Chris Ewan (1)Reseñas

Book two in the Good Thief’s Guide mystery series, has author and thief Charlie Howard in the City of Lights. He agrees to a reading at a bookstore and following the event joins a few people for drinks. Under the influence he agrees to show one of the patrons how to break into a building. Of course, they are breaking into the man’s own apartment. The next day, Charlie is contacted by his usual fence with a new “commission” to steal a painting … at the same apartment. And then things get complicated.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one fell flat for me. Oh, I still like Charlie and I like the way he thinks. He’s fiercely independent but possibly not so good at truly hiding his identity as he has always thought. I enjoyed the introduction of Victoria, his agent; she really added a lot to this episode.

But this plot went all over the place. I never did really figure out the role of a few of the players. One thing I expect of mysteries is that the conclusion answers all my questions, and this one did not. Though he did set up the next in the series rather nicely, so I’ll probably read more.

Meh. Hokey and annoying but if you skim-read it's passable. Takes care to hit the checklist of expected Berlin tropes which honestly just makes me feel a little manipulated.

Probably between 2 and 3 stars...

I don't remember what I expected from this book, but it certainly wasn't what I got. The plot was all right, with its fair share of twists, but the book, especially towards the end, was incredibly cliched. Example: The ending is purposely ambiguous so as not to prematurely reveal all. He talks about how he calls "this person" or goes on "errands". This is done so he can have a big reveal at the end, which is incredibly cliched and annoying. And his big reveal goes on FOREVER!!! The character keeps going back and changing facts and mentioning things that he conveniently forgot to mention several paragraphs ago. Is it too much to ask for a simple "The butler did it!"?

And I totally called the murderer. It seems that Ewan's work mirrors that of his character (or maybe vice versa) in that you can see the murderer a mile away. There were a few things that threw me for a loop, but the insanely long delivery time was both cliched and boring.

The book wasn't terrible, it was an okay read most of the way through, but it really petered out toward the end in a disappointing and long winded way.

Strongest at the start. I really liked it until the last chunk of dense exposition. I did want the explanations but having everyone standing static in the warehouse ruins for Investigator Revelations was a stodgy choice. I'll try the second one.

A tense thriller with some interesting twists but at points I was getting a little bored with it because the characters were flat.

Catchy voice. The "detective" is no moralist, neither hard-boiled, streetwise gumshoe.

Charlie Howard is a crime writer with a side gig as a thief. He is employed by an American to steal two out of a set of the Three Wise Monkeys, but now has to prove that he wasn't the one who beat up his employer to the point where he later died of his injuries.

Fun idea spoiled by poor ebook formatting (random hyphenation presumably carried over from where necessary in the print edition) and bad editing (many homophone mistakes). This doesn't convince me that I need to add it to the many series I've got on the go.

Fun and happy. I would recommend this book.

This has been marketed as a thriller, but it really lacks the compelling, page-turning quality that "thriller" implies. It has, however, also been marketed as a mystery, which I think is the accurate label.

It's an alright book. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but I have to admit I probably wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't been cheap in the Kindle Store! (Sep 2014)

Reviewers calling this a brilliant thriller were not kidding. Plus, I know know much more about the Isle of Man. Loved it.

This was compulsive reading, to the point where I had to get up in the middle of the night to finish it.

Nick Miller was originally part of a task force in the Manchester City Police that ran the witness protection programme. Until his own family was in need of protection and the system failed. Then he went on the run, and set up his own protective system. All his clients have a single starting point, they are witness to crimes committed by Connor Lane.

Nick requires his clients to walk away from their old lives, from their families, and to establish a new identity outside the UK. They change their appearance, get new work, and wait to be called to provide evidence in a trial. They live on a knife edge, waiting for the phone call that tells them they must go on the run again. When they need him, Nick will be there.

For the most part this is a thriller, but there are unexpected twists at the end.½

This book has a good storyline, however, the writing let it down a bit

I found this to be a bit plodding but I enjoyed the ending

Claire Cooper is eight years old when one Hop-tu-naa ( the Manx Halloween ) her mother goes missing. Ten years later Claire and her friends take part in a dare for Hop-tu-naa which goes very wrong.

First time for me to read a book by this author and I enjoyed it. The book appealed to me as the story is set at Hop-tu-naa which is the Halloween custom on the Isle of Man. Each part of the story is set either around or on October 31st. I didn't know anything about the Isle of Man or its customs so did find that part of the book interesting.

The story was quite compelling and did hold my interest. It has Agatha Christie vibes where the characters are killed off one by one, each on Hop-tu-naa. The story does have a few twists and turns. The story was a little predictable with one of the reveals.

I would read more by this author and enjoyed the fact that this story was set around Halloween. I found the book just ok but enjoyed it in parts.

Amusing. I wish there was a bit more atmosphere of Amsterdam.

Didn't love it like [b:The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam], but it was a fast and fairly entertaining read. Now, to finish reading the nonfiction version...

Charlie Howard, crime writer and professional thief, is in Paris and, with the help of a few too many drink, is lured into demonstrating how to break into an apartment and thereby gets himself involved in a art-theft and murder mystery. This is the second installment in this series and I am enjoying following Charlie on his adventures through various citites despite some odd coincidences and sometimes ridiculous situations. I have heard others complain about grammar issues in the text, but as I am listening to the audio versions (excellently read by Simon Vance) that didn't bother me too much.½

3.5 out of four - loved the TT references!

This is the first book I’ve read that takes place on the Isle of Man, and I appreciated what the setting added to the story. This thriller primarily takes place over the course of several Halloweens (Hop-tu-Naa), beginning with the one where Claire’s mother mysteriously disappears. Did she run away from her difficult life? Or did her creepy old employer do her in? Claire is sure it was old Mr. Caine, but the repercussions from one disastrous night are making her doubt herself. And now that she is a police officer, can she solve her own crime before all of her friends are killed?

I haven’t read any other Chris Ewan books, but I wouldn’t hesitate to add him to my list!½

Charlie Howard writes mystery novels for a living as well as a little burglary on the side. When a mysterious American hires Charlie to steal two seemingly worthless monkey figurines, Charlie is suspicious, but intrigued enough to accept, which leads to beatings and arrests and even murder. The plot is fairly generic and the Agatha Christie-finale is a bit formulaic, but I really enjoyed the characters and the setting and the premise has great potential, so I'll be giving the next installment a try. The audio, read by Simon Vance, is really good, but if you've heard Simon Vance, that won't come as a surprise.½

(Fiction, Mystery, Series)

The Good Thief series features Charlie Howard, master criminal, who accepts ‘challenges’ around the globe. This first in the series, my introduction to him, was excellent: the mystery well-paced and evenly-developed.

I was exposed to enough tidbits about Amsterdam to get a flavour of that city and look forward to globe-trotting in the future with Charlie.

4 stars

I think I have found my most favorite genre up to date. “The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam”, a mystery thriller by Chris Ewan, entails an author, who also is a thief, gets assigned an unusual heist compared to his others. He soon finds out the person who gave the thief’s job had been killed. He very quickly gets wrapped in a whole ordeal of murder and bribery. I would rate 5 stars and recommend it to people who love suspense and romance.

Sweet but a bit too easy.

He's likable, the other characters were not.....

Charlie (a mystery writer & professional thief by night) is hired by another professional thief, Michael, to steal two plaster monkeys, that goes with the third which is already in his possession.

When Michael is found beaten & left for dead in his apartment things become dangerous & interesting.....

I figured out "who done it".... The story was a bit shallow (as was Charlie).....

I much prefer Bock's, Bernie Rhodenbarr.... But Block has a lot more books featuring Bernie......