September 2015

Last year, I read THE PARIS ARCHITECT by Charles Belfoure and selected it as a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. I could not wait to see what he wrote next, thus I was eager to read HOUSE OF THIEVES. Set in New York in 1886, it features John Cross, an architect who must work with a prominent underworld gang member to cover the debts of his gambling son, George. He’s charged with using his insider knowledge of high society homes and places of business to plot the perfect heists.

This book had nary a dull moment, and it made me want to watch the Ken Burns documentary series on New York to see photos of this time period in the city as the descriptions are so wonderfully rich. Belfoure is an architect, thus all the details on the homes are spot on and so beautifully described that I could see them vividly. Many of the homes are opulent, and those who inhabit them are flamboyantly wealthy, making the story dishy as well as authentic. The story moves from New York to Newport to the beaches of New Jersey, following the gilded set of the time.

John Cross ends up with help in his assignments in a most unlikely way, and I am not sure I loved how it ended, which was a tad too perfect --- and yet disturbing. But I put that aside as I loved the way the story unfolded and was delivered up so smartly and stylishly like a perfect cocktail or a sublimely rich dessert.