What a great surprise - to open the book and find it was written by one of my favorite authors.  Thomas Perry is 
always a great read and this one was unusual with the burglar and the real bad guys being who they were!

The Burglar by Thomas Perry is a unique crime drama which looks at robbery from the burglar's point of view. Unique and gripping story, fascinating and complex characters and plenty of surprises bring this who done it to life. At times gripping, scary and titillating, I highly recommend this read for thriller and crime novel fans.

I love Thomas Perry’s characters.  They are just a little left of the law.  Elle Stowell makes her living by being a bulglar and has done so for many years. She is not the common bulglar but one who only “shops” in the better neighborhoods.  One day she happens upon a murder scene and now she is the hunted one.  She works to solve the crime before she become the next victim

The Burglar started out interesting but then became the same old story. Got through the first few chapters after the recording and could not get back into it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, atmosphere, and characters.  I would recommend the book to friends and family for their reading pleasure.

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Elle Stowell is a thief -- a burglar to be precise. She's careful, methodical, careful -- she doesn't use weapons, she focuses on cash and things that are easy to sell. You really can't call anyone in her profession "risk averse," but she's as close to it as you could possibly be.

She's a cute, petite blonde working in some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in LA. Her appearance gets her over-looked by those who ought to find her suspicious and her size and athletic ability help her get into places that she shouldn't be. She makes enough to finance her lifestyle -- and a little more. But primarily, she lives this way for the thrill.

All that changes one day when she breaks into a home and finds three bodies in the bedroom, clearly the victims of a shooting. She also notices that a video camera in the room which probably caught the murder -- it definitely caught her. So she steals the camera from the scene and runs. She verifies that, yes, it shows the murder and a little bit of what led up to it. After making a few copies -- and removing her self from the footage -- she returns the camera for the police to use the footage.

Soon after this, she begins to hear of three people looking for her at some of her usual haunts. She's told that they seem like cops, but she's not sure. Cops or not, she wants nothing to do with them. Once bodies start showing up -- bodies that are related to her in some way -- she knows that she has to find the murderers or she'll never be able to stop looking over her shoulder.

I don't really think that I got to the point that I liked Elle -- she's a criminal, not one driven to it or forced to steal or anything. She made a choice at some point to steal and has stuck with it. She's not particularly flamboyant about it -- like Jim DiGriz or Nicholas Fox or anything. Her approach is clinical, serious, no-nonsense. So there's none of the typical fictional trappings that make you like a thief character.

However, it wasn't that far into the book when I realized that I was really invested in what's going on with her -- how is she going to escape the ramifications of what she's seen? Is she being paranoid, or is there someone actually after her? Will she be able to bring them to justice without incriminating herself? How did they figure how who she was? Why were the original murders committed? Why isn't anything happening with that video she left the police?

There are other characters -- a couple that you get to spend some good time with, too. But this book is all about Elle. Like I said, I don't think I ever liked Elle, but I appreciated her as a character. The other characters that are around for more than a few paragraphs are just interesting enough to justify their presence. Some bring out some interesting sides of Elle's character or past. Others help us understand just what kind of mess she's fallen into.

This is my third Thomas Perry book in the last year, and I was far more invested in the events of this than I was in either of the others -- he kept reeling me in page by page. The pacing of this is great -- just like Elle herself, Perry knows when to slow down and let you catch your breath and then when to dash off and leave you hanging on by your fingertips.Perry's been at this for a while and it shows -- he knows how to write a thriller.

Unlike many crime novels (including the other Perry novels), you don't get to know anything about the murderers until the ending -- you have an idea about them before the ending, but it's not until the closing chapters that you actually learn anything. I loved that, I was just as much in the dark as Elle was. Perry didn't get into the killer's mindset or motivation at all. They were just out there, threatening Elle until she's put the pieces together.

This was a fun read. It was gripping, it was unique, it was complex -- and come to think of it, the motive for the killing and the crimes surrounding the murder aren't like anything I remember in Crime Fiction. That alone makes it worth your while. Perry really delivered the goods with this one, and I encourage you to give it a shot.


Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Grove Atlantic via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this.

The Burglar recounts the tale of Elle, a young female burglar, who comes across a triple murder in the course of her work.  She leaves the scene but becomes involved in discovering who was responsible when the killers make it personal. This is an excellent plot-driven page turner. The protagonist is smart and resourceful and uses her impressive observational skills to assess people as well as potential burglary targets. The book’s weakness, which really didn’t detract from the book overall, was any attempt to include personal relationships and Elle’s back story. Those fortunately few moments felt largely gratuitous.  All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable, fast, suspenseful read.

thomas perry has a wild imagination, and it's on display in his latest book, 'the burglar', which i read as an advanced copy provided by netgalley.  i've read every one of perry's novels, and i've never been let down.  it's downright exhilarating to dive into a perry novel- the plot will be original; the characters believably quirky; and the 
subject (in this case, how to succeed as a burglar) well researched.  perry's characters are seldom portrayed simply- they might be a criminal, but we learn to understand and often sympathize with them by the end of the story. .  such was the case here, about a young woman who burgles the houses of rich people and gets into more trouble than she could anticipate.  if you want a fresh approach to a thriller, you can't do better than reading a thomas perry novel.

Seriously??  This teeny tiny petite girl (she's described that way repeatedly) out-shoots, out-thinks, out-surveils, out-spies, out-everythings EVERYONE ELSE throughout the course of this story, yet somehow couldn't figure out that she was putting her best friend in danger?? This started interesting - I liked the premise and was curious to see where it would go. But it went off the rails fairly early on and I struggled staying with it for the rest of the ride...  Elle was not particularly sympathetic (she's no Robin Hood, just a thief financing her life). Her childhood/family situation did not, to me, render her life choices somehow magically acceptable. And her skill set and decision-making was simply too unbelievable to keep the story credible for me. This was my first Thomas Perry; based on the other reviews of his work, I am thinking this is a one-off - I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, just not right away...

Elle had a difficult childhood, raised by the women of the family after the early death of her mother. She learns to look after herself and other family members early on, stealing from the houses in the wealthy neighbourhoods of town. On a routine burglary, Elle discovers three people murdered in a gallery owner’s house. Soon thereafter, Elle is being chased by professionally trained men in black SUVs and she plans to leave town. But after people close to Elle are murdered, she decides to stay in LA and solve the original murders at the gallery owners house to end the killing spree once and for all. 

Overall I enjoyed this thriller and the smart and skilled protagonist, though I feel like it was drawn out and it is only in the last third of the book that Elle can make sense of the events and gets closer to the true reason behind the first murders. The weapons descriptions were completely over my head, but it makes sense to describe them due to their sales value. At times Elle’s car manoeuvres to escape potential followers were described in unnecessary detail, including names of the streets and turns. At the beginning it was fun to trace them as I am familiar with some of the LA areas, but then it became tiring. I very much liked the unexpected handsome stranger. I particularly liked the clearing up of the murders, which was very unexpected, however I wish Elle would have discovered this due to her sleuthing, rather than overhearing a conversation. I’d most likely read another book from this series.

Elle Stowell is a young woman with an interesting occupation; she’s a residential burglar. For a living, she breaks into the homes of rich people and steals stuff. However, one day she breaks into the wrong house and sees something she was not meant to see. It will change her life in drastic ways. 

This novel is well-written and exciting. Readers will enjoy the various plot twists in this one. I love how the author doles out the clues slowly and builds up the tension until the very end. Who are the mysterious people in the black SUVs that seem to be following Elle? How can she catch them without getting caught herself?

The character of Elle is described in detail. The reader learns a lot about her background and how she gained her skills. She’s a very astute observer of human nature and behavior. In her profession, she has to be. But, her background also contributes to her knowledge of people. You find yourself wondering why such a smart and skilled woman doesn’t get into a safer field? She seems to enjoy the challenges that she encounters though. 

The supporting characters are all perfectly suited to their roles. The mystery man who says he’s from Canada is well-done. Elle’s friend Sharon also helps move the plot along in her own way. The other characters are mostly peripheral ones. The conflict in the story builds up gradually and was done at a steady pace. I didn’t feel like the narrative had any slow or dragging parts to it. The pacing was pretty even. 

The ending was interesting and creative. I liked how things resolved at the end, but don’t want to give spoilers. 

The story seemed quite believable and so did the characters. The author did a great job on this novel. It’s suspenseful and nail-biting at times. The story is really original and the main character is not someone whose perspective we usually see. Although Elle makes her living as a criminal, she is a sympathetic character and you find yourself rooting for her to come out on top in the end. 

Overall, I enjoyed this novel and found it to be an engaging and suspenseful story that held my interest throughout the book. As a reader, I was drawn into this world the author created and was able to suspend reality for a time to get into the world of Elle and her friends and acquaintances. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys suspense, mysteries, or just a really good read.

I really liked the blurb for this book and it started off really fast paced, with Elle the lead character stumbling upon a triple murder...unable to call the police, because she happened to be committing a crime herself by breaking into the property to steal from the owners, she finds herself in a bit of a pickle.

Like I said, it started off really promising and then in the middle it seemed to lose it's way a bit, I felt it was becoming a bit over explained, for example detailed descriptions of each time Elle broke into a property (which was a lot) and yes,  I know it's called the burglar, but I ended up skimming these descriptions, it also felt like a lot of 'tell' was happening, for instance - Elle knew there must be a way in through the pipes for the bathroom, every building had a bathroom and pipes were needed for the bathroom - or words to that effect.

I found myself wishing I was at the end, just to find out if it picked up at the end, I'm sad to say it didn't.

I normally don't leave reviews if I haven't enjoyed a book as I know you can't please everyone all the time, but obviously as I was given this book to review I can only give my honest opinion. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

I am someone who judges a book by its cover. To be honest, I doubt I would have chosen this book based on the cover. Boy would I have been mistaken. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover. I found The Burglar to be a very surprising and pleasant book. After reading everything Elle had to go through in her daily life as a burglar, I know I'm definitely not cut out to be one. The amount of thought she has to put into so many actions we take for granted daily is amazing. It really makes you think about what that lifestyle must be like. This was a well written novel that had me hating to put it down. It's a story of friendship, murder, mystery, theft, scams and so much more. There were several surprises in the story (sorry but I hate spoilers so not giving details) that helped me stay engrossed in the story. I would certainly recommend this book.

I wish to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

This book is an unfortunate no for me. This is my first time reading a book from this author, and I was very excited based on other reviews I’ve read about his writing. I think his style is just not for me. He goes into tedious explanations about some of the most unimportant details. It was difficult to get through the story, and it felt less and less like a crime thriller as the story was overshadowed by the continuous over-explanations. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, the characters were well developed.  It had an interesting plot. I would be interested in reading more

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Perry, Grove Atlantic and Mysterious Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been a fan of Thomas Perry for a while now, and I like all of his books. This one didn't disappoint. It was well written, and Ellie is a great character (despite being a burglar LOL). This was a very good murder mystery book.

Imagine a sexy attractive burglar in a ritzy neighborhood and you have yourself the premise of a killer book.
She's damn good at what she does perhaps too good as she stumbles upon a grisly murder in a burglary in progress by non other than herself.
OMG!
This plot is crazy... as what she's witnessed now has made her a prime target for retaliation.
Silence or be silenced that's the question with only death as an option.
Hold on this is one wild ride by Thomas Perry!
Thank you to Thomas, his publisher, NetGalley, and Aldiko for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I really like the premise of this book, which is what attracted me to it in the first place. I liked it but didn't love it, I just felt something was missing, Also, I felt the ending could've been more thoroughly wraped up, instead we are left with questions and of course a possibility of a series.

This was a good, fast paced mystery.  I look forward to reading more from this author.  Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book. I think it will be a big hit when it is published. Very well written and character development