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A review by eesh25
How to Steal a Thief by A.J. Sherwood
4.0
What to say about this book...? Most of my feelings toward it are positive. And one's a tiny bit less so. But I want to start with a warning, just because I read a review by someone who could've benefitted from it. Besides, the author gave it in the synopsis, too.
Basically... don't take the book seriously. I know that doesn't seem like a big proclamation. But the book—the series, really—makes no attempt to seem serious or realistic. It follows a team comprised of a thief, an assassin, a mercenary, a hacker, and a nine-year-old. And they're all fairly nice and don't hurt innocent people. At no point does the author make claims about attempting to imitate the behaviour of actual criminals. You just have to read about Ivan and Aiden's meet-cute to know that.
Ivan is a master thief. He's taken a job to steal a stamp worth a lot of money. The woman who owned the stamp left her collection to her grandson in her will. That's Aiden. Except Aiden's doesn't have the stamp because his greedy uncle contested the will. He took anything he could get his hands on and left Aiden's with an apartment devoid of furniture, and no money.
Ivan, when he breaks into Aiden's house to steal the stamp, sees that it's empty. And with the help of Kyou, the hacker, finds out what happened. And he feels so bad for trying to steal from someone who has nothing that he sticks around to wait for Aiden to get back home. In the meantime, he buys Aiden furniture! And this happens at the very beginning of the novel, letting the reader know what they're getting into. And it's how the book continues to be—funny, a little bizarre, and definitely cute.
The rest of the novel focuses on looking for the stamp, Aiden and Ivan's super sweet romance, and making sure that Aiden's protected from anyone else who might come looking for the stamp. Also, Ivan and the team try to help Aiden get back what his uncle took from him.
It's a very lighthearted novel. I love the characters in this series. And I love the non-serious, zero-angst tone. But it can also be a bit of a problem. The middle portion of the novel, for example, was too uneventful. It lacked tension and conflict. I kinda wanted someone to kidnap Aiden just so things would pick up. And things did pick up soon after. But about 20% of the middle part was a tad dull.
Overall though, I really enjoyed the novel, just like I did the last one. And I can't wait for the last book to come out. I want Kyou's story so badly. Let's hope it comes out soon.
Basically... don't take the book seriously. I know that doesn't seem like a big proclamation. But the book—the series, really—makes no attempt to seem serious or realistic. It follows a team comprised of a thief, an assassin, a mercenary, a hacker, and a nine-year-old. And they're all fairly nice and don't hurt innocent people. At no point does the author make claims about attempting to imitate the behaviour of actual criminals. You just have to read about Ivan and Aiden's meet-cute to know that.
Ivan is a master thief. He's taken a job to steal a stamp worth a lot of money. The woman who owned the stamp left her collection to her grandson in her will. That's Aiden. Except Aiden's doesn't have the stamp because his greedy uncle contested the will. He took anything he could get his hands on and left Aiden's with an apartment devoid of furniture, and no money.
Ivan, when he breaks into Aiden's house to steal the stamp, sees that it's empty. And with the help of Kyou, the hacker, finds out what happened. And he feels so bad for trying to steal from someone who has nothing that he sticks around to wait for Aiden to get back home. In the meantime, he buys Aiden furniture! And this happens at the very beginning of the novel, letting the reader know what they're getting into. And it's how the book continues to be—funny, a little bizarre, and definitely cute.
The rest of the novel focuses on looking for the stamp, Aiden and Ivan's super sweet romance, and making sure that Aiden's protected from anyone else who might come looking for the stamp. Also, Ivan and the team try to help Aiden get back what his uncle took from him.
It's a very lighthearted novel. I love the characters in this series. And I love the non-serious, zero-angst tone. But it can also be a bit of a problem. The middle portion of the novel, for example, was too uneventful. It lacked tension and conflict. I kinda wanted someone to kidnap Aiden just so things would pick up. And things did pick up soon after. But about 20% of the middle part was a tad dull.
Overall though, I really enjoyed the novel, just like I did the last one. And I can't wait for the last book to come out. I want Kyou's story so badly. Let's hope it comes out soon.