Review: The Diamond Thief - Sharon Gosling

Remy is the headlining act in the Cirque de la Lune, but she is also a notorious jewel thief. That is, until her latest and most important robbery goes awry, and she ends up presenting her manager with a fake diamond. The blame is eventually pinned on her, and so Remy soon finds herself alone and on the run. Thaddeus is the youngest policeman on the force, and seemingly the only one paying attention to what is going on around him; he thinks that a famous diamond will be stolen when it is shown to the public, and he is very right. He does his best to secure it, but when the jewel does get stolen, the blame is laid at his feet by the other policemen. The only way to clear both of their names is to team up and, with some help from a few friends, find the real thief, but what they uncover goes much further than a simple robbery.

Character-wise, most were fairly straightforward, and their motives were easy to figure out. It is a small book, so that much is expected. However, it would have helped the complexity of the plot if it was less obvious how each character would react to situations. Thaddeus, for example, is only ever good and his other traits are kindness and courage; a stereotypical hero, but not much else. His initial cleverness is soon lost to stupid questions and he just becomes a simple love interest.

Remy is tiny, agile, french and has some anger issues. Her character is much more rounded than Thaddeus's as she has a few allegiances and secrets that are slowly revealed. She even has a small character arc, which adds some more interest to the book. However, the most interesting character is Abernathy, and it is a shame that his character appears to be glanced over briefly. I would have preferred a longer explanation as to why he acted the way he did and the reasons behind it. I do not believe that simple anger at being denied something can lead to madness, and there should have been something more than that to support the claim he was unhinged.

The ending is compulsive and exciting to read , but somehow it felt like it should have gone on for longer, with more content to build up the dimensions of character as well as the plot. There is a lot that is left unsaid, and there is definite room for another book.

This book fits more into a teen category, as it is short with plenty of action to keep their attention. A bit of romance has also been thrown in for good measure, and amazingly it really ties into the plot. A dose of steam-punk completes the mix, making it a pretty good read for the target audience. For me, however, it needed to be a bit more involved. It gets a 7 out of 10.

This book was kindly given for review from Capstone