I confess I'm running a little late in recording my reading of this book as I've very nearly finished it - but on the better late then never principle, and as something a little extra than normal:
Opening Lines:
"I want you to steal something for me."
and page 123 - the first few sentences which by happy co-incidence is the start of chapter twenty:
"Later that night, after Van Zandt had finally grown tired of droning on about the wonders of his family's business empire, I let myself back into my apartment and drew myself a bath. Once the water was hot enough to scald flesh, I added a little cold and then I climbed into the tub and lay flat amid the streaming water, staring blankly at the white bathroom tiles on the opposite wall."
Charlie Howard doesn't just write books about a career thief, he also happens to be one.
In Amsterdam working on his latest novel, Charlie is approached by a mysterious American who asks him to steal two apparently worthless monkey figurines from two separate addresses on the same night. At first he says no. Then he changes his mind. Only later, kidnapped and bound to a chair, the American very dead and a spell in police custody behind him, does Charlie begin to realise how costly a mistake he might have made.