BusinessDay, By Lesley Stones: The latest novel by Peter Spiegelman is entertaining enough to make the journey through its pages worthwhile, WHAT exotic lives some people lead. Such as Carr, for example. He’s forever jetting off to exotic tropical destinations, strolling the beach in Miami, sipping Champagne in Grand Cayman or supping beers in Mexico. That’s because he’s a criminal, of course, since most ordinary people don’t get to do the sort of stuff that Carr, a former CIA operative, does for a living. Which is why this type of novel sells so well, letting us escape from our dull lives by immersing ourselves in the glamour of something so out of the ordinary. This is James Bond in a different guise — well, actually pretty much the same guise really, since the description of Carr conjures up the exact image of Daniel Craig as he swims through churning oceans escaping bullets. Thick as Thieves lives up to its billing as a heist thriller, spinning a complicated yarn of committing one crime to fund another, laying down convoluted preparatory work of disguises and false names, laundered money and laconic villains who hack easily into supposedly secure networks. It’s standard fare for this genre, and it was only after the halfway mark that it started pulling me in as the threads began coming together and the tension began to build. The central characters are rounded out quite nicely. It’s a very undemanding read too, although highly American in its style of language. But that seems essential for this kind of crime romp anyway. Peter Spiegelman has certainly conducted the expected level of comprehensive research to sound convincing when he describes the guns, the electrical circuitry being bypassed and the ins and outs of international crime rings and diamond smugglers. Carr has turned to crime after being recruited by Declan, a rogue Irish scallywag who leads a merry band of high-class criminals in global scams to rob people who are even bigger criminals than they are. Carr is the planner, a broody loner damaged by an uncaring father and an uprooted, disturbed childhood that’s left him unable to settle in one place for long. He has never committed to a home or a woman or been able to hold a job for long. He’s the quintessential observer, always watching others as their lives unfold, without ever really taking part himself. That makes him an interesting central character, and Spiegelman makes him likeable enough for you to root for him to survive the mess of back-stabbing, deceit and double-crossing he suspects is taking place. And it’s Carr’s novel, so you know he’s going to survive no matter what’s thrown at him. The tale begins after his boss Declan has been killed in what Carr suspects was a set-up. His accomplices, foul-mouthed Mike and Bobby, are telling him nothing but lies. Then there’s his female partner, Valerie, who has become his lover but is making some devious moves on the side. A plethora of other characters fill the screen — sorry, the pages — some important, others peripheral to the central tale, or brought in as collateral damage. Carr’s criminal plans are thrown into disarray when his unpleasant and now extremely cantankerous father becomes too ill to be left alone, taking his time and attention away from the lucrative crime that he is planning for the mysterious and taciturn Mr Boyce. The plot jumps nicely from one location and from one time to another, adding more interest than a straight, minute-by-minute timeline. Sometimes it skips a few decades as Carr drifts back to his childhood on the move, remembered more as disjointed snapshots in his mind than as a movie filled with details. Source: BusinessDay
