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The Thief

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The Thief

By: Fuminori Nakamura, Satoko Izumo - translator
Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
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About this listen

The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly that sometimes he doesn't even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him; nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections....

But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life and offers him a job he can't refuse. It's an easy job: tie up an old rich man and steal the contents of a safe. No one gets hurt.

Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery. And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.

©2009 Fuminori Nakamura; 2012 Satoko Izumo (P)2012 BBC America Crime Thrillers Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Crime Thriller Thief

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Critic reviews

“I was deeply impressed with The Thief. It is fresh.” (Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize–winning author of A Personal Matter)
“Compulsively readable for its portrait of a dark, crumbling, graffiti-scarred Tokyo—and the desire to understand the mysterious thief.” ( Booklist)
“Disguised as fast-paced, shock-fueled crime fiction, Thief resonates even more as a treatise on contemporary disconnect and paralyzing isolation.... Mystery/crime aficionados with exacting literary standards, as well as readers familiar with already-established-in-translation Japanese writers Miyuki Miyabe ( Shadow Family), Natsuo Kirino ( Out, Grotesque), and Keigo Higashino ( Naoko, The Devotion of Suspect X), will especially enjoy discovering Nakamura.” ( Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant  
I enjoyed the story immensely. So many mystery novels are based on the same set of plots, but not this one! Up until the very last chapters, I did not see it coming. The main character (the math teacher) is somewhat one-dimensional, but I felt I sympathized with him, especially towards the end of the book.

The narration was OK.

Clever, twistful, authentic

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Interesting little story but I can’t say I liked it. Robotic rendition with overemphasised Japanese names didn’t help.

Take it or leave it

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I wanted something short to pass the day while I did some DIY. Nothing too long like I usually do and something by a Japanese author; which I really love. . This great little story ticked all the boxes of keeping me distracted and engaged. Will certainly try more by the same author.

Great little story

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This wasn’t for me, there was a great deal about the technique of pickpocketing but no clear understanding of the character motivations. Overall the ending left me wonder the point of the story.

Weak plot

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A jerky and at times disjointed performance. The protagonist aside, the world seemed to be populated by caricatures. It felt a lot like reading an anime cartoon at times. There are some clever ideas and it had its moments but overall I was left far from gruntled.

Below par

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The performance is not up to the normal standards you find on Audible. There is something in the editing that makes the story not flow correctly.

The story itself is interesting in parts, but continually probes at a darker, more substantial character development that is never realised.

Not what I hoped it would be

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