The Sacred Art of Stealing

Publisher and industry reviews

Jacket review

'A thriller, love story, social satire and a warning against taking absurdism too seriously..' TIME OUT 'Chris Brookmyre is a genius.' DAILY MIRROR 'Brookmyre has no equal.' MAXIM 'Exhilarating linguistic fluency and keenly subversive intelligence' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'Brookmyre pulls out all the stops in this one. His talent for creating bizzare situations, unlikely relationships and complex characters has never been more in evidence. Illusion is paramount in this novel. And it is achieved with an impressive literary sleight of hand.' WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY 'Brilliant.' GLASGOW HERALD 'Home-grown thrillers as fun and funky as this come along all too rarely, so make the most of it.' SUNDAY TIMES 'If you enjoy intelligently written crime thrillers with a healthy dollop of satire, then this will be the answer to your prayers.' MORNING STAR 'Raw, obscene, irreverant, punchy and sarcastic, this is a clever, off-beat story-line handled with funky dexterity.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE 'Brookmyre finds a rich vein of satire when pondering whether cops and robbers (or even Celtic and Rangers fans) can ever really be friends.' DAILY MAIL 'All in all, it's a cracking read, and one that's likely to make you say 'Aaaahhhh' at the end. Result.' HEAT 'I found myself laughing my way through this exhileratingly funny tale, and found his intelligent observations refreshing.' ABERDEEN PRESS AND JOURNAL 'An entertaining read.' NEW WOMAN

UK Kirkus review

With one of the most baldly obscene opening paragraphs of any modern novel, The Sacred Art of Stealing slaps its way into orbit with more expletives than prepositions. But get through the gang-rap obscenity nonsense and there's a clever, off-beat storyline handled with funky dexterity. 30-year-old Detective Sergeant Angelique de Xavia is taken hostage in a bank robbery, run by a bizarre quintet of robbers dressed as clowns who entertain the bank staff by creating artworks on the blanked-out windows. De Xavia connects uncannily with Zal, one of the gang, and there is a mutual magnetism, even though the only part of him she can see through his mask is his fearsome blue eyes. Siege over, robbers on the run, they meet up face to face and she is much taken by the art-loving Las Vegas criminal. He understands her, the pressures of her job - well, he would, wouldn't he? The author casts his dry eye over the police, whores, the art world - and he always seems to come from a spiky new iconoclastic angle. The plot spirals slowly through gangland killings, revenge, art fraud and theft plus a sting operation. By now Angelique's in love with Zal, and he lures her into his world. She has to make a choice between collusion and honesty. If she catches Zal - and she has to try, he told her to - he'll be in prison, but if she lets her heart rule her head she'll lose him anyway as he goes to ground. Raw, obscene, irreverent, punchy and sarcastic, this is a book that smart young things will skip lunch over. (Kirkus UK)

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