Criminal Karma

May 18, 2009
When California crook Robert Rivers sets his sights on a diamond necklace worth $250,000 belonging to socialite Evelyn Evermore in Thomas’s entertaining second caper novel (after Criminal Paradise
), Rivers soon learns he’s not the only one with designs on it. After a rival thug foils Rivers’s first attempt to steal the necklace, Rivers and his rough-hewn partner, Reggie England, regroup and learn that Evermore has become a follower of Baba Raba, a charismatic guru based in sunny Venice, Calif. From posh hotels to flop houses, from ashram meetings to complicated burglaries, Rivers keeps his eye on the prize, but not without an appealing touch of knight errantry. Baba Raba, charlatan or not, has impressive powers as well as his own agenda. Rivers is a cunning and resourceful thief capable of blending into his surroundings like a chameleon or meeting force with force when necessary. He does both with charm, wit and surprising decency.

June 1, 2009
Thomas follow-up to the first Rob Rivers novel, Criminal Paradise (2007), builds on that success and further develops his main character, a introspective and in many ways decent man who has chosen crime as his career. Rivers is still the freethinking crook who rhapsodizes about the virtues of Cadillacs, but this time out he also shows himself to be knowledgeable about Hindu religion and philosophy. That knowledge serves him well when his attempt to steal a spectacular diamond necklace is thwarted and he encounters Baba Raba, a gifted but bent yogi who has a taste for crooked real-estate deals, young female acolytes, hired thugs, and Armani suits. As in the first novel, author Thomas writes gracefully and deftly about Southern California, louche and luxe, and Rivers casual disquisitions on Hindu beliefs are informative and insightful. Give this one to fans of Lawrence Blocks Bernie Rhodenbarr.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)