Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

This is an interesting twisty thriller, it was easy to read, and it was fun to puzzle through the novel. I'm unsure about whether this novel should b pushed as a YA novel or not, it had elements that didn't quite fit the category. A very atmospheric novel,

The Readymade Thief is a very unique book. I really liked its inventiveness and whimsy. However, my lack of familiarity with Marcel Duchamp's oeuvre prevented me from enjoying the book more.

I love books and I love art. This book should have been mindblowing to me. Duchamps wrapped in mystery with strange, supernatural elements and underground groups in fancy dress? This should have been my book...but it just wasn't. It takes off at such a pace, full of vivid imagery and atmosphere and you truly want to know how Lee has ended up where she has. Then, it goes off the boil. It didn't help when my favourite character died.
I see what the book was intenteded to be but it wasn't exactly pulled off. Maybe if it had been shorter? It certainly lost pace at the end.

The cover drew me to this book and although it's taken a while to read I'm so glad I did. My sister read at the same time and we both loved. The story drew me in and got under my skin. I'll definitely recommend,

Oh my, I really wanted to love the The Readymade Thief, but there are at least three books in here struggling to get out. And while I love a good Dickensian story (for example The Goldfinch) for me the novel didn't quite hold together. The engaging, uber-realistic and well written story of a girl growing up and going off the rails, living in the margins in Philadelphia was excellent, the magical/creepy tale of a cult preying on the young was a bit lurid, and the treatise on the art of Marcel Duchamp was initially engaging but then overly detailed. I absolutely will read Augustus Rose's next book as I think there is amazing potential and memorable writing.

Lee Cuddy is 17 and a practised shoplifter on the run in Philadelphia. However she becomes more and more ensnared in a web she cannot escape from. I found it difficult to engage with this book, perhaps it is meant for a much younger audience than me but I found the 'conspiracy' theory a little too much like the YA dystopian novels that I am no big fan of

This book was good.

There was nothing really wrong with it...

other than that it was NOT what i expected it to be and wanted it to be.
And so i was disappointed by it.
And not just a little but HUGLY disappointed by it.

Let me explain!

The title is misleading in my option because while yes the main character is in a way a thief, its not a book ABOUT thieves!
And the summary does say it is about a young woman plunging into the world of secret society with a dark agenda but it also says that she is a thief and enjoys being exactly that.

And while yes she is a thief and she does steal stuff its not at all about that.
Its all about -in my option!- rather stupidly done secret society things that make NO sense!

I have nothing against secret societies! If you they done well those books can be fantastic! They can be the perfect mixture of thriller and conspiracy theorists and i enjoy those.

BUT this book is sadly just a huge mixture of different things that all don't really work out.

It also reminded me a HUGE amount of Dan Browns books -and he does it better. Sorry.


All in all this book is okay.

But i think it could have been WORLDS better if the author wouldn't have tried to include so much -murder, theft, conspiracy stuff, art history, "rebirth", a girl trying to find her place, a romance... it was just TOO much.

So sadly this book did not work for me.

But i do see why others might enjoy it and might not see the biggest issues i had with the book as something that is such a big deal - so three stars.

I finished this book yesterday (I got a copy via Netgalley), but unfortunately this was not the right book for me. I struggled to get through it. I liked the beginning, but half way through the book there were many twist and turns and it was a bit dramatic for me and I just was not interested and a bit annoyed with the main character. But, this book is getting good ratings on goodreads, so maybe it's something for you.

This is such as whirlwind ride of a book that packs so many things in! It tells the story of Lee, a young girl with a propensity for thievery who becomes entangled in a mystery dating back 100 years and forward to the end of time. Firstly, this book has so many of the things I find interesting to read about - metaphysics, secret societies, art, internet hacking and the deep web. Secondly, Augustus Rose has crafted a plot that is incredibly intricate and yet easy to follow. Some of the concepts he discusses are pretty brain melting but he explains them in terms that make them understandable to the layman. Thirdly, there are some fantastic characters at play here. Lee is understated, resourceful and sympathetic without being a victim and some of the more villainous roles are just wonderfully sinister. I loved the fact that there were periods of the book that weren't devoted to furthering the mystery element on the surface but really gave us insight into the motives of others. Yes, there are a few plot holes and conveniences here and there, but in a narrative this ambitious, I can forgive that. Overall, I thought this book was wonderful in it's intricacy and gripping in it's plot. A remarkable achievement.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

She started thieving small, at a young age, her skill grew and stole to order, she learnt it to a fine art, twisting and turning through spaces. One doorway leads her into an unrelenting road of cat and mouse.  She follows a trail of breadcrumbs that ultimately will lead to deciphering the chaos around.
A female Houdini who could stay in the shadows and be invisible but then she finds others that there are others within the  shadows that want something she has. After some rocky roads and crossing paths with the Station Master finds some comfort in Tomi who helps her find her way through dark places creeping but will she find stability and safety from those after her, will she find answers or just another dead end in the maze her life is?
You find Lee a likeable main female protagonist, that the author has characterisation done well and there can be an empathy with the reader due to this. Her plight in the authors careful hands weaved in a clever plot.

This is a cerebral mystery with uncomplicated writing in the vein of a kind of writer who could have easily been one that went to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) had enough reading Dan Brown, studying Leonardo Da Vinci, Duchamp and watching Thomas Crown Affair and decided to write something that could combine all these worlds.
Augustus Rose does well in having a tapestry of the tale, the puzzle finished in the readers mind ruminating for a while.

Thank you for providing me a free copy for review, however once I started reading the book I realised that this is a YA novel. As I am not the target market I would like to respectfully decline reviewing it.

I was really intrigued by this book and thought the summary sounded hugely interesting. However, it just didn't deliver for me.

It took too long to establish Lee as a character and to move into the action of discovering the society. The pace was slow and lacked energy.

The writing style was good but would have benefited from tighter editing to keep the plot moving and content focused. To me, this read like a YA novel rather than something for adults; readers of Lee's age would enjoy it.

I would read something else by this author but this just wasn't for me.

I will not make myself finish this book. Absolutely horrid!!!

Lee steals. It’s her thing. When she gets arrested for something she didn’t do, she is sent to juvenile detention. After escaping, she finds herself in the middle of a secret society. But what is it they want with her? And how important is that object she stole?

This book wasn’t bad. It just didn’t grab me. It also wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be. The beginning was painfully slow and I couldn’t figure out where it was going or what the point even was. After a while, I got more into the story but I still couldn’t really focus and I mostly didn’t care.
The intrigue was technically interesting but it lost me over and over again. The whole alchemy/Marcel Duchamp thing, I found to be really complicated and I couldn’t focus enough to try to make sense of it. I mostly skimmed those parts and it’s a huge part of the intrigue.

I found the main character layered and interesting though and I mostly liked her. I felt her pain too from time to time, when I could find it in me to care.

Finally, the chapters were sooooooooooooooo long… I hate long chapters, they make me sleepy as fuck….

Basically, I think this book has amazing potential but it wasn’t for me...

This is a superbly intricate debut novel that I absolutely adored reading. Set in Philadelphia, Lee Cuddy is the invisible girl, vulnerable to any attention that she gets to secure validation of her existence, leaving her wide open to being the fall girl, taken advantage of, and facing betrayal from almost every quarter. She's a thief, professionally expert, a readymade thief that parallels the readymade art of the avante-garde artist Marcel Duchamps. The trajectory of Lee's life feels surreal in the novel, structured like a cubist painting, a puzzle where the pieces feel discordant until they begin to connect. This is a story of love, loss, art, obsession, science and the efforts of Lee to carve her own path, free from shadowy entities with their own sinister plans for her.

Lee ends up in a Juvenile Detention Centre thanks to her 'friend' Edie's treachery until she manages to escape. She gets signs that help will come from the Station Master. This brings her to the Crystal Castle where strange happenings and a disturbing photograph of a woman who looks like her has Lee leaving with a stolen object. There are missing young people and exclusive invitation only parties at the Silo where people are dressed up and Lee becomes the 'Bride'. She is the focus of attention of what appears to be a cult group known as the Societe Anonyme, and the 9 Batchelors, including the Priest, Undertaker, and the Station Master. Lee meets Tomi, and goes on creeps in the city at night with him to abandoned sites like the aquarium, and underground places in the city. Trailing Lee is an intense aura of menace, a rising pile of dead bodies, where places of safety prove to be extraordinarily elusive. Lee encounters love, a deeper knowledge of Marcel Duchamps as she realises she is the target of a murderous group obsessed with the artist, his works and driven with the belief that Duchamps had the answers to the deepest conundrums in the universe.

This is a beautifully written and atmospheric novel that weaves a compulsive hold on the reader. It weaves a mystery, with art, science and the metaphysical interpretations of Duchamps art pieces. Amidst all this is Lee, a complex and hypnotic character, forced into homelessness and precarious living as the world crumbles around her, fighting a losing battle to untangle herself from the whims of the Societe Anonyme's batchelors and a blood soaked trail of death that touches those close to her. Augustus Rose has penned an erudite and imaginative debut novel which ensnares the reader with ease. It is hard to believe this is his first book. I highly recommend this to those who like intelligent, imaginative and thrilling mysteries. Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.