The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin

The Good Thief's Guides, Book 5

By: Chris Ewan

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Charlie Howard, part-time writer, part-time thief, has been engaged in a veritable spree of larceny and misappropriation since moving to Berlin. He’s supposed to be working on his next novel. But high rent and a love for thrill-seeking has been hard on his word count.

But Charlie’s larcenous binge is interrupted by the call to duty - on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government. Four embassy employees are suspected of stealing a sensitive item. Charlie is to break into their homes, find the culprit, and recover the stolen property. But there’s a catch. The item is so sensitive, Charlie isn’t told what he’s looking for. Not its size, not its weight, nothing. He’s only told that he’ll recognize it when he sees it.

Charlie has been a successful thief because he follows his own rules, the first being “Don’t get caught.” Well, after he enters the first suspect’s home, he has to add a new rule: “Don’t admire the view.” As Charlie stares across the street, he sees something he really wishes he hadn’t - a woman being murdered. And that’s just for starters. What follows is a wild adventure in the former cauldron of spies.

©2013 Chris Ewan (P)2013 AudioGO

Good Mystery Tarnished By Irritable People

I enjoyed the mystery aspects of this book and all of the red herrings. But I did not enjoy the never-ending crankiness of the main characters. They went from supportive friends in the previous books to increasingly bickering rivals, and the woman whined about everything so many times in this book that I finally grumbled out loud, "Just leave, already." I was also frustrated that there was a very obvious source of information that kept being shoved in our faces in multiple chapters but the irritable main character just kept ignoring it. Interesting mystery? Yes! Enjoyable characters to follow along as they sleuthed it out? Not so much. But I did really like a particularly excentric character who lived in an unusual place!

Typical Charlie

This is a good story about the further adventures of Charlie Howard. It was well conceived and written. If you enjoyed the previous books in the series, you will like this one. That said, I hope the author is not going to leave Charlie where he ended up here....another book one of these days?

Love this series.

I’ve enjoyed each book in this series. And now I’ll give you eight more words.

Not One of the typical thief books

In general I like this character in the series, but in this particular book our hero acts like a dick. Seriously, like an ass. And I really hate it when there are stupid plot and dialogue issues. We spend hours listening to trying to find the all important package, which he’s not even opened for the longest time after they get it.

Keeps you guessing.

Another great book in the series. Fantastic narrator! Can't wait for the next one. This was a cliffhanger!

Not the old Charlie, not the old Chris Ewan...

I thoroughly enjoyed the other 4 "Good Thief..." books, but this was a disappointment when compared to them. Charlie was more of a jerk, and more careless, in this book. This seemed out of character, but some plot elements depended on this.

What really bothered me was the basic premise; Charlie was hired to steal something, but he wasn't told anything about what he was supposed to see, "You'll know it when you see it." After the big reveal, I couldn't figure out why he couldn't have just been told from the start. There was no logical reason he couldn't have been told, but the plot revolved around him not knowing.

I very much appreciate Chris Ewan's attention to detail, and I hope we've not seen the last of Charlie, but Chris was off his game this time. Maybe, like Charlie, he was facing a deadline...😞

too much going on bruh

the narrator was ready good tho. too many issues for one book imo but still ok

I adore Ewan's thief--but this had no ending!

I was so excited to find another "Good Thief's Guide", as they are always a delight. As always, the narration was flawless, entertaining, and spot-on. The story was a bit convoluted, but a typical inadvertent misadventure for our honorable thief.

The end made me back up the iPod to see if something was skipped--it wasn't! About all that it accomplishes is letting the reader know that there has to be another book. Just because this sort of non-ending worked for the Sopranos, doesn't make it a satisfying way to end a book.

Nonetheless, I'm a Ewan devotee, and will read anything he writes, as long as Vance narrates. Pure excellence!

Very Good

I am late to find this author. The book is good and I am looking forward to the rest. The narrator is as always good. Mr Vance is always great at bringing characters to life.

Did you see it, or not?

Welcome, Charlie Howard, a suspense writer, and discrete thief. Charlie has been hired to find an item in one of four apartments. The person hiring Charlie, the British Ambassador of Berlin. The catch is, he didn’t know what he was looking for. In the first apartment, while closing the blinds, Charlie witnessed a murder in progression in the apartment building across the way. There was nothing to do, but it bothered him so much that he used the apartment phone to call the Polizei. In the second apartment, Charlie found what he thought he sought but encountered more trouble at home. That was one problem but he couldn’t get over what he saw. His investigation into the murder he witnessed was a secondary part of the story. The initial quest for what he was hired for continued. As it turned out they were both connected. It’s odd that the German Polzei did not search Charlie as he was arrested. Subterfuge and treason as the foundation of the story. An interesting story although somewhat drawn out.