Publishers Weekly
02/14/2022
In Edgar finalist Reich’s heart-pounding fourth outing for freelance London spy Simon Riske (after 2020’s The Palace), Riske’s talent for restoring vintage Ferraris puts him in harm’s way. The 1963 Ferrari that his client just sold for $102 million didn’t have the original gearbox, and the buyer’s representative, Sylvie Bettencourt, demands that Riske present her with the gearbox or be charged a $10 million fee with the violent “or else” supplied by her thuggish assistant. A consultation with a friend at Lloyd’s of London reveals that Bettencourt has a reputation for buying up valuable items, from art to real estate, with money that’s unlikely to be legitimate. Riske has little choice but to try to recover the gearbox. Meanwhile, a bank manager in Switzerland has been killed with a car bomb, and his daughter, Anna Bildt, sets out to find his killer. Some scenic locales, including Mediterranean islands, serve as backdrops to the linked quests of Riske and Bildt. Reich combines great action with surprises readers won’t see coming. One doesn’t have to care much about cars or high finance to enjoy this cinematic thriller. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
One of the NY Post's best books of the week “Riske paints his characters in broad strokes, much in the manner of Ian Fleming in the Bond novels, giving us the big picture and letting us fill in the small details from our imaginations. In fact, comparison to the Bond novels is apt in many ways: the dashing spy, the snappy dialogue, the glamorous locales (in this case, Corsica, the French Alps, and Switzerland, among others). An entertaining escapist adventure.”—Booklist
"Once a Thief is a good read and moves at a good clip. Reich’s readers who are fans of his previous Simon Riske books will enjoy this one and will look forward to Riske’s next adventure"—NY Journal of Books
"The exotic locales and plot twists, not to mention enough action to keep you turning each page, make Once A Thief an enjoyable experience."—BookReporter
“Heart-pounding…Reich combines great action with surprises readers won’t see coming. One doesn’t have to care much about cars or high finance to enjoy this cinematic thriller.”—Publishers Weekly
“Intricately plotted”—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Chris Reich, and the Simon Riske series!—‘
"An out-of-control joyride for those who like their heroes flawed, scarred, and on the edge. Reich has created an irresistible character that will leave readers both wincing and cheering with every page."
—Kyle Mills, #1 bestselling author of Fade and Rising Phoenix
"It's To Catch a Thief meets Jason Bourne: a stylish, jet-propelled thriller full of intriguing characters and surprising twists. Simon Riske is a character I'll want to meet again." —Jeff Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Blame
"Likable, rascally, and suave, Riske is as distinctive as Reich's other series lead, Jonathan Ransom."
—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
11/01/2021
Baldacci sends private investigator and ex-World War II veteran Aloysius Archer to Los Angeles—that is, Dream Town—for another dangerous case (one million copy first printing). Having crafted two Sam and Remi Fargo adventures with the late Cussler (Pirate and The Romanov Ransom), former California law enforcement officer Burcell takes the daring duo on another far-flung adventure in Clive Cussler's The Serpent's Eye (originally scheduled for Sept. 2021). In the New York Times best-selling Fisher's An Honest Lie, Rainy has been hiding out from her bad-news past atop a remote, fog-cloaked mountain but decides to risk a trip to Las Vegas with some friends, where one of them is trapped by a killer as bait to lure Rainy (10,000-copy hardcover and 200,000-copy paperback first printing). One Crimson Summer, thanks to mega-best-selling Graham, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Amy Larson is sent a toy red horse—a sign that she and FBI agent Hunter Forrest didn't wipe out the Doomsday cult that's about to fight a bloody turf war in northern Florida with several South American cartels (75,000-copy first printing). In best-selling Secrets of Midwives author Hepworth's latest, Tully and Rachel have every reason to resent The Younger Wife who's coming on the scene; their father is still married to their mother, now in a care facility for dementia, but plans to divorce her—which leads to the spilling of numerous toxic secrets (250,000-copy first printing). In the latest from the New York Times best-selling Pinborough, has-it-all heroine Emma Averell is beginning to suffer from Insomnia, which she fears may presage a descent into the insanity that destroyed her own mother's life (75,000-copy first printing). In the best-selling, award-winning Reich's Once a Thief, Simon Riske must prove that the Ferrari he's restored and sold for nine figures is not a fake, which brings him in contact with Anna Bildt, whose Swiss banker father has been blown up by a car bomb (75,000-copy first printing). In Rollins's Kingdom of Bones, postponed from March and September 2021, humans have become dullards while flora and fauna are suddenly ascendant; perhaps evolutionary forces have spun out of control, but it could be some fiendish plan (250,000-copy first printing). Letty Davenport, the smart, stubborn daughter of Sandford standby Lucas Davenport, becomes The Investigator, sent by her U.S. senator boss to figure out who's profiting from the theft of Texas crude oil—and why.
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-14
Simon Riske drives again but not as fast.
Plying his ostensible trade as a restorer of sexy European sports cars, freelance spy Riske is in California shepherding a classic Ferrari through an auction. The car sells for $102 million, a record, and everyone is happy. Well, not everyone. The restoration did not include a critical piece of original equipment, for the very good reason that the piece was lost. But suddenly the buyer, Sylvie Bettencourt, receives news that the piece does exist, and she demands Riske find it and complete the restoration. Of course it's not that easy. Riske and his team had already scoured the mechanical world for the piece, and though they resume the search, there are no new leads. As a sidebar to the search for the gearbox, Riske researched Bettencourt and learned she was a major player in the process of laundering the fortunes of Russian oligarchs. Then Bettencourt blackmails Riske into helping her steal back some money she claims her superior has taken, and Riske becomes a mole spying on Bettencourt. In a further plot development, Carl Bildt, a Danish banker who managed the accounts Bettencourt services, is murdered, and his daughter Anna undertakes to find the killers. With Riske unraveling the oligarchical knot from the Bettencourt end and Anna pursuing her father's killers, the extent of the laundering scheme is revealed. But these are Russian fortunes, and there is the obligatory presence of hulking violent enforcers, callous ultrarich misogynists, and even a teasing pirouette by Novichok, a nerve agent. Riske is a raffish rogue, ready to ride or preferably drive a Ferrari in whatever quixotic enterprise presents itself, but in this adventure he is somewhat subdued—still irresistible, still a seasoned street fighter, but somehow less visceral. Intricately plotted, the novel reaches a climax that is somewhat surprising yet disappointing, as if the magician had pulled a mouse from his hat.
Riske is still Riske, and the automotive world is still the better for it.
