Customer Reviews

Among Thieves

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I struggled with this book because I'm not really into the art world. I thought it was a little more mystery when I got it but it's not. I enjoyed David Hosp's fictional account of the museum heist. However, I didn't really get engaged with the characters. I found everyone other than the main character, Finn to be lacking much depth. I thought the pace was really slow in the beginning and it was hard to follow because of the switching back and forth between Finn and his client to the Irish fellows who are killing different people. Someone compared this to a James Grippando book and I disagree because Mr. Grippando's characters are funny and very interesting. I learned a lot about the museum, the heist and the IRA. I would recommend this book to people who get into art mysteries. It was a good book but it just wasn't great for me.

I've been fascinated with the theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, so I was intrigued by the storyline of David Hosp's latest novel. Fortunately, Among Thieves did not disappoint!

Location is as much a character in the novel as the people; David Hosp captures the atmosphere of Boston well from Gardner Museum in the Fenway area to South Boston and the streets of Boston.

While attorney Scott Finn is a convincing and likable lead character, I was drawn in by Finn's colleagues Lissa Krantz and former detective Kozlowski. Lissa Krantz is a strong independent attorney from a privileged background who cares fiercely about her small circle. Tough and burly, Kozlowski ("Koz") built a reputation for integrity and competence in the Boston Police Department but hadn't gotten along with his superiors; after retiring from the police, Koz built a niche as the investigator of their group. When Finn, Koz, and Lissa take on Malley's case in the course of their practice, they approach his case with professional distance. But the three grow increasingly invested and Malley becomes more than a client as the story evolves.

Among Thieves is a satisfying and compelling escape - an art theft mystery and a legal thriller to enjoy.

ISBN-10: 0446580155; $24.99 - hardcover
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 11, 2010), 384 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Every once in awhile you come across a book that is so relevant and so well written that you find it difficult to put down. David Hosp has written such a book, 'Among Thieves'. Twenty years ago, the biggest art theft and property theft in history occurred at the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. This crime remains unsolved. David Hosp has given us a story that could have taken place, no one knows but the thieves and they aren't talking, or are they?

Liam Kilbranish, a member of the IRA from Ireland is in Southie, the Irish part of Boston, looking for something that is his. He has had dealings with a man named Whitey Bulger, one of the most infamous Boston bosses of crime, who has gone missing. Liam knows that three men were the only ones privy to information he is seeking, and he will stop at nothing, nothing, murder is his business and it is his life. Into this mess we find two detectives from the Boston Homicide squad, two FBI agent, a lawyer,and his colleagues and his client. Scott Finn has been called to the Nashua Street Jail to see a client. Finn, as he liked to be called, was in a hurry, the Red Sox were playing and he always made the opening day game on Patriots Day. A day to remember and this day would be one for the books. Finn had been a player in Charlestown before he went straight and became a lawyer, and his client, Devon Malley was from the old days. Malley was in trouble and wanted Finn to get him out of this bind. What seems like an easy enough case turns into the case from Hell. Before long, Finn, his partners Lissa, and Kozlowski see enough murder and mayhem for a lifetime.

David Hosp has brought the streets of Southie to us, we feel the poverty, the despair, the southie ganster wanna be's . A few streets down in Charlestown, the grim reality turns into fine homes and condos. Not the Boston Brahmin, but the Irish brogue can still be found. The feel of the city is different, there is hope and clean air. The stories of Southie and Whitey Bulger come alive. The havoc that crime and drugs and drink can wrought are all around us. There for but the grace of God... And, a few miles away is the beautiful Isabella Gardner Museum. We learn of the history of Isabella Gardner and her gift to the city of Boston. My family and I made our second visit to the Isabella Gardner Museum a week after the theft of the art occurred. There were guards on every floor, near every staircase. I bent close to read a plaque on a picture and a guard came over to me and asked me to move back. We could feel the tense electricity in the air, not the place for the beautiful things. David Hosp has captured that atmosphere and more in his novel. This is a real treat, a pearl of a novel. Scott Finn is someone who likes his clients and we can feel that caring. That is part of what this novel brings, into the grim reality of a part of the city that is mired in fear and despair, there is someone who cares.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 11-18-09

Innocence

The Betrayed

We open with a grisly prologue involving a man from Ireland named Liam, who is about to finish off "a lump of flesh curled in front of him on the cement floor." He had tortured the man for information that he had not gotten, and while looking down at the man, Murphy, he remembered when he was a child in Belfast, and a vengeance murder had left him the sole survivor in his immediate family, a gruesome event that had put him on a path of violence and murder.

Next we find Boston attorney Scott Finn, whose former childhood friend Devon Malley, a small time thief, was caught virtually red-handed stealing some very expensive women's lingerie. Though Devon Malley had served time in prison for robbery, he was never a killer or a higher-ranking member of Boston's mob, so Finn takes his case. But Scott, his paralegal, Lissa Krantz, and his investigator, Tom Kozlowski, soon discover that defending Devon is no easy task. Instead of dealing with a minor theft charge, they may be dealing with the participant of one of the largest art theft cases in history: that of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

That's the basic storyline of David Hosp's latest novel, Among Thieves. It's an interesting concept... and it works.

In his youth, Scott Finn was an orphan in the foster care system, and he hung around with the Boston mob crowd in Southie, the well-known Irish section of Boston. And when Scott takes Devon's case, he also takes on Devon's fourteen-year-old daughter Sally, who was dropped on Devon's threshold a year before by her drug-addicted mother. While he might be able to deal with the robbery charges against Devon, he's unsure about the childcare issue. Since he had experienced the foster care system in his own youth, he's set on keeping Sally out of it.

In the meantime, an FBI agent and a team of Boston cops are working on the homicide case of Murphy, a well-known member of the mob. They're called to another murder scene where four men have been shot to death and the body of a fifth looks like filleted fish. This is Eddie Ballick, a crime boss who would have preferred being a fisherman. Scott had gone to see Eddie about Devon the day before, hoping to get information that he might be able to use on his client's behalf about others involved in the store robbery. But Eddie wasn't cooperative, even though he and Scott knew each years before. When Scott is asked by the police to answer questions about Eddie Ballick's murder, Scott stalls them, going first to the courthouse to try to get bail for Devon. He also tells Devon what happened to Eddie, and that totally changes Devon's mind about wanting his freedom, knowing that he could be next on the killer's list.

As told in author Hosp's tale, Devon and Liam, were the two men who had robbed the Gardner Museum back in 1990, getting away with artwork estimated at over half a billion dollars. And Liam is systematically working through the men who most likely know where the paintings are hidden. But the Boston mob boss at the top of that list is out of Liam's reach, because he's been on the run for years; that man is Jimmy "Whitey" Bulger.

Whitey Bulger, the same former boss of Boston's Winter Hill Gang? Whitey Bulger, who in real life was a major crime figure in Boston, yet protected by FBI agents without the knowledge of the Boston police department or the Massachusetts State Police?

David Hosp has combined these themes and characters in this legal thriller, hypothesizing that the IRA commissioned Whitey Bulger to steal the artworks to finance their terror campaign to force Britain out of Northern Ireland. Hosp's numerous characters seem three dimensional and vibrant. And the author knows his way around Boston, as can be seen in this book. The best of this series, in this reader's opinion, is Innocence, which is a true 5-star offering, and his Dark Harbor was the debut novel of the series, another excellent choice.

Among Thieves is a 4-star book, a robust novel in an excellent series, and David Hosp is an author to watch.

Among Thieves by David Hasp

Synopsis: A Boston lawyer finds himself dragged back into the world of Bean Town street thugs when a childhood acquaintance winds up in jail. His client is anxious because his underworld bosses are dying, tortured by a crazy IRA rogue soldier on his own mission of vengeance. Things are complicated by this seemingly low-level tough being involved in one of the most famous unsolved art theft cases. Things come to a head when family and friends get sucked into the problem and threatened. Lawyers, cops, and the FBI try to track down an IRA madman, keep their eyes on the local suspect, and find half a billion dollars in stolen art.

Although this is a solid rough-and-tumble crime novel (I won't use the term "hard-boiled," because the main character is not a detective himself), it seems like this novel is a beginning, a "pilot episode", a setup for future novels. And I am fine with that, I think. I will go on record as saying that I would gladly buy the sequel or continuation of this series if it becomes available, because as far as "pilots" go, this was pretty good. I am drawn to the TV aspect by way of Spencer for Hire, a crime series of books from the recently departed Robert Parker. You see I am only familiar with the Robert Urich TV series. Boston, crime, unofficial detective work, it seems to go together. I think, too, that Hasp's combination of legal work, coupled with his actual police detective characters and some in-court scenes thrown in, reminds me of Law & Order. So, again, the Boston connection with Spencer for Hire, the element construction of Law & Order, and there you have it. Not a bad combo of works to draw on. In fact, it would seem like a winning combination.

However, here's the catch. If the audience is clued in as to what the author is up to, namely setting up a series of novels starring the same cast of characters, and the audience feels like the under-development of some characters is because the author is taking for granted a sequel (maybe he has a contract already), the audience could feel some resentment, like they are being taken or granted, like if you slap Spencer for Hire and Law & Order, then you have a winner, of course it will be a success.

After reading Lawrence Block's Eight Million Ways to Die, I could not wait to go out and buy another Matthew Scudder novel. But it has been years since I have read that book, and I remember it as being a well-written, self-contained novel, not a setup novel. Hasp's novel loses points for less than rigorous character development on all his characters. He gets points for keeping my attention and not losing a potential reader for his potential next novel starring most of the same characters.

B / 2.5 Stars

David Hosp's new novel, "Among Thieves", is the fourth in a series. The main character is Scott Finn, a prominent Boston criminal attorney. He's aided by his two assistants in his law firm; his partner Lissa and his private detective, Kozlowski.

The case Finn gets involved in began 20 years earlier, with the real theft of a number of valuable paintings from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The theft has remained unsolved since 1990, but suspicion has long been placed on the IRA and various Boston mobsters. Several non-fiction books have been written about the theft, including Ulrich Boser's new book, "The Gardner Heist", which was published in February, 2009.

It's tricky to write a fictional story which incorporates actual events in the tale. Particularly in this case, as the paintings have never been recovered. Hosp posits a "solution" in his fiction, which may be closer to the truth than we'll ever actually know.

Hosp's Scott Finn is the same on-his-own lawyer made famous in many other lawyer-novels in the past. Only the name and city is different. I've known many lawyers in my time, and I can honestly say I can't see ANY of them involved in the gun-play and professional recklessness often shown by fictional lawyers. Well, it is fiction...

Hosp's story is well-written. It's not the best lawyer-mystery I've ever read, but it's pretty good. I can recommend it.

Even for this type of book the author constructed a plot that was beyond anything that could be realistic or even entertaining. I had an interest in the Gardner heist and any plausible connection to James (Whitey) Bulger but this book had an ending that a college lit student wouldnt even try to put over. There are basic plot problems both small and large, I wont give away any endings but give a few examples. At one point the lawyer main character goes to jail to pass extremely sensitive info to his client while both BPD and the FBI suspect he knows something about the heist. The lawyer proceeds to talk on the jailhouse phone to his client. Sorry, these conversations are routinely recorded.
At one point a shootout and a murder of a total of seven people, two former Bulger lieutenants among them. Pardon me, this woulld be national and certainly a regional sensation.
I won't even get to the ending but suffice that you will agree that it is not only got several holes but is preposterous and completely irrational. I'm thinking the bar is set pretty low for this kind of stuff because most reviewers thought this was even decent if not good. I thought is was a notch above a comic book. No style, boring, one dimensional characters and dialogue that was jarringly bad. Go get a good non fiction book about Boston crime and dont waste your time with this.

I picked up this book to skim through and found myself immediately caught up in a dynamite preface, in which future IRA hard man Liam Kilbranish, hiding in a closet, watches as his entire family is murdered by a squad of enforcers. Unfortunately, the book didn't really measure up to that opening chapter (quite aside from the fact that it remained unclear to me throughout what the opening chapter had to do with the rest of the plot, aside from explaining why Kilbranish turned into a ruthless murderer.)

Still, this is an adequate mystery whose plot revolves around a very intriguing and creative solution to the art world's biggest modern-day heist -- the 1990 theft of major works by Rembrandt, Vermeer and others from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In his novel, Hosp seizes on an element that has long puzzled investigators -- the reason some works of much lesser quality, such as a handful of Degas sketches and the finial from one Napoleon's battle standards, were stolen along with the masterpieces -- and incorporates it into his fictional solution to the crime very convincingly.

The writing and the characters don't live up to a creative plot, however. In some ways, the lawyer protagonist (who is battling to save his petty thief client, Devon Malley, from both the justice system and the IRA hitman, Kilbranish) reminds me of John Lescroart's Dismas Hardy. But Lescroart's characters jump off the page and live as individuals, while Hosp's array of characters feel as if they have strolled out from central casting. There's nothing to actively dislike here, just not much that felt fresh or compelling. The dialogue wasn't much better. It got to the point where I could almost predict what someone would say on the next page. From a random page: "I need you to be straight with me, Devon, if you want me to keep representing you," the lawyer, Finn, tells Malley. Part of the problem is that there's too much going on -- part of the story is told in flashbacks to the robbery; part is from the point of view of a cop who is, at best, a peripheral character, and part from the perspective of Devon's young daughter, Sally, who emerges as the strongest character in the book.

There's no real puzzle to unravel here, at least until the final pages, when a blockbuster puzzle and its solution occur in quick succession and so out of the blue as to be implausible to me, at least. (I found myself muttering, 'oh puhleeez...') It did keep me reading, but at best I was never more than mildly engaged in the book, and don't plan to move on to the author's other books. I'd rather re-read some books where the characters are incredibly rich and well developed (like John Harvey's Charlie Resnick novels or Stieg Larsson's trilogy), the suspense is acute and the puzzles complex (Thomas Perry at his best, or Rennie Airth) or the whole thing is more compelling (Lescroart, Grippando).

Rated 3.5 stars because it kept me distracted for a few hours; rounded down for the above-mentioned reasons and the fact that it simply wasn't memorable. Recommended to readers who are looking for distraction rather than a great and compelling mystery read, or to fans of the author. (If you want to learn more about the art heist itself, try Ulrich Boser's new book, which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

This was a race to the finish - I read this book in one sitting - fast moving with lots of twists and turns - I especially like how the author took a real life crime and wove his story around it - his characters were well developed and the reader felt a part of the story - on edge waiting for the end result. I highly recommend all of David Hosps' books - you won't be disappointed

This well-researched and skillfully plotted novel was a hoot. I found myself laughing often and astonished at the wonderful characters as well as the background history of the real heist. This is one of those books that is positioned as an entertaining mystery but it's much more than that. You can look forward to engaging characters, even-lovable in their own quirky ways, and an authentic Boston experience. Hosp's skills as a writer are jaw-dropping at times. He has a fine ear for dialogue, especially gritty Boston working-class dialog, and he frequently demonstrates a depth of understanding of human nature, male and female, that you expect to find in the finest literature. These bonus skills made the book a treat to read on many levels.

The book jacket mentions that Hosp is a Boston attorney. That enriches his telling of the story, especially coloring in the details of the local criminal elements and the functional aspects of the main character's work as an attorney. But I have to confess that the fact he was an attorney by day, writer by night, put me off reading the book initially. Confession: I have a bias against dilettante authors. So many predictable, flat mystery novels have been written by people who are good at one thing (doctor, lawyer, cop, politician, etc.) and believe they can write. The result is most often disappointing at best. So, I was tentative at first, but it didn't take many pages to make me a fan.

Hosp it turns out, flips that prejudice on its head. He gets people, writes with great skill and authority, and he knows how to tell a story. This is the real deal. Hosp is a writer by day, and a helluva good one at that.