Once a Thief, written by Christopher Reich, was my first introduction to Simon Riske as well as Reich. Being the fourth book starring Riske, I knew it would take more than a few pages to get my bearings. I have a tendency to start a series in the middle or with the most recent release so I consider myself something of an expert in the different ways authors choose to recap previous events. Based on this book alone, I would characterize Reich as an author who is adept at when, where and what he chooses to recount. Reich does such a good job I bought the rest of the series before I finished Once a Thief. Anyhoo, all that word salad to say I was hooked by the fourth page.

Riske is complex, mysterious, intelligent and an all-around badass with a unique set of skills. In fact, almost every character we meet is multi-layered, intelligent, cunning and completely fascinating. Reich lays out a complex plot, with vivid action that keeps the pace at a breakneck speed, and concludes with an ending I didn't see coming.

Once a Thief is what I consider a perfect summer read. A book that grabs you from the start and doesn't let go.

My sincere thanks to Christopher Reich,, Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the privilege of reading an advance copy of Once a Thief.

The Swiss-American’s novel was fresh in my mind when a 1955 Mercedes-Benz sold for a record-setting US$143 million at auction in the spring, because the similar sale of a rare 1963 Ferrari is what sets his breathless thriller in motion. It’s a classic premise: suave private spy Simon Riske (i.e. Cary Grant, if he’d been 007) follows the money. But Reich’s execution is equal parts Bond and Bourne, by way of filmmaker Guy Ritchie’s self-consciously slick aesthetic. The prose action is vivid and so are the Russian oligarch henchmen, and it all hinges on suspenseful forensic accounting (yes, really) as Riske gallivants from California to Switzerland, Sardinia and Corsica, with the help of a deftly purloined American Express Black Card and untraceable operatives over WhatsApp. I don’t know how I missed this fantastic series before, and although it totally works as a standalone, I’ll be reading the rest this summer.
Was delighted to include this title in ‘Summer Reading,’ my latest round-up for Zoomer magazine’s Books section highlighting guaranteed great beach pleasers.

I love these two characters, Simon Riske and Anna Bildt! Put them together and it's quite a story. One which you don't completely understand for a very long time (like the ending)! Christopher Reich consistently delivers and this is another good one!

I've read many books by Christopher Reich and have enjoyed them all. This one was no different. His books are faced pace and easy to read. Great characters that are easy to root for. I highly recommend this book.

As a fan of Christopher Reich’s novels, I was looking forward to reading his latest in the Simon Risk series. However, after a very interesting and promising beginning, I began to get bored by the action switching from place to place and the constant introduction of new characters.

The ending, while somewhat predictable, left this reader wanting an explanation as to how two different characters who lost their lives during the course of the novel suddenly materialized.

Despite these reservations, I look forward to the next Simon Risk novel and thank NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read and review an advance reader copy of this novel.

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

Simon Riske is an extraordinary car restorer. He restores a $100 Million car and is accused of car fraud. Then Simon's hidden talent comes out, extraordinary thief. Reich has many twists and turns in the novel and I was continually surprised and pleased with the book.

Simon Risk is sort of a jack-of-all-trades in the corporate world, with auto restoration one of his many talents. He is basking in the glory of having restored a rare Ferrari which has recently been sold for $100 million. But the agent for the buyer, Sylvie Bettencourt, sends her henchman to threaten Riske - the car is not as advertised. Riske is given a week to make it right which leads hime into the world of Russian oligarchs and an underlying scheme to steal some of that Russian wealth. At the same time, a Swiss banker to the rich and powerful, Carl Bildt, is killed in a car bombing on the streets of Lugano. His daughter, Anna, who was not close to Carl, feels that she must find out the who and why of his murder. Along the way, Simon and Anna cross paths, finding that they have a common foe. As Simon is sucked into the underworld of the superrich, and as Anna through an online crime solving group gets closer to the truth about her father, the risks get greater and the opponent gets angrier. This is the 4th book by Reich featuring Simon Riske and the first I have read. While I think I would have gotten into the book faster if I had read the earlier editions, by no means is it necessary. The story line was complicated, the characters complex, and the action fast-moving. Might be a 5 star book if I had read the earlier books! My thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my review.

A celebration for a one hundred million dollar sale of a rare Ferrari is cut short when Simon Riske is accused of fraud. The original gearbox was replaced with a reproduction and Sylvie Bettencourt, an agent for the buyer, has given Riske one week to find the original. Riske had unsuccessfully searched for the gearbox when he restored the car but Sylvie has information that the original still exists. The trail leads to a Russian mobster that Riske had helped capture. He is now in witness protection and Riske has been warned off by the authorities. A theft, a devastating revenge and a murder force Riske into hiding and Sylvie holds evidence that forces Riske into working for her. Sylvie travels from LA to NY and London spending millions on art and real estate in a money laundering operation for an anonymous Russian. She needs Riske’s skills as a former thief to retrieve financial information that would allow her to retire and disappear.

In Switzerland a car bomb kills a banker tied to the Russians. While the authorities have no clues, his daughter Anna appeals for help to find his killer on the internet and comes to Sylvie’s attention. She can not let Anna ruin her plans but her efforts to stop her brings Anna together with Riske and May be her undoing.

Christopher Reich explores Riske’s background as a young thief in Marseille. While running a business restoring cars, he still uses his experience and past connections as a private spy. His enquiries reveal that French investor Sylvie is actually a member of the GRU trained to infiltrate and live under cover as a French national. Suspense, a number of twists and enough action to satisfy any thriller fan make this a solid read, but nothing will prepare you for the closing scenes. They are guaranteed to have you waiting for Riske’s next appearance. I would like to thank NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing this book for my review.

*****Warning Spoiler Alerts *****
First, I would like to thank Mulholland Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and give my completely honest review this book.

I have read and enjoyed all of Christophers Reich’s books and really liked most of them. I Have REALLY enjoyed this series with Simon Riske as the protagonist. He is not a government employee (but may have been one in the past as well as have been a teenager Villain in Marseilles France). Based in England, he is his own man, taking jobs that he wants declining others, rather than doing that he is told by some government agency

Warning Spoiler Alerts
The more I read the book the less I liked it, until the last ten pages of the book. This completely turned around my thoughts on the book. Throughout the book. The Simon Riske character acted like the worst thug in England. He went of murderous rampages, completely unlike the normal actions of the person. Other than Simon Riske, the book had the normal collections of good characters both good and evil. The good ones are good and the evil ones are really deliciously evil. However, the Riske character acts completely unlike his persona in the previous books. He threw a grenade in a fifty million Euro just to catch the attention of a competitor classic car restoral shop. There were several times I almost quit reading because the more I read, the less I liked the character of Simon Riske. But I kept reading it
Finally with only ten pages to go, I had reached my limit. I was so disgusted with having wasted my time reading the book. Then I picked it up just to finish it. As I read the last five – ten pages, my thoughts on the book changed completely.. I said to myself WOW, what a book

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Once a Thief, a pleasantly complex financial thriller. Mr. Reich provides elaborate plot construction, fascinating characters with interesting back stories, and globetrotting locations. Simon is in pursuit of Sylvie Bettencourt, a masterful money-launderer who goes “shopping” spending millions at a clip laundering money for a Russian oligarch. Simon’s motives are many and, as Sylvie points out, “Only then did she learn that restoring cars was not his sole profession. He had a side hustle, too. He was not a trained spook, exactly, but maybe something better. A man not bound by any rules. And he had that extra thing, the thing no one could teach. He was motivated.” As the story unfolds there are great reveals and twists. It is fast-paced and one of those books where you keep asking “how is he going to pull this off?”. As a side note, it comes at an interesting time in history as war is waged on Ukraine by Russia and the sanctions against Russia and its oligarchs are put in place. I have not read the previous books featuring Simon Riske but, having read this, definitely will. Good to know, though, that it works well as a standalone.

This was my first experience with the Simon Riske series and I'll be honest the combination of exotic car restorer with a shady past had me locked in.

There is enough action to keep any thriller junkie entertained, but a solid amount of espionage to keep you second guessing throughout.

I will definitely be going back and catch up on this series.

Christopher Reich worked at a Swiss bank for three years, which might be part of the reason why I originally thought his “insider info” would make for some really great storylines. But looking back, I only gave 3 stars to 2016’s Rules of Deception (#1 in the Ransom series) and also to 2018’s The Take (#1 in the Simon Riske series). For some reason, I thought Once A Thief (#4 in the Riske series) was going to be the thing for me, a grabber, terrific. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t – at least not for me).

When the story opens, Smon is sitting in Napa Valley, having just sold a rare Ferrari to a French woman for a gazillion dollars. He thinks he is set, then the woman’s bodyguard storms in, claiming fraud (something about a missing gear box, whatever that is).

At the same time, in Switzerland, a banker is killed by a car bomb just before he can give the authorities information and go into witness protection. His daughter (young and beautiful, of course) goes to investigate her father’s murder and guess what?She and Simon have a common enemy. The story goes through London, Corsica, Sardinia, etc. and everything gets resolved after lots of action and intrigue.

Maybe I’m just not the target demographic for Simon and his adventures. In any case, this one was not a grabber for me, and didn’t call to me every time I put it down, so it’s not even as good (for me) as the previous Reich books I have read. I may try again in the future – or maybe not. Two stars.

I really enjoyed Once A Thief featuring Simon Riske, an undercover investigator working with banking authorities in the U.S. and a master auto restorer of expensive sports cars, as he travels from Napa Valley, California to various European cities in pursuit of the mastermind of an international money laundering scheme who has purchased several vehicles he has restored. Although new to this series, I found the story intriguing with well-developed and interesting characters and several surprising plot twists and turns. I plan to catch up on the previous exploits of Mr. Riske. Thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Simon Riske is back! This suave former criminal turned exotic car restorer and international man of mystery is thrust into the middle of a delicate high-stakes operation within the world of the uber-wealthy. Featuring a blazing fast pace, deception around every corner, dangerous criminals, expensive cars, billions of dollars at stake and a chance for retribution, Once A Thief is a thriller that truly has it all.

Seemingly on top of the world after the $100 Million sale of an old Ferrari he restored, Simon Riske is brought back to reality rather sharply when the buyer claims the original gearbox still exists and therefore Riske has fraudulently represented the authenticity of the car. Now on the hook to make things right or face a price that would bankrupt him, Riske finds himself in a complicated situation that brings him face to face with a Russian criminal he helped bring to justice and puts him on the wrong side with allies in British law enforcement. Which leads him to embrace the old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Meanwhile, Riske crosses paths with a woman investigating the violent death of her father, a financier whose business may not be on the up and up. Realizing their situations are connected, Riske and this woman team up, risking their lives to find justice and retribution while attempting to take billions of dollars of ill-gotten gains off the board.

The fourth book in this criminally underrated series, Once A Thief is a great continuation for fans of the series while simultaneously offering a perfect entry point into the Simon Riske universe for new readers. It’s a fantastic thriller that keeps you guessing with more twists and turns than a mountain road in Italy. Christopher Reich has delivered an insanely fast-paced book that implores you to keep reading to find out what happens next, as if the fate of the world rests on the outcome. And to some extent it might. So strap in, push the pedal to the floor and take off on this epic adventure where anything and everything is possible.