on January 8, 2016
I had a lukewarm reaction to the last Thomas Perry novel I read. I was more entertained by Forty Thieves. It’s a fun, light, offbeat story with a surprising but credible plot.
The body of a food scientist washes up in an LA sewer. A year later, the police are no closer to solving the man’s murder. Nothing that the police learned about his life supplied a motive for his death. Looking for answers, the scientist’s employer retains Sid and Veronica Abel, two detectives who specialize in unsolved crimes. To find out why the scientist was killed, the Abels need to uncover the hidden truths of his life.
The Abels aren’t quite Nick and Nora Charles but they do engage in friendly banter, mocking each other in the way that married people do. So do Ed and Nicole Hoyt, but they are assassins rather than detectives. Of course, the Hoyts and the Abels quickly cross paths and continue to do so as the story unfolds.
The story draws interesting parallels between the two couples. Both couples have similar experiences during the course of the novel and have similar emotional responses to those experiences. I think Thomas Perry is making the point that people are defined by more than good or bad behavior. Whether they make good choices (like solving murders) or bad choices (like committing murders), people are still people. That’s always a good message (and not a common one in thrillers, which tend to turn villains into caricatures).
The characters are the strength of Forty Thieves, but the plot threads are all intriguing. The Abels need to puzzle out why the food scientist was killed and why the Hoyts (among others) are trying to kill them. The Hoyts need to puzzle out why they have hired to commit certain crimes and (of course) why someone is trying to kill them. Both couples pursue investigations that converge in a way that is more believable than most modern thrillers manage.
The story moves at a good pace and it leads to a satisfying conclusion. It’s also quite amusing. If you’re looking for a story that delivers chills and suspense, this isn’t it, but as a light crime story about likable characters, it works well.
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