The Good Thief

Critics

• Some Dissembling Required

  Hannah Tinti’s first novel, “The Good Thief,” opens at a Catholic orphanage in New England, where the statue of St. Anthony in the courtyard can’t help the boys recover what they’ve lost. Ren, the book’s hero, is missing not only his family but also ... (read full critics)

  nytimes published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

• The Good Thief By Hannah Tinti

  Shades of the Duke, the King and even Fagin: Benjamin Nab spins stories that have them all beat. Wanted on 17 separate charges, he can usually come up with the necessary lie to get out of the fix. Even when he can't, it's not for want of trying, but ... (read full critics)

  bookpage published on Wed, 15 Sep 2010

1 Review

• 

  The Good Thief

  Ren had no memory of his life before St. Anthony's. The only clues to his past is the initials REN sewn into the collar of his nightshirt and his missing left hand. One day a stranger, Benjamin Nab, comes to St. Anthony's looking for him, claiming to be his older brother, and reeling off a story o ... (continue)

  Ren had no memory of his life before St. Anthony's. The only clues to his past is the initials REN sewn into the collar of his nightshirt and his missing left hand. One day a stranger, Benjamin Nab, comes to St. Anthony's looking for him, claiming to be his older brother, and reeling off a story of high adventure that explains both how Ren lost his hand and the reason he was left at St. Anthony's. However, Ren soon discovers that Benjamin Nab is not at all who he claims to be, but instead is a smooth talking con man that hopes to use Ren's disability in order to pull off more lucrative cons. When Ren decides, against his better judgment, to throw his lot in with Nab, he realizes that his life is never going to be the same again.

  This contemporary book is a classic adventure story with the literary style and singular characters that will remind the reader of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens, and/or Mark Twain. It is a well-written, fast-plotted, thoroughly enjoyable read that holds up very well to these hefty comparisons.

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Book Details

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• English Books
• Hardcover 336 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0385337450
• ISBN-13: 9780385337458
• Publisher: The Dial Press
• Pub date: Aug 26, 2008
• Also available as: Others

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