The Good Thief A Novel

The Good Thief A Novel
By Hannah Tinti
The Dial Press
ISBN: 978-0-385-33745-8
From the back of the book “Benjamin Nab appears one day at the orphanage where Ren has spent the eleven years of his young life. Convincing the monks he is Ren’s long-lost brother, Benjamin sweeps the boy away into a vibrant world of adventure, filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves. But is Benjamin Nab really who he claims to be? As Ren begins to find clues to his hidden parentage, he comes to suspect that Benjamin holds the key not only to his future but to his past as well.”
I completely enjoyed this book. I instantly became sympathetic to the plight of Ren and all of the situations that he found himself in. The writing of the book itself was great. There were many interesting characters within the pages and yet the author was able to make each and every one of them rich and full without excessively long descriptions. What I liked was that for some of them the description was enough to get you interested in the character but it was limited. Then later in the book that limited information would blossom into much more such as in the character of “Dolly”. The author never came right out with the medical diagnosis of his situation but it was alluded to. Other characters the author described using one word descriptions that pack enough punch that you understood much of the person’s situation and could move on. This style of working with characters really made me feel a part of the book as well. I felt like I was right along the journey with them.
In many places within the story I found myself laughing out loud over plot twists that I never saw coming. I would be reading along thinking “alright I got that, now what is next” then boom she would throw something new in the mix that would not only make me laugh out loud but forever would change the tapestry of the story.
I highly recommend this book. The story was interesting, eventful, funny, sad, and in the end satisfying.