The Good Thief

by

Hannah TINTI

***

WHY I LOVED THIS BOOK

I do have mixed feelings about this book, probably because it took me way out of my comfort zone.

There are indeed horrific, dark, and spooky elements present in the book, and one of the characters is actually found buried alive, when the others open tombs to find teeth for the black market… If you are used to that type of stuff, you may actually consider it very funny, such as for instance the dwarf living on a roof and coming down through the chimney every night to eat his diner prepared by his sister.

And yet at the same time, it IS extremely well written and irresistible. You know you are going towards more spooky stuff, but it’s really hard to break the spell.

And there is a part of goodness in each characters, and not only in the kid Ren, the main hero. That makes the whole very human in fact.  Plus, there’s the suspense element : you want to know more about Ren’s history, what happened to his hand and to his family.

FIRST LINE:
“The man arrived after morning prayers.”

LAST LINE:
“His fingers reaching out, closing in, then missing, missing, missing, missing.”

ABOUT THE BOOK

Winner of the 2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize * A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008

Richly imagined and gothically spooky, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting talents writing today.

Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony’s Orphanage for boys. When a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren’s long-lost brother, his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? As Ren is introduced to a life of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves, he begins to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well….

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hannah Tinti’s work has appeared in magazines and anthologies, including The Best American Mystery Stories 2003. Her short-story collection, Animal Crackers, has been sold in fifteen countries, and was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. She is the editor of One Story magazine.

HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK YET?
DO YOU FEEL LIKE READING THIS BOOK?

DO YOU LIKE GOTHIC NOVELS? WHY?

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE