No
Such Creature
Non-series
Giles
Blunt
Henry
Holt (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8062-7 (0805080627)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8062-9 (9780805080629)
Publication Date: May 2009
List Price: $25.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Eight years ago, Owen Maxwell was saved from a foster
home by the arrival of his uncle Max from England. Once a promising
Shakespearean actor, Magnus “Max” Maxwell has since
put his dramatic skills to new use: a master of disguise, a virtuoso of
foreign dialects, and a performer to his core, he has become an
extremely successful gentleman thief. Every summer, Max and Owen take a
road trip across the United States, pulling off elaborate robberies
along the way. But this year is different. Their first, dazzlingly
executed summer heist captures the interest of the Subtractors.
Long believed an urban myth, the Subtractors are a gang of vicious
thieves who prey on other thieves. They will abduct a fellow crook
known to have completed a lucrative job and proceed to
“subtract” parts of his body until he tells them
where they can find the loot. “No such creature,”
Max says, when Owen first suspects that they may be in the
Subtractors’ sights. But in this, as in so many things, Max
will prove to be disastrously wrong.
Review:
Giles Blunt advances an interesting crime caper-type premise in his
latest stand-alone thriller No Such
Creature,
but doesn't really develop it much beyond simple storytelling.
Magnus "Max" Maxwell and his great-nephew Owen Maxwell are gentlemen
thieves, charming their victims as they relieve them of their jewels
and money, all the while eschewing violence of any kind. Their
carefully executed crimes and cleverly devised disguises keep them out
of jail but not out of the sights of a band of thieves of thieves known
as the Subtractors. As Max and Owen begin their cross-country journey
from California back to their home in New York City, they're followed
by the Subtractors, who are determined to take -- by any means
necessary -- everything the Maxwells have so artfully acquired.
It isn't quite clear what the author was trying to achieve with No Such Creature.
In some ways, the novel has the potential to be a comic caper, what
with Max's theatrical approach to his profession, his Shakespearean way
of speaking, even the massive motor home that incongruously serves as
their home away from home. But any humor in the narrative is subdued,
to say the least. Then again, it also has the potential to be a
suspense novel or thriller with the Maxwells unknowingly being chased
by the ruthless Subtractors ... but the leisurely pacing of the plot
suggests otherwise. Even the mysterious Sabrina, the daughter
of a
colleague (as it were) of Max's who enters the picture about a third of
the way through, doesn't clarify much. Is she really the innocent young
woman she appears to be, or is there something more sinister lurking
just beneath the surface? And while No
Such Creature
is entertaining in its own way (the dialog, in particular, is
exceptionally witty: "If he's so awful, why were you so friendly to
him?" "That, my boy, is one of the cruelties of incarceration. One must
choose one's friends from a very murky pool."), it's ever so slightly
disappointing as it fails to meaningfully engage the reader's
participation in the journey. It should be noted, though, that the
ambiguous ending, while completely in keeping with the rest of the
novel, is nonetheless delightfully unexpected.
Special thanks to Henry Holt for providing an ARC of No Such Creature for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read No Such Creature? How would you rate it?
Non-series thrillers by this author ...
Cold Eye
Arbor House (Hardcover), June 1989
ISBN-10: 1-55710-047-0 (1557100470)
ISBN-13: 978-1-55710-047-4 (9781557100474)
No Such Creature
Henry Holt (Hardcover), May 2009
ISBN-10: 0-8050-8062-7 (0805080627)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8062-9 (9780805080629)
Omnimystery
keywords for No Such Creature
...
Location(s) referenced: San
Francisco, California, Las
Vegas, Nevada, Dallas,
Texas, New York City.
