House of Thieves

Starred review from June 1, 2015
In this engrossing Gilded Age novel, Belfoure (The Paris Architect) fully immerses the reader in the historical setting and the lives of the characters. John Cross and his beautiful wife, Helen, are the relatively poor relations of prominent socialite Caroline Astor. Their behavior, and their children’s, must remain impeccable if they are to maintain their precarious position as Knickerbockers (old-monied aristocrats). Their eldest son, George, a brilliant mathematician—and gambling addict—may not live long enough to start graduate school at Columbia. He owes James T. Kent, the leader of the gang Kent’s Gents, $48,000. When Kent discovers that George’s father is an architect, he spares the son and forces the father into using his skill and blueprints to help execute a series of daring burglaries. Meanwhile, middle daughter Julia, about to make her debut, is no simpering miss. A hopeful novelist fascinated by Dickens’s Oliver Twist, she plans to attend Vassar, but when she lays her eyes on a handsome pickpocket, she too begins to live a secret life. And when 10-year-old Charlie ventures out of his neighborhood, he falls in with a slightly older newsboy who grew up fast. In a delightful turn of events, John’s confession of his involvement with Kent to Helen transforms the estranged couple into a criminal Victorian version of Nick and Nora Charles. Belfoure’s sly, roguish writing opens a window to those living both gilded and tarnished lives. The architectural knowledge imparted will appeal even to those who are unable to differentiate between Queen Anne and Ikea. Best of all, Belfoure holds together each and every thread of the novel, resulting in a most memorable, evocative read. Agent: Susan Ginsberg, Writers House

July 15, 2015
A society architect joins a gang of New York, circa 1886. In the second of architect-turned-novelist Belfoure's historical homages to his profession (The Paris Architect, 2013), the protagonist, John Cross, is a talented designer whose rank in the city's rarified old-money society seems assured. His wife, Helen, is related to Caroline Astor, Manhattan's most revered hostess. Mrs. Astor's largesse has allowed Cross' eldest son, George, to attend Harvard, and Aunt Caroline is shepherding and financing Cross' daughter, Julia, 17, through the byzantine ritual of making her debut. However, one whiff of scandal associated with Cross or his family would be enough to blackball him from Mrs. Astor's good graces. When George's intractable gambling habit leaves him owing $48,000 to the suave but depraved gangster James T. Kent, kingpin of Kent's Gents, Cross indentures himself to the gang to pay off his son's debt. Cross provides the Gents with blueprints of buildings he designed and instructions on how to locate and spirit away the riches they house. Meanwhile, Julia escapes her remarkably gullible chaperones to follow John Nolan, a dapper pickpocket she spots outside Lord & Taylor. Soon Nolan is introducing her to cockfights and a spectator sport known as "ratting." Charlie, Cross' 10-year-old second son, who, unlike Julia, lacks even the semblance of adult supervision, falls in with Eddie, a newsie, and dabbles, for a few hours each day, in the lifestyle of a street urchin. As Cross directs more and more daring heists for Kent's Gents-Helen actually helps him target which nouveau riche family mansion to pilfer-he finds himself enjoying the thrill. However, when his older brother, Robert, a Pinkerton guard, starts investigating the crime spree, Cross' plan to avoid scandal, not to mention bodily harm, seems doomed. Despite some improbable situations, an entertaining excursion through Gilded Age New York with all the right architectural details. Unapologetically over the top.

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June 15, 2015

Respectable Gilded Age architect John Cross is approached by a crime boss with an offer he can't refuse: John will use his insider knowledge of New York's buildings to help rob the city's richest residents or John's oldest son will be killed over his massive gambling debts. The conflicted John finds the heists to be unexpectedly thrilling, even as he worries over the gang's growing body count. Meanwhile, his wife, daughter, and younger son all enjoy flirtations of their own with the city's criminal element, and John's unsuspecting Pinkerton detective brother tries to crack the recent crime wave. VERDICT As in Belfoure's The Paris Architect, the author and architect artfully brings a city's streets to life with loving descriptions of its architecture, here capturing 1890s New York in all its opulence. The plot primarily relies on exciting and suspenseful action sequences and is fairly short on plausibility, but the novel never takes itself too seriously. A pulse-raising read for historical crime and historical thriller fans. [See Prepub Alert, 4/20/15.]--Mara Bandy, Champaign P.L., IL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2015
A man does what he must to save his family, with unimaginable consequences, in this breezy novel of manners and mayhem set in the New York of 1886. Architect John Cross' only option to save the life of his son, George, a recent Harvard graduate who's run up a massive gambling debt, is to join Kent's Gents, a powerful mob whose members dress like society gentlemen, and to use his inside knowledge to plan heists. So skilled that he's recruited by a rival gang, Cross also finds himself exhilarated by his underworld activity, which also invigorates his marriage to model society wife Helen, who's distantly related to the Astors. Meanwhile his other childrendebutante Julia, 17, and Charlie, 10also are stepping outside their social bounds. Trouble arrives in the person of John's older brother, Robert, who's joined the Pinkertons and come to New York to investigate the very crimes his brother has engineered. Belfoure takes a more skewed view of morals here than in his best-selling debut, The Paris Architect (2013), but he again displays a brisk prose style, well-developed plot, and interesting architectural details. Multiple murders notwithstanding, this is a roisterous, supremely entertaining adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2016
In 1886, the year the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, midway through the Victorian era, architect John Cross is forced to collaborate with a gang of thieves to pay off his eldest son's gambling debts, thus saving his life. Meanwhile, Cross's socialite daughter and his ten-year-old son both become acquainted with the seamy underbelly of New York society. No one in the family knows of the others' questionable activities. Although it's a long stretch imagining society folks working for thieves and enjoying pickpocketing, crooked gambling, sleazy bars, and brothels, this is a fine attempt at depicting 19th-century New York, from the tenements to Fifth Avenue estates, featuring locations such as the crime-ridden Five Points area and the Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnel. Real-life characters, including architect Stanford White, make an appearance. The insights on gambling addiction are compelling; the work is very nicely narrated by Jeff Woodman. VERDICT This audiobook is highly recommended for adult fiction collections. ["A pulse-raising read for historical crime and historical thriller fans": "LJ" 6/15/15 review of the Sourcebooks Landmark hc.]--Cliff Glaviano, formerly with Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.