The Fourth Rule is an intricate cat and mouse game. Riley Wolfe is charismatic, clever, and the best thief in the world. Or is he?
See what happens when Riley pits his genius against a formidable and ruthless foe.

DNF at 10%. Riley Wolfe is an interesting character and I loved the first book in this series but as it’s gone on - realizing it just doesn’t work for me and this is the last one I’ll try. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

I really enjoyed this one! The writing is witty and fun and the action is great. I didn't realize this was part of a series and now I need to go back and read the earlier books! I'm hooked.

This is a great series for those who enjoy heists, adventure, and a thief who prefers to target the wealthy and privileged elites.
Riley Wolfe recently stole the Irish crown jewels from a person known only as The Cobra. Now he is planning his next adventure. He wants to find a huge stockpile of art and other valuables, hidden by the Nazi's. While researching the possible locations he meets a woman named Caitlin. Something happens that never happens to Riley...he falls for her hard. Soon he finds himself so pre-occupied that he can't focus on his task. So he decides to switch targets. Instead he will remain in England, while waiting to run into Caitlin again, and he will still the Rosetta Stone instead. While he plans and prepares, he has no idea the number of targets he has on his back. The Corba has not forgotten that Riley had the nerve to steal his stolen jewels and the police are fully aware of what Riley is planning to do, they have a tight trap planned to snare him with his loot.

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, for opportunity to enjoy this action packed e-ARC

Published by Dutton on December 5, 2023

Riley Wolfe is insufferably proud of himself for being the world’s best thief. He’s also pleased with his performance as an escape artist and his mastery of parkour. His ego was so irritating in his inaugural novel that I didn’t finish it. I didn’t see the second one, but I tried the third. Jeff Lindsay toned down Riley’s boasting in that one, allowing a reasonably good story to develop.

Riley starts the fourth installment in the series by bragging that he stole the Irish Crown jewels from the Canadian wilderness lair of a collector known only as the Cobra. A couple of months later, while fighting boredom and looking for something new to brag about, he begins to plan the theft of the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum in London.

As he ponders the heist, Riley wanders into an art museum to admire paintings by Otto Dix. He bumps into a woman named Caitlin O’Brian and they make a connection over drinks and dinner before she vanishes. She later shows up at his door, shags him, and pouts a bit before he’s bragging about being the world’s greatest thief. Of course, not talking about thievery with strangers is one of the rules of being the world’s greatest thief, but she shagged him so she’s not really a stranger, right?

Anyway, Caitlin wins Riley’s confidence by stealing the Dix painting that he was admiring. How she does this is never explained and Riley, who can’t get his mind of shagging, neglects to ask. Naturally, he agrees to let her help him steal the Rosetta Stone.

The plan to steal the rock is far from a work of genius and it succeeds only because people at the British Museum are too dense to do their jobs. Frank Delgado, the FBI agent who is Riley’s nemesis, is dispatched to London to help the British police respond to a confidential tip that Riley plans to make off with the Museum’s most treasured possession. When Frank asks folks at the Museum whether anything unusual has happened recently, they fail to connect the most unusual event in their tenure to the planned theft. Riley struck me as being more lucky than smart.

Things go awry after the theft and Riley needs to rescue Caitlan, who has apparently been captured by the Cobra. Riley belatedly tumbles onto a secret and needs to rescue himself. A seasoned crime novel fan will guess the novel’s big surprise long before it arrives. That Riley didn’t recognize the obvious also undercuts his self-promoted reputation as a criminal genius. Maybe he needs to get laid more often so his sex-deprived brain doesn’t ignore warning signs that could not be bigger or brighter.

Setting aside the plot’s eye-rolling lack of credibility and the novel’s annoying protagonist, Lindsay delivers a fast-moving plot with a pleasing series of chases, fights, and escapes. I particularly enjoyed various thrashings of Riley, who quite deserves the punishment. While I am a bigger fan of the third Riley Wolfe novel than the fourth, I can recommend it to fans of action novels.

RECOMMENDED

I love a heist novel, and really enjoyed meeting Riley. Pages flew, and it’s a terrific piece of escapist fun. I knew Caitlin was the Cobra, so that wasn’t a surprise, but the novel certainly hits its mark, as a perfect weekend read.

Author Jeff Lindsay may have perfected the 21st century version of the criminal antihero with serial killer Dexter Morgan. Still, his new, somewhat less lethal protagonist gives Dexter a run for his money. Riley Wolfe is charming, witty, inventive… and the self-proclaimed world’s best thief. In his latest adventure, “The Fourth Rule,” Wolfe goes after literally his biggest prize yet. The result is a lively romp for heist fiction fans.

The title of “The Fourth Rule” refers to one of Wolfe’s guiding principles in life. “Even if you’re the best there is, watch your back. Because somebody better is coming.” (Those numbered rules brought Jethro Gibbs’s similar numbered rules on the TV series “NCIS.”) In “The Fourth Rule,” that somebody is the Cobra, a reclusive collector from whom Wolfe stole the Irish crown jewels, which were first stolen a century earlier. Even though Wolfe sold the jewels, the Cobra wants revenge. That revenge vow may hinder Wolfe’s efforts to steal the Rosetta Stone. What may hinder his effort even more is that the Stone weighs about 1500 pounds and is kept closely guarded at the British Museum in London. Riley is in London researching another potential crime, the details of which await a future novel in the series. He wants to steal the Stone for the sheer intellectual challenge involved because that’s how he rolls.

Riley Wolfe narrates most of “The Fourth Rule,” although the perspective shifts at times to inform readers of a few key plot complications of which Riley is unaware. His narrative tone is chatty and breezy, revealing his eclectic tastes in art and music. Most readers will be unaware of some of Riley’s favorite works, but checking up on them (as I did on more than one occasion) reveals that the author has done his homework. He inserts several fascinating historical nuggets about, among other things, the Stone itself, the Irish crown jewels, and the fate of a German ship sunk in 1945 with a loss of life five times greater than the Titanic. While most of those historical tidbits aren’t relevant to the main storyline, they are very entertaining. The author also knows how to dish them out judiciously so they don’t overwhelm the storyline and sink the book in a morass of trivia.

The author’s descriptions of the planning and execution of the robbery in “The Fourth Rule” are entertaining, but a bit below the best heist thrillers. Riley is a master of disguise, with dozens of fake passports and assumed identities available. He also goes far afield, traveling to Egypt to secure the help of a world-renowned Egyptologist. It all comes together, but, as you might expect in this type of thriller, the robbery doesn’t go entirely without a hitch. Riley runs into some surprises along the way, although further description would ruin some of the author’s twists and complications.

Jeff Lindsay does a good job of plotting in “The Fourth Rule,” but the complications and surprises fall short of the writing skills of a real expert in the field like Jeffery Deaver. The book’s biggest surprise shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has read a few similar novels. And, when I thought about how much the author actually revealed of Riley’s planning, I realized that the description left plenty of gaps. The author glosses over some significant difficulties Riley would have faced in getting the Stone out of the Museum and hopes readers won’t notice.

I noticed, but I didn’t mind. Riley Wolfe is such a skilled raconteur and likable character. I could forgive the author for making the robbery a bit easier on the printed page than it would have been in real life. I also didn’t mind that Riley admits to being extremely ruthless, with one character meeting a horrible end. The author’s style is engaging, and he knows how to keep the novel’s pace going until the last page. Jeff Lindsay doesn’t follow all the writing rules in “The Fourth Rule,” but the result is a lively heist thriller genre fans will enjoy on a first or even fourth reading.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

Jeff Lindsay has created some great lead characters in his books. I devoured the Dexter series, but somehow missed the Riley Wolfe series. I've since caught up with the latest entry - The Fourth Rule. This is a series, but can absolutely be read as a stand alone.

Like Dexter, our lead character Riley lives on the other side of the law - as a thief. But not any old thief. Sometimes its just to see if he can steal the unstealable. And sometimes it's a paid job. The word heist comes to mind and I truly adore heist books and films.

The Fourth Rule is told in first person. The reader feels like Riley is recounting a tale to us and we're privy to all the details.

One of those details are the self made rules that Riley operates under. Number four? "Even if you're the best there is, watch your back. Because somebody better is coming." Riley has an ego, but it's been earned. But - for how much longer?

Lindsay has a great (and devious) imagination when it comes the heists. I love the details that surround the thefts and the sheer audacity of the attempts. Oh, his disguises as well. Improbable? That's the fun of heist tales - to do what they say can't be done.

I'm going to leave things there as I don't want to provide spoilers. The Fourth Rule was inventive, lots of fun and made for easy, addictive reading. And a great last chapter that hints at the future. Maybe...

The Fourth Rule by Jeff Lindsay is a riveting heist novel that's thrilling, smart and filled with twists that will keep you hooked from start to finish.
The book is a great thriller, fast paced and cleverly written. I really enjoyed the interesting characters and great settings. Which made this book so much more intriguing.
A non-stop adventure and full of action. A thrill ride that captures your attention from the very beginning.
This is a great thriller, fast-paced, and packed full of interesting characters.
The Fourth Rule is fast-paced and just genuinely enjoyable from start to finish.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dutton for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

This fell in the middle for me. I loved the concept and what was going on, but it was a struggle in the beginning to get engaged in the book. I did enjoy the twists and turns. It was okay to me overall.