You begin following Elle Stolewell as she is jogging through a high-end neighborhood. She is telling you what she is looking for and why she is dressed the way she is. Once she begins her burglaries you get a sense of being with her and you begin to follow her around to different friends. All goes well in her world until she comes across a crime scene, wanting to leave before the police arrive, she realizes that there is a video camera recording and it is still on. Taking the camera and watching it later, she decides to makes copies and then break back in to replace the camera. It is after this that her world begins to unravel. She is being followed, tracked by tracking deviances, and when she finds her friend and what happened to her because of them looking for Elle she decides to find evidence herself. Especially what she sent the police either not got their or was destroyed by someone. The author takes you for a ride throughout parts of Southern California. I liked that he had the street names down, the correct off ramp for Barstow since I grew up there. Though at times you knew that Elle was a criminal, you found yourself in her corner and wondered how did that happen. An excellent crime, mystery, suspense book that I was very pleased to have read.

"The Burglar," a thriller by the prolific Thomas Perry, is the story of twenty-four-old Elle Stowell, a petite, athletic, and careful thief. Since her relatives abandoned her when she was fourteen, she has chosen to make a living by sneaking into the homes of wealthy Californians and stealing their cash, jewelry, and weapons. She is small (five-foot-one and one hundred and five pounds), alert, fit, calm, and good with her hands. She can squeeze into small spaces with ease, climb gracefully (she was once proficient in gymnastics), has studied construction and electronics, and knows how to pick locks, spot surveillance cameras, and disable alarms. To stay in shape, Elle runs, swims, lifts weights, and does pull-ups. Occasionally, she will take a vacation, but she is careful to live within her means.

Even the savviest criminal risks getting arrested or killed. After she enters the house of an art connoisseur, Elle is shocked to find three homicide victims. Although she had nothing to do with this triple murder, she soon finds herself in the crosshairs of unidentified individuals who want her dead. She decides to investigate the matter, find the perpetrators herself, and ascertain their motive. Thomas Perry writes crisp and witty dialogue, and his understated prose is clear, unadorned, and briskly-paced. We cannot help but root for this diminutive but formidable heroine, in spite of her larcenous ways, since she is smart, generally good-hearted, and courageous. There is a particularly memorable scene in which someone Elle trusts catches her off-guard. This usually unflappable woman suddenly faces a foe with lethal intentions who is stronger, taller, and more experienced in hand-to-hand combat.

"The Burglar," unfortunately, is too far-fetched to earn an enthusiastic recommendation. The police are, for unexplained reasons, missing in action while Elle does their job for them. In addition, Elle's virtuosity at everything she undertakes requires a huge suspension of disbelief. Her skill set includes: entering and exiting a house undetected; knowing how and where to search for the things she wants; understanding human nature as well as a PhD in psychology; and unraveling the details of a far-fetched scheme that has led to a great deal of bloodshed. The villains are one-dimensional and uninteresting thugs, and the conclusion is flat and anticlimactic. Although "The Burglar" has humorous passages and, initially, many unanswered questions that pique our curiosity, it lacks the visceral impact of Perry's more impressive works of fiction.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic, the author Thomas Perry, and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This was a fascinating read. A 20 year old, super sophisticated Burglar stumbles into the horrific crime scene of a triple murder. And she realizes that she will need to solve the murders or a) be accused of them or b) become the next victim.

She is a bad-ass, smart, thief and she can handle the best that anyone can throw at her. I would love to see more of her in another book.

*3-3.5 stars= a good thriller.

Ell Stowell has been a burglar since she was fourteen; it's how she supports herself. She stakes out the homes of the extremely wealthy, takes any cash or jewelry she can find, and so far has never been caught.

But on a recent job, she finds 3 dead bodies in a house she thought was empty. Two women and a man had been engaging in a manage a trois when shot and Ell finds that a film camera is still running. She takes the camera with her as she leaves, worrying that it might have caught her entering the room, but returns it later after she's doctored the recording.

Soon she realizes she is being followed and when someone close to her is killed in a similar way to the first crime, she decides to investigate on her own. Ell is brave and resourceful, even if her moral code is a bit twisted.

This is quite the page turner--I polished it off in less than two days. Read it for the escapism it provides. This was my first taste of Thomas Perry's writing and I would definitely enjoy reading more.

I received an arc from the publisher via netGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks!

I would like to disclose that I did not finish this novel, the following is my opinion until chapter 16. Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, gave me a copy of The Burglar by Thomas Perry for my honest opinion. I encourage all readers to draw their own conclusions.

Elle is good at her job as a cat burglar. She does her homework to ensure she does not get caught and no one gets hurt, she gets in and out quickly and is not too greedy. It is interesting to watch her execute plans. A lot of thought is put into the best way to present a successful thief. Elle takes advantage of an empty house and happens upon a crime scene which threatens her anonymity. A trio of naked victims who were in the midst of recording their interlude is dead, and Elle is on film entering the area. She attempts to guarantee she is not implicated in the crime while trying to ensure the police to solve the murder.

Elle attempts to investigate the crime herself in case something eventually points to her. As the story moves forward, Elle seems to make little progress. She discovers someone breaks into her apartment, someone is stalking her favorite hang-out spot, she tracks someone following her to what could be a base of operations, but none of them lead to any revelations.

Instead, she moves to several hotels within the city, changing cars often to throw off any pursuers, this is the majority of what she does, for too long. A Candian Cowboy, as Elle he calls him, hits on her at one of her hotel stays. Elle fills some inner monologue hinting she shouldn't trust him, then she lets him drive her to the middle of nowhere. When it turns out the cowboy is not what he seems Elle spends several more paragraphs berating herself for trusting him. That is where the book lost me. Maybe it gets better when the loose ends start tying together. Unfortunately, I don't have the patience to find out. Although there were a few interesting occurrences, my particular favorite is when Elle stands up to a threatening jewel fence, her story did not grip me. I wish it did.

The Burglar by Thomas Perry introduces the reader to Elle Stowell, a twenty-something female burglar who jogs on the streets of high-end neighborhoods in Los Angeles, while casing for possible targets. She travels light before and after her break-ins: she steals cash and jewelry that can easily be sold for a percentage of the value. While breaking into a gallery owner's mansion, Elle stumbles upon three dead bodies. Who are they and why were they all shot? She soon realizes that someone is looking for her and that it has to do with the murders. She does not know if they are friend or foe. Why is she being followed? Elle will need all of her burglary skills to get to the bottom of this mystery and to save herself. This novel excels at the cat-and-mouse thriller genre. The tension builds throughout and this is a most enjoyable read. Thomas Perry never disappoints. Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of The Burglar from Netgalley, and this is my honest opinion. This is the first book of Mr. Perry's that I have read. Elle is a young lady who is a burglar by trade. When she stumbles upon a triple homicide, her world is thrown upside down and she needs to figure out why those people were murdered and by whom. Mr. Perry draws us in a suspenseful and intriguing tale. Elle is forced on a path to find out the truth of the triple murders while trying to stay alive. The tale is engrossing, but the ending left me feeling flat and with questions. Unfortunately, I do not feel that the build-up and suspense that I was drawn in came to full and final flourish. Thank you Netgalley and Mr. Perry for allowing me to read The Burglar. I do look forward to reading more of your works.

I enjoyed this book, my first by Thomas Perry. I liked getting to know Elle, and how she survives as a burglar, and I liked that the mystery was unique. The amount of detail was fantastic, although that made the ending a little slow for me. It's not quite an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but I was invested in finding out who the murderers were and what was going on. Definitely would recommend this book.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. It was the best thriller I'd read in quite a while. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

After reading this book, I feel like I know what it takes to be a successful burglar! Unfortunately, I'm not small enough, limber enough, or daring enough - not to mention I'm too law-abiding - to take up a life of crime. It felt strange to be rooting for a crook throughout this book but considering most of the other characters were thieves, swindlers, murderers and all-around criminals, Elle was the only possible one to cheer on!

The book is extremely well written with great attention to detail. The characters are vivid and the complex story is fascinating. I'll admit it seemed to bog down a bit for me about 3/4 the way through, but overall it was a fast-paced and very enjoyable read.

After reading several of Thomas Perry’s books, I should know by now that I need to get my essential and urgent tasks done so that I can settle in for some long, uninterrupted reading time. Once I start reading one of his books, it takes a huge amount of discipline (sometimes more than I have) to step away and do things that need to be done. And “The Burglar” was just as effective as his other books at holding me captive.

Elle Stowell is a 26-year-old burglar who robs the homes of the very wealthy in L.A. She is smart, experienced, and meticulous in her planning and execution. When she is pursued by murderers linked to one of her burglaries, her efforts to stay one step ahead of them provides relentless suspense.

I had some quibbles with plot holes in the book, but it was still any enjoyable read. Plus, if I ever decide to take up a life of crime Perry provides some helpful hints and techniques!

My review was posted on Goodreads on 1/31/1918.

Synopsis/blurb....

From the New York Times best-selling author Thomas Perry, "who can be depended upon to deliver high-voltage shocks" (Stephen King), comes a new thriller about an unlikely burglar - a young woman in her 20s - who realizes she must solve a string of murders or else become the next victim.

Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief - with just the right combination of smarts, looks, and skills, she can easily stroll through ritzy Bel Air neighborhoods and pick out the perfect home for plucking the most valuable items. This is how Elle has always gotten by - she is good at it, and she thrives on the thrill. But after stumbling upon a grisly triple homicide while stealing from the home of a wealthy art dealer, Elle discovers she is no longer the only one sneaking around. Somebody is searching for her.

As Elle realizes her knowledge of the high-profile murder has made her a target, she races to solve the case before becoming the next casualty, using her breaking-and-entering skills to uncover the truth about exactly who the victims were and why someone might have wanted them dead.

With high-stakes action and shocking revelations, The Burglar will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they barrel toward the heart-racing conclusion.
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My take....

I read Thomas Perry's The Butcher Boy many years ago and loved it. Since then I've tried a few more of his books in the hope that they hit the same heights - Metzger's Dog (3/5) and in 2013 - The Boyfriend (4/5). His latest, The Burglar was my third attempt to recreate the euphoria of that first exciting reading experience. Oh well, maybe the next one then.

Elle is our burglar. She's young, single, attractive, capable, fit and she's also a bit one dimensional, shallow, too clever by half and not someone I felt a great deal of empathy for. As the novel is 99% her, that's a bit of a problem.

Elle burgles a house, stumbles on a triple homicide that was recorded on camera and then subsequently finds herself targeted. Initially she thinks it's the police on her trail, but after witnessing the killing of a couple of other opportunist burglars by her nemesis, eventually realises she's involved in something far more dangerous.

I was really enjoying this one up to about page 60 or so, before coming to the realisation that it was just a bit too improbable, the plot was more than a bit weak, the main character a bit too much of a cardboard cut-out, a bit too stupid in some of her actions, to be as clever as she's being sold to me, and while I was still turning the pages at pace, from then I just wasn't that invested in the outcome.

Towards the back end of the book it gets worse. I think I might have rolled my eyes that many times they were suffering from RSI by the conclusion. Elle breaks into her foe's facilities to turn the tables and spy on them and the list of kit she carried with her was more in keeping with a team of firefighters attending a major incident. On her second visit to the enemy HQ, she somewhat conveniently overhears the boss of the local outfit explaining to his boss all of what he's been up to, thus rather lazily joining up the dots for the reader. You might expect to encounter this from a rather less skilled author than someone of Mr Perry's stature and reputation. Maybe he's written one too many books.

Positives - it flowed. I did enjoy the tension built earlier in the novel, between Elle and her Canadian suitor, while she tried to determine if he was who he claimed to be or if it was all a cover for getting close before killing her. I did also enjoy the scam being worked by our three homicide victims and the other party to their scheme. That was about it though. Oh, the LA setting worked for me as well.

On balance, just about a 3 from 5, borderline 2.5. I didn't hate it. I didn't at any point long to be reading anything else. I was just a bit disappointed and underwhelmed.

I'll approach my next Thomas Perry novel with a bit more caution and slightly lower expectations.

Read - January, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 302
Source - Net Galley, courtesy of Mysterious Press
Format - ePub file read on laptop

https://col2910.blogspot.com/2019/01/thomas-perry-burglar-2019.html

When you are a burglar you never know what you are walking into but Elle is good at what she does. Unfortunately this time Elle walks into a scene that she is likely not to forget. Three people in the bed all dead of a gunshot to the head and a video camera running filming it all.

The beginning of this book kept me very interested, then as Elle decides to play detective things go a little stale. She starts making mistakes, and her abilities take on a superhero quality that didn't really seem to fit. The ending just left me a bit cold it was so abrupt.

There are definitely pieces of this book that were really good and others that just jumped the shark so hard it was almost hard to keep reading. The death of someone Elle knows barely makes a blip on her emotional radar for more that a few days. I understand needing to be detached as a burglar but this was a bit much. There were other things like this that left me unable to give this book a better rating.

Overall this is a brain candy thriller that isn't that sweet and doesn't last that long.

The Burglar is Elle, a young woman who steals from society homes in Los Angeles by blending into their lifestyle.

All is well for Elle until she finds three dead bodies in a house she is robbing and then releases that a camera is recording not just them but her too. To avoid being the killer’s next victim, Elle is forced to figure out who the killer is while also staying on the run.

The first half of the book detailing Elle’s lifestyle and career was great. However, the end dragged for me. I never really connected with Elle. I loved the Butcher’s Boy and The Bombmaker by the same author. I would recommend that you start with those books rather than The Burglar. 3 stars.

Thanks to Mysterious Press for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Published by Grove Atlantic/The Mysterious Press on January 8, 2019

Elle Stowell is 24 and, as the novel’s title suggests, a burglar. She enters homes in places like Bel Air and departs with jewels and other things that are small and worth stealing. While committing her most recent burglary, however, she discovers three dead bodies on a king size bed, each with a bullet hole in the head. A camera conveniently recorded the murders. Fearing that it might also have recorded her, Elle steals the camera, but her conscience forces her to return it after erasing the footage in which she appears.

Elle soon finds herself being chased, stalked, and attacked by a variety of strangers. She decides, for reasons that turn out to be plausible, that she should investigate the murders as a way of protecting herself. Her investigation (which relies heavily on her ability to break into buildings) leads her to uncover a criminal scheme that, while unlikely, is at least creative.

In the novel’s most bothersome scene, Elle eavesdrops on a conversation in which a criminal explains details of the scheme to another criminal who already knows those details, for no good reason other than to educate Elle (and the reader). That’s a poor writing technique, although it’s common enough among authors of B-level thrillers. Thomas Perry knows that the criminal has no need to impart information that the other criminal already has, but tries to cover that up by suggesting that the explanation amounts to “stalling” despite the absence of any clear reason to stall. The situation that leads to the explanation is plainly contrived to allow Elle (and the reader) to learn details that are central to resolving the plot. I didn’t buy the contrivance — nor did I buy that the criminals waited to reveal important information until after Elle returned from two breaks she had to take during her eavesdropping — but that’s my only large gripe about The Burglar.

Other gripes: Elle is likable enough but has little depth; the other characters have none at all. Perry’s writing style has little style; it is straightforward to the point of being sterile. Perry is very much a Joe Friday, “just the facts” writer. That kind of writing can be effective when a writer knows how to jazz up the prose, but Perry has never managed to elevate his game.

Still, Perry often conjures up a decent plot and he does that again in The Burglar. The story moves quickly and the breaking-and-entering scenes create enough tension to keep the reader engaged. As is often true of a Thomas Perry novel, the positives outweigh the negatives, but not by much.

RECOMMENDED

I hate to say this because the description of this book had me interested, but I had to DNF this book. The writing style was just not my cup of tea.

Elle Stowell is young, pretty, in great shape- all excellent qualities for her job. Elle is a burglar, sneaking into some of Los Angeles's finer homes and leaving with the owner's valuables. But when Elle stumbles on a triple homicide, and gets caught on camera, she goes on the run. And then things start getting serious.

This was...fine. It's a fast-paced, enjoyable and utterly forgettable thriller, perfect for a plane. Elle's abilities and knowledge walks the line between believable and ridiculous until the last third, when it trips right over into huh? territory. There's some tossed in back story that doesn't really add anything, and very little character development, but that's fine, it's not really what this sort of book is for.

It is always a treat to have a new Thomas Perry book to read. Perry uses interesting plot devices to lend credence to his heart stopping thrillers. Although there are some holes in the narrative, his sympathetic new character, Elle Stowell, keeps the reader on the edge of her seat waiting to see how she will get out of the complicated mess that she, as a master burglar walked into. Great fun!

The story was promising in this book which kept me going until the end but I don't think this was a well written book. The chapters, paragraphs are disjointed. The writing style reminded me of a teenager's style. Lots of information and characters mentioned were totally superfluous to the main story line. The ending was rather bizarre and was totally out of line with the main story.

The Burglar is not about your typical burglar. Hence, a twenty something woman in California is robbing the rich. They don't need all that stuff anyway. She's very good at what she does. Until she's in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a mansion, she finds three dead bodies, and there's a camera still recording. She takes it and tries to erase any trace of herself, but it's too late. Now, the murderer is after her. At this point, the story falls back a bit into the typical cat and mouse chase model. It's a good read overall. I found the story interesting and the heroine sympathetic. Crime fiction readers will enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.