A Kind of Thief

by Vivien Alcock

Terrified when her father is arrested, Elinor decides to reclaim her father's locked briefcase with the receipt that he had slipped her as he is being taken away, but she soon begins to feel guilty about keeping the secret.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Realistic Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Born September 23, 1924, in Worthing, Sussex, England; died October 11, 2003, in London, England. Author. Alcock was a bestselling author of mystery and fantasy fiction for young adults. Her early training and career, however, was in commercial art, and she attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts from 1940 to 1942. She left school to become an ambulance driver for the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II; after the war, she held several different jobs, including as an artist for the duplicating firm Gestetner Ltd. from 1947 to 1953. This was followed by three years as an employment bureau manager; and from 1956 to 1964 Alcock worked as a secretary for Whiltington Hospital in London. Although she had enjoyed storytelling and novels since she was a child, Alcock was shy about trying to be a published author and was content to stay in the background behind her famous author husband, Leon Garfield. However, she did occasionally give him ideas for his books, such as the popular Smith stories. It was not until 1980, therefore, that she finally published her first novel for teenagers, The Haunting of Cassie Palmer. Alcock continued writing fantasies, ghost stories, and mysteries through 2001, many of which proved popular with teens and some of which were adapted to television as movies and series. She published almost two dozen books in all, including Travelers by Night (1983), The Cuckoo Sister (1985), The Monster Garden (1988), A Kind of Thief (1992), Time Wreck (1996), A Gift on a String (1998), Ticket to Heaven (2000), and her last book, The Boy Who Swallowed a Ghost (2001). Several of her novels were named notable books by the American Library Association (ALA), and The Monster Garden was named the best science fiction/fantasy book of 1988 by the ALA.

Reviews

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am honing in on the Yearling Book series by Random House, of which this book is one...I liked this book pretty well. I found the writing to be natural, although the happy ending came as a bit of a surprise, and some of the character names were cliched (Sophia for the Italian stepmother). I liked how although there was no magic, there was enough mystery and suspense to keep the action moving. It was a realistic sort of book, and done well.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a copy I found in an LFL. You can read this on openlibrary.org. If you do want to read it, because you remember that Alcock deserved her fame and/or you enjoyed her as a child, don't read further for mild spoilers. Just enjoy.
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It is a thriller, but the crime is, of course, a certain kind of white collar crime. In the beginning we're as bewildered as Elinor and really want to know what the heck. As the story progresses we remain with her, knowing even less, almost getting resigned to not being able to learn, and refocusing on just coping with all the changes in her life. The story becomes more about Elinor and about the father's extended (and *Found*) family. And it becomes a mystery-thriller in a different way.

The ending is very satisfactory.

It is very concise, leaving out a lot about the nuances of Aggie's character, and even Judy's, too. I would like more. Otoh, Sophia surprised me, so that's a good bit of writing. I really do appreciate this, though I do not care for thrillers, mysteries, or adventures in general. Young me would have liked it even more. I will continue to try to find more by the author.

[MK · Rating 1 out of 5]

So cool, how the thug who kidnapped/held a girl hostage is just glossed over and made out to be an innocent good guy/victim. That was cute.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange book. ._. I suppose I was put out by the writing on the front: "a Railway Children for the nineties". - The Guardian. There are a lot of similarities, but I was made to expect... more of a point to the story, maybe? A lot seems to happen, but not much gets resolved. I suppose some people call that Realism. I've never been much a fan of realism. Still, I really enjoyed the way it was written, without awkwardness or fussing about, but it did seem to almost go out of its way to be unsentimental.
The final reveal of the contents of the briefcase is very odd, too. I felt like I was being tricked twice over. The very last paragraph just managed to pull the whole story together, but I wouldn't have minded it being longer.

[myreadiary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not contented with the story ending tho. I need more of this. huhu

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good. The beginning was good, the middle was good, but the ending was a little bit surprising. I mean, I thought that the dad would stay in jail, not come back home with everyone happy and ready to welcome him! But, overall it was very good, It might have been a 5 if the dad had stayed in jail, but good job Vivien, good job!

[Miranda Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caught my attention and surprised me in what happened. My favorite part was when Elinor hid the suit case in Mrs. Carter's room and Timon had no idea but had searched the rest of the house looking for it just so he could say he knew where it was. Great Book though, glad I found it when I was about to give up looking for a book.

[Shawna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but it just never connected. I kept waiting for the story to grab me, but it just kept going. The end seemed to happen, without any real fanfare or tying up the story in a way that made the reader care.

Disappointing, really.

[Chelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, from what I remember, is more for younger audiences...Simplistic vocabulary and plot, but entertaining enough for a quick read...it's a mystery and I liked it when I read it (at age 9).

[DomoLover · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think its alright, nothing special. The dialogue was kinda different from what I usually read, so it made some things difficult for me to read..

[Roe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, juvenile disappointing ending.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

20/25
5 original
3 good topic
5 fast read
4 plot
3 opinion