A Gentle Thief

I am very excited to have had the opportunity to review A Gentle Thief for Media Guests. This book was sent to be to review in E-book form. The review is my own words. This E-book was such a wonderful read!

About the Book:

Maddie Johnson loved Shakespeare. Unlike everybody else she knew growing up, she seemed to understand him, enjoy him, more with every reading. It was partly because of this love that she drove from her home in rural Pennsylvania to college at Southern Utah University, home every summer to the Utah Shakespearean Festival. It was partly that, and partly the desire to get as far away as possible.

Maddie thought being in Utah would help her forget, that the stark beauty of the scenery and the power of the metaphor would be enough to clear her. They weren’t.

In her freshman year, she met and, after graduation, married a much older man, Robert Able, the first person Maddie had ever known who understood her love of Shakespeare.

At 21, Maddie felt too young to be married. At 23, she felt too young to be divorced.
Maddie was found dead on New Year’s Day, clutching a gun to her chest. Everyone assumed she committed suicide. Everyone except her father.

A Gentle Thief is Maddie’s story, and that of her father and the young attorney he hires who becomes devoted to him and the truth of his cause.
A Gentle Thief is a book nearly 20 years in the making, inspired by a case the author worked on while a lawyer.
About The Author:

Amanda Dickson is a radio announcer, author, newspaper columnist, and speaker based in Salt Lake City. Amanda earned her B.A. in English and her Juris Doctorate at the University of Utah. She practiced law for a brief time before returning to her first love of radio. Amanda taught Mass Communication Law at the University of Utah, becoming a favorite professor among the students. Amanda published her first book in the fall of 2007, Wake Up to a Happier Life. Her second book, Change It Up, came out in October of 2009. Her new book, Friends for Life, is due out in January of 2012. Amanda is married and the step-mother of three children. She is also the indulgent mother of two children.

My Review:
This book was a fascinating book, made me feel part detective, part attorney while reading the story. I found myself so engrossed in the book that I was unable to close it down. Last night I fell asleep reading in on the couch and woke up at 2 am with my laptop on my lap and my neck hurting.

A Gentle Thief is a book that will hold anyone’s fascination with mystery. The story was well written, page after page was filled with great detail, I almost felt like I knew the characters. While reading the story it would flip from Sophie the attorney, to Maddie the young girl who was murdered. The mystery takes so many turns, just when I "thought" I knew who did it, I was introduced to more reasons why someone else would want to kill Maddie. With the whole mystery revolving around a young attorney who was put on the case to have the state Medical Examiner change the case from suicide to a homicide. I won't give you the ending of the book, you'll have to read the book to find out which it was and if the attorney was able to help the grieving father change the medical examiners mind.

The story had so many twists and turns, but what I loved most was what Sophie found along her journey, what she had not expected. This was a heartwarming story, a mystery, a tender book, a sad book, a story that made me as a reader stop and think more than I could have expected.

I completely without reservation recommend this book as one of the best books I have read in a long time. This book held my attention, it was fun, easy to read and easy to follow the storyline. I completely enjoyed the story!

Sandie