Tammy M. (Tamsbooks) reviewed on 12/17/2011 + 39 more book reviews

Here is a story of a thief. Granted, the John Gilkey loves books, but he is still a thief, nonetheless. I felt more strongly as I read this tale that his stature should in no way be mitigated by the title, which somehow suggests that his thievery was a crime of passion.

No. Here is a man who brazenly buys books with stolen credit card numbers but who says he does not check out rare books from a library to sell in the rare-book market because, that would be stealing. What???

Probably I should be curious about how such a mind works and what motivates people to do such crimes. But Im not. At least not in his case. The fact that he continues to do so after numerous stints in prison simply leaves me with a sense of futility.

Though the story is compellingly written, in the end, I was sorry I spent so much time with a character who seems incapable of wrestling with his crimes or his compulsion to commit them.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details