If you're thinking about purchasing a copy of John Jaffe's debut
novel, THIEF OF WORDS, you'd better make sure you have plenty of
tissues to stop the flood of tears you may experience. I didn't
cry, really I didn't. But John Jaffe (a pseudonym for John Muncie
and Jody Jaffe) knows how to pull a reader's heartstrings in this
romantic-type comedy that, in many ways, resembles a writer's
experience with love, life and the wacky profession of print
journalism. THIEF OF WORDS is a love story, not a romance novel, so
let's get that straight before we go any further, OK? The cover of
the book is reminiscent of a Harlequin romance novel, though it
isn't.

At age 26, Annie Hollerman thought she had her love life and her
career at a top North Carolina newspaper under complete control ---
until one fatal mistake not only destroys her career at the paper,
but also ends her relationship. The book begins in 1982 and then
rapidly transports the reader 20 years later. Annie, now 46, runs
her own literary agency, destined to never date another journalist
again until her girlfriend, Laura Goodbread, decides she has the
perfect guy for Annie: her boss, Jack DePaul, a longtime features
editor at the Baltimore Star-News.

Similar to the popular film You've Got Mail, starring Tom
Hanks and Meg Ryan, Annie and Jack start conversing via the
Internet (doesn't everybody these days?) and viola! Before we know
it, Annie and Jack are out on their first date, having the time of
their lives.

THIEF OF WORDS isn't just a well-developed love story that will
give any Nicholas Sparks novel a definite run for its money; it's
also extremely funny at times and is dead-on with its numerous
machinations of newspapers, editors and reporters. While Annie and
Jack do fall in love with each other, another interesting aspect of
THIEF OF WORDS is how Jaffe dangles Annie's forlorn past from not
only the reader but from Jack as well. Near the end of the book, I
kept wondering if Annie's mistake at the North Carolina daily was
as dire as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair's.
You'll have to read THIEF OF WORDS to find out because this
reviewer has no comment.