Customer Reviews

The Procane Chronicle

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Abner Procane is a thief and a very wealthy one at that. Despite carrying out many brazen crimes over the years, he has never been so much as arrested. He has managed to escape punishment because he only steals from people who are in no position to seek justice from the authorities.

When Procane himself becomes a victim of theft, he hires former newspaperman, Philip St. Ives to use his skill as a "go-between" to recover the stolen property. When St. Ives' efforts prove only partially successful, the narrative takes a different path. Procane, with the help of his two youthful proteges, puts in motion a foolproof plan to abscond with one million dollars in illicit cash. Against his better judgement, St. Ives is persuaded to go along for the ride.

This latter day tale of two cities (New York and Washington) is narrated by St. Ives. As in all Ross Thomas novels, there's an abundance of delightfully cynical, understated wit. The characters are all quite quirky if not downright bizarre. The plentiful dialogue is deliciously urbane and the action is frequently punctuated with shocking violence described in the author's patented matter-of-fact style.
The Procane Chronicle is a fast paced, smooth flowing, fun read. Highly recommended.

Ross Thomas wrote "The Procane Chronicle" and "Protocol for a Kidnapping" in 1971.

Both are first class capers featuring "go-between" extraordinaire Philip St. Ives.

Abner Procane is the "world's best thief" and shares the same lawyer as St. Ives.

Procane has kept meticulous journals on every job he has pulled. The entire scheme is minutely detailed.

When the journals are stolen, St. Ives is chosen as the go-between to recover them.

The recovery is flawless...but the pages containing the particulars to Procane's next job are missing.

What to do? The choices are many, and the chase is on.

Amfred Killingsworth is the US Ambassador stationed in Belgrade.

Some of his actions have made him an embarrassment and he has accrued some info that if made public could discomfit US interests in the region.

The CIA pulls the snatch and shifts the blame to others.

St. Ives is coerced by the State Department to be the go-between in the exchange. Midway into the escapade, St. Ives figures it is a ruse, but he is in too deeply to back out.

Altering his already complex switch and escape, St. Ives working on the fly pulls it off...but not without major snags.

From one tricky situation to another, the action is nonstop.

Ross Thomas is a master at keeping the reader guessing.

I consider it an important victory if I am only a page or two behind Mr. Thomas as I try to deduce the whodunit or whydunit in his novels.

Ross Thomas keeps you off balance in a most enjoyable fashion.

Hola amigos.: Estoy buscando literatura para la aplicacion de la procaina en terapia neural, soy medico de profesion y me interesa saber mucho de este tipo de aplicaciones, tengo mi clinica de medicina natural y deseo tener literatura al respecto. Gracias de antemano por su respuesta. Dios los bendiga.