Scintillating prose makes ‘Thick as Thieves’ shine

Ever been stuck with a group of people you really don’t want to work with but you have to? That’s Carr’s predicament in Peter Spiegelman's new novel, "Thick as Thieves."

But the predicament comes with a big reward — tens of millions of dollars, plenty of money to retire on. The reward will only come, however, if Carr and his cohorts can pull off a heist of epic proportions that is ripe with danger.

Carr is the name of a former CIA operative who is leading an elite group of professional criminals to get the booty in a complicated scheme that runs from Houston to South America to Grand Cayman Island and to Miami.

The scheme includes getting involved with diamonds, money-laundering and extortion. But Carr has doubts about the group, which consists of Bobby, Dennis and Latin Mike, who likes to speak a little Spanglish (“You riled up the natives, chica” and “No offense, cabron”). And then there’s Valerie, a smart beauty who’s in a romantic relationship with Carr. But she has other irons in the fire, including a separate agenda.

In the heist, the gang targets Curtis Prager, a disgraced hedge fund manager who is holding the money they’ve “acquired” over the years. Carr and his group are confident and very experienced, but there are some troubling signs. The man who brought the group together was killed a few months ago. Carr suspects it was a setup, and there are other red flags.

But like the hobbits going into Smaug’s lair to get their treasure in “The Hobbit,” the group plunges forward. Not surprisingly, things go wrong. There’s death and violence. And friendships among the thieves are severely tested, if there were even friendships at all.

What makes “Thick as Thieves” shine is Spiegelman’s scintillating prose. He establishes a sultry, murky atmosphere that settles into the plot. His character descriptions are splendid: Valerie’s “dark blond hair is pinned in a haphazard pile, and her long, limber body is like a burning fuse as she twists through the crowd.”

“Thick as Thieves” has the appearance of a thriller, but it‘s really a psychological-suspense novel. It moves slowly at times, but it has some surprises and a tumultuous ending.

This is my first experience with Spiegelman, who worked in the financial service and software industries for nearly 20 years before becoming a full-time writer. It won’t be my last.