To Catch a Thief [Hardcover]

Christina Skye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2008

Nell MacInnes can spot a forgery from a mile away. After all, she learned from the best - her father is one of the art world's most notorious thieves. His brutal beating by the very authorities who claim to keep the world safe from harm taught her one more valuable lesson - trust no one. The last thing rugged Navy SEAL Dakota Smith needs on his mission is a tempting woman he doesn't trust. But a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci has gone missing, and the art conservator's skill in detecting forgery would be invaluable, if only her ties to the criminal world are as dead as she says they are. Soon an edgy partnership and white-hot attraction are forged between Nell and Dakota as they race to Draycott Abbey to track down a ruthless criminal with terrorist ties before time runs out - and the da Vinci is lost forever

Product Details

• Hardcover
• ISBN-10: 0739499394
• ISBN-13: 978-0739499399
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,562,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another SEAL falls in love., September 2, 2008

By 

Detra Fitch (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To Catch A Thief (Mass Market Paperback)

Sussex, England, 1622. Viscount Draycott hid a piece of art, for safety. It was Leonardo's preliminary chalk sketch for the Mona Lisa, with probable oversketching by Michelangelo. With it was hidden a notebook from the hand of Leonardo da Vinci. The notebook stated, in poetry form, that the exquisite piece of art, as well as the notebook, was cursed. In the year 1785 the chalk sketch was stolen, but not the notebook. Few knew of the sketch's existence. Once stolen, it disappeared - until now.

Lieutenant Dakota Smith is a Navy SEAL. He works for a government department with no name, in a location that has no address, on jobs with no description. Those in his department call it Foxfire. Word has it that an undiscovered da Vinci is to be privately auctioned off to carefully selected collectors. Currently the art piece is in the possession of a delusional and ruthless millionaire named Martim Gonsalves. Dakota's mission is to retrieve it. To do this, he needs Nell MacInnes, an art conservator. Problem is that Dakota is not one hundred percent sure he can trust her. Nell's father is Jordan MacInnes, a well known art thief. Jordan has recently been released from prison. Everyone from the FBI to the head of Foxfire believes that Nell's father had orchestrated the complex theft of the art piece from the museum within days of his release. They also believe Nell is somehow involved.

Nell MacInnes is not a thief and refuses to believe her father has returned to his old life of crime. When Nell receives a quick call from her father, giving her strange numbers and telling her to contact their family friend for aid, she is confused. The family friend is Nicholas Draycott. Dakota and Nell travel to Draycott Abbey, where Nell begins to teach Dakota how to rock climb, without any safety equipment. The auction is due to be held at a castle on a small island north of Skye. It will take all of Nell's knowledge of art and climbing to help bring Dakota, and her father, out of the mission alive.

***** Christina Skye continues her exciting adventures with the men and women of the Foxfire group. This mission is just as dangerous, yet thrilling, as all the ones before it. I always find it fascinating to witness the fall of another SEAL into the web of love. Dakota put up a great fight though, I must admit. As for Nell, the author did a terrific job of creating the strong-willed female character a man like Dakota would need. The romance of Nell and Dakota blends in very well with the various phases of the mission. (Trust me, the mission keeps evolving and getting more complex.) Nell's personal life is just as difficult as Dakota's, especially her childhood years; therefore, she trusts people even less than Dakota does. Watching the clashes between this pair, in addition to their deep attraction for one another, is like watching a pressure cooker build up steam. Eventually, the explosion will occur. I guess what I am saying is that books by Christina Skye are hot and explosive. Truer words were never written. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a boring book..., September 23, 2008

By 

Claire "Night Rose" (Malta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Catch A Thief (Mass Market Paperback)

I hate books where the hero and heroine spend a lot of time apart. Several pages involved them being apart...and these pages were dragging. Well even the rest of the story....

Fast paced, snappish dialogue has become Christina Skye's trademark. After having read this type of dialogue in all of her recent books I am not a fan of it anymore. Its like she has carbon copies of all her heroes and heroines, they always sound the same - they always have the same character. What changes is the physical description, sometimes the woman is beautiful, sometimes she is not (such as in this case) however the men are always very well built physically, handsome, dark haired, blue or gray (or a mixture of both) eyes. As I said their character is always the same. Men cool and remote and distant and harsh. Woman resistant at first, feisty but soon falls in love with this harsh cold man. I also find her characters very one-dimensional. But this is just my opinon.

I am also fedup of Code Name stuff..ok this may have been marketed as a Draycott Abbey book but believe me it is not. Draycott abbey books are so much more fun to read, much more romantic, much more...everything!! This was just the same old formula of tough guy meets tough girl, the dark mysterious Izzy in the middle (I really cant understand the hype about him...what a boring, one-dimensional character). tough guy and girl have to fight alone an evil organisation. tough girl and guy fall in love, make love in a fast and "hot" way. bla bla bla. I litteraly skipped pages I was so bored with this stuff. Once again I say : if this is your first Skye book you may find it okay. But if you've read all her others this is just another version of the same formula...only more boring because less romantic and there was too much focus on the secondary character (Nell's father) in my opinion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More of a Code name than Draycott Abbey, October 17, 2008

By 

bijou2311 "bijou2311" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: To Catch A Thief (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was ok, but it wasn't near as good as I thought it would be.

First, it was more of a Code Name book rather than a Draycott Abbey. For those of you that haven't ready books from each series, the Code Name series tends to be made up of heros with enhanced abilities who are very controlled and ruthless. The heroines vary a bit more, but most tend to be stronger women. Draycott Abbey is a bit softer, and there is more variation between the main characters.

The other thing I didn't like about this book (and many other reviewers have agreed) is how much time (both in terms of actual time and number of pages) the two main characters spent apart. It made it seem a bit rushed when they did get together, and it just didn't quite fall into place for me.

Dakota, our hero in this book, is a bit off for me. I don't know why, he just didn't do it for me. To be honest, all heros in the Code Name books are starting to annoy me. I liked our heroine. I wasn't as crazy about some of the other characters. We see Nicholas, but not his family (we never see his family anymore). We also jump from one character to the other so much that it slows the story down.

Regardless, it was still a decent light read. Just go into it expecting more along the lines of the Code Name series and not Draycott, and I think you will like it. Still, I just wish we had seen more between our two main characters.