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Criminal Paradise

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

Robert Rivers is an honorable thief who has made a living conducting well-planned heists on the various businesses that dot the idyllic environs of Southern California. But during a routine robbery of a local steakhouse, Rivers comes across something that shakes him from his comfortable existence. Stuffed inside the restaurant’s safe, alongside the money, is a photograph of a teenaged Vietnamese girl. Though Rivers tries to enjoy the money and move on, he finds himself haunted by the picture.

Soon, Rivers comes face to face with the realization that there are dark things afoot in Orange County, deeds that make his heists look like fun and games. And when an old friend shows up hoping to get in on the action, Rivers is forced to wrestle with questions of loyalty and conscience, which just might lead him to some kind of redemption.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      CRIMINAL PARADISE starts off sounding like an unusual story about the workings of a small-time criminal's brain. Soon we realize that Robert Rivers may be a thief, but he's also a pretty good guy, a hero. Patrick Lawlor sounds a little young for the 40-something lead character, but he's suitably menacing as the real villain and totally convincing as the "hero's" two henchmen. Lawlor does justice to Thomas's story of conscience and crime, lending a solid storytelling style to a disturbing tale. In a case of a semi-bad guy versus a really, REALLY bad guy--guess who wins. This is one of those books for which a happy ending seems impossible, but the author pulls it off. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 3, 2007
      This California noir, Thomas's first novel, fails to deliver on its promising opening. When smalltime crook Robert Rivers and his partner, Switch, rob the Cow Town, a restaurant owned by Orange County entrepreneur Lewis McFadden, they discover more than a lot of cash in the safe. A photograph of a naked Vietnamese girl who looks like an underage teenager suggests McFadden is into the flesh trade. While Switch is out of town, Rivers and his biker friend Reggie England break into McFadden's house, where they find the Vietnamese girl, Song, tied to a bed. After they bring Song back to Switch's place, England rapes her while Rivers is gone. Soon afterward, Rivers has sex with Song, who's actually 19, that might or might not be consensual. These scenes not only undermine sympathy for Rivers, they also conflict with the subtlety of earlier chapters. From then on—through Song's recapture by McFadden, a sex slave auction and an unconvincing final chapter involving the revelations of Rivers's landlady—overblown sex and violence hijack the plot. 5-city author tour.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 26, 2008
      Patrick Lawlor's youthful, upbeat delivery is a fine fit for wiseguy mysteries (like Robert Crais's The Monkey's Raincoat
      ), but it's something of a mismatch for a lean, gritty tale like Thomas's debut thriller. Tough but humane professional thief Rob Rivers knocks over a Southern California steak house and uncovers photographic evidence of what appears to be a sex slave operation that his conscience won't let him ignore. Through his first-person narration, Rivers says he has been at the game long enough to be thinking about retiring. Lawlor makes him sound as if he's still a novice, a particularly inappropriate interpretation considering that the thief has to do battle with several hardcore baddies. Add to that rapes, torture and lots of violence, and it becomes pretty clear this is no country for young (sounding) men. Simultaneous release with the Ballantine hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 3).

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