The Thieftaker's Trek set in 1810 England in the midst of the industrial revolution brings to light many of the inequalities of that time where it concerns women and children, but also some of the positive facts, as well. I think you will love the boys this story revolves around, Harry and Tom. Also ernest and entertaining are Peter and Michael. The travels heading up to northern English cotton mills and trekking back with the aid of the Royal Mail were eye opening. Jenny and her two daughters and Phillida and her Aunt, Mrs. Finch have only brief rolls in this novel, but I found them to be of interesting and well rounded personalities.

Ms. Sumner has a fine way of telling a tale. There is obviously a great deal of research in the background of these times, these places, and the attention to detail in the town and the country ring solid and true. Joan S. Sumner is an author I will follow.

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Joan S. Sumner, and Bastei Entertainment in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

This is a historical mystery with an intriguing plot - about child abductions during the Industrial Revolution in 1810 London. A thieftaker (bounty hunter) is hired to find a child. Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I bailed on this book and couldn't finish it for reasons below:

1. Not good writing - to be honest, the writing was juvenile although I appreciate the language used.

2. Unrealistic - Everything seems to be smooth sailing. Harry, the child who was kidnapped was from a poor family and his father died in war. He has many siblings and only his mother and older siblings are working, but yet they still struggle financially. But when he was kidnapped, his grandfather's landlord offered to pay for a thieftaker to look for the child? Secondly, when the story is told from Harry's POV, his conversation with people sounded not like a 5 years old but a grown up! I do not think any toddler would be able to speak and think like he does. It was not only unrealistic but frustrating!

3. Not engaging - Not only the writing is mediocre, but the author gives out too much information from the beginning, Characters were not delineated slowly. There is not really a mystery element in the story - whether it's the plot or the characters.

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Bastei Entertainment through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

This mystery novel was a pleasant read. It is set in England at during the industrial revolution. A young boy is kidnapped and taken to work at a cotton mill which employs and abuses a large number of young children. The story revolves around both the attempt to rescue him and discovering why this particular boy was taken.

The one thing that was missing, for me, was the sense that I get from many historic novels about how different life was in historic times, and how those differences impact the expectations and behaviors of the characters. That is not to say that anything seemed out of place, or anachronistic-just that most of the characters in this story could easily have been transported into a contemporary story and their motivations and decisions would have seemed completely normal. I am not sure if this is a distinction that makes much sense to others, but I would characterize this book as a mystery that happens to be set in historic times, rather than an historic mystery novel.

I received an advanced reading copy from NetGalley and be ebooks. Thanks!

Written in the time of the industrial revolution, this mystery takes us on the journey of a thieftaker (or PI) and his son in search of a missing boy. Taking place in London and the outskirts, the author uses a lot of terminology and references to things and places I was unfamiliar with, and had a tendency to over describe some things, but I stuck with it and really enjoyed the tale!

In London, 1810, a child is abducted just outside his home. While it is often street urchins with no family or home who go missing, Harry Bisset has a loving mother and a small home, even if they struggle to make ends meet. After Harry's disappearance, a thieftaker (a sort of watchman or bounty hunter privately hired to capture criminals) named Peter Frobisher is put to the task of finding the child and arresting whoever has taken him. As he does, he unravels a larger mystery around missing children in London and Harry's own disappearance.

I loved the story's setting. As a big historical nerd who knows too many random facts about Britain and the Industrial Revolution, the story's setting made me super happy. I appreciated the author's descriptions of various locations, the horrendous conditions experienced by workers in factories, and even the characters' dialogue. The dialogue distinguished characters easily based on their age, education, and experience. Children's dialogue was typically more grammatically incorrect but also sounded more genuine. It's a small touch, but I really liked it. I feel like the author definitely did decent research into the world-building and authenticity of the time.

I thought the premise was also quite interesting. Although the idea of writing a story about children being abducted is not a unique concept itself, the story's setting in the Industrial Revolution gave it a unique quality. I had never even heard of a "thieftaker" until this novel, and now I'm curious to read other stories involving thieftakers, if any exist.

The author also did a good job setting up the various mysteries of the novel, wrapping up a question just as another emerged.

However, I personally did not care for the chapters written from Harry's perspective. I understood the importance of including such chapters, as they gave much-needed insight into Harry's experiences. But it was jarring to read from a 5-year-old's perspective sometimes.

For me, the story really didn't start picking up until about 65% in. That was when I finally started to feel invested. I was kind of disappointed that Frobisher and his colleagues had almost immediately guessed who had taken Harry. A part of that killed my interest. Although there was more mystery surrounding Harry's disappearance, I didn't like how *easy* it seemed to be. The obstacles that seemed thrown in Frobisher's way to slow him down seemed more contrived than natural, because the mystery of solving Harry's disappearance was never really an obstacle to him. He was never really led off-course or suspected the wrong person. This problem is also related to Harry's narrative: we knew his circumstances, so we'd know immediately if Frobisher was right or off-course.

I also really disliked the reason for Harry's capture. I found the villain's reasoning quite ridiculous and it just left a bad taste in my mouth. They also had a generic villainous outburst explaining their evil deeds, which felt contrived but I suppose the only way the characters (and the reader) could know why in the world they would do such a thing.

I have some conflicted thoughts about the novel, but I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a historical mystery with abduction and murder.

I do love a book of historical fiction and when I was reading this I realised it's the first set during the industrial revolution. Certainly one of the most evocative. The main character was exciting too - a thief taker orbounty hunter - again not read about these in an UK set novel at least! So I was intrigued from the get go.

I wasn't disappointed. There's a lot to like about this book. A great sense of time and place, evocative writing and a sense that the author must have a time machine or something. You can even smell London and the stench of the Industrial revolution whilst reading. The characters are nicely drawn and the plot pulls you along through the soot and dirt on the cobbles as you scrabble for clues like the peasants do for food.

It was particularly nice to see this story move from London out into the countryside as that brought a new dynamic to the story and the characters themselves. Frobisher is not going to let anything get in his way in his search for the truth is he? Not even the winding canals of Derbyshire and the potential slavery of children is going to stop him doing the right thing. London at the time of the Industrial revolution is a great period to experience in this way. There's the hope the city and the country is changing but the realisation that the dark side to history and the gap between rich and poor can still cause the largest and darkest shadows of all