The Burglar by Thomas Perry is a meticulous thriller, that tells you every street and road the character turns on to get away. The meticulousness works for the character up slows the action to a crawl. at times it felt like I was reading a scripted version of “The Californians” SNL sketch as every freeway is listed. I lived in Los Angeles, CA for eight years so I knew a little of where the character was going, but I can see others get buried in all the details. This thriller is a snoozefest until the last 80 pages which it finally gets good, really good. But I had already given up on the character’s situation, the story reminded me of the Sandra bullock thriller The Net, just not updated and feeling very 90’s.

The Plot: Elle is a small 24 year old burglar, her cover is a collage athlete returning home. We learn of her routine for robbing the rich in LA neighborhoods like Beverly Hills and Bel Aire, and it is detailed and meticulous. Her routine is shaken when she does all the checks for no one being home and a security system she can override, everything is going great until she notices the three bodies gunned down executioner style, she finds a recording with a red light knowing she’s on tape, she takes the tape to cover her own self, but soon realizes that the tape also captured the murders as well. How that she has stolen a key piece of evidence what does she do with it? Elle maybe the only one who could solve this murder.

What I Liked: When there is actually action and thrills, it is written really well and puts you in the character’s perspective. The couple of twist in the mystery are clever. The dialogue when spoken feels real, there’s not a lot. The deaths are thrilling and described well. The end is written well, and you can see Perry’s talent, which made me mad the whole book wasn’t written like this.

What I Disliked: There’s way too many tangents that ruin the flow of this book. The pace of this book is so slow. Way too many details when it comes to driving show us her routine a couple of times, but don’t share details about it ten times, we already know how detailed and careful the character is. Something really horrific happens and the character immediately goes on a date looking for a distraction, I hit my forehead in reaction. I hate when we have a brilliant character continue to do stupid things, like keep returning to a bar after people she doesn’t know keep asking about her there.

Recommendations: I will ask you to pass on reading this one, I feel like I’ve done a favor to all my followers, with this one. I’m curious and hesitant to check out Perry’s other work, will definitely use other review site to see which to avoid. He’s written over 25 books so they all can’t be this bad to still have a career. I will always give an author another chance, and I saw a potential for good in those last 80 pages. I rated this book 2 out of 5 stars.