The Thief Taker

Title: The Thief Taker
Author: William Holden
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Release Date: April 13, 2014
Genre(s): Historical, Erotica
Page Count: 279
Reviewed by: LenaRibka
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Fleeing London, Thomas Newton reaches Paris full of hopes for a new life with Pierre Baptiste. The hopes are quickly shattered. There are unsettling rumors about Pierre’s past and very real threats in the present. Arrested on false charges, thrown into a dank prison, Thomas must decide whether he can trust Pierre’s help to winning back his freedom. But freedom will bring other risks, especially if it requires a return to London and all that he fled. The men from his past whom he betrayed—and who might well want revenge. His avowed enemies, the bigots that chased him across the channel. And, worst of all, everything he doesn’t know about his family. To survive, he will have to play both sides of the life—as a thief taker.

DON’T READ this book if you:

1. don’t like/don’t read/don’t understand
   GAY EROTICA

2. want a sweet mm-romance. IT. IS. NOT.
3. If you haven’t read the first book, Secret Societies. The Thief Taker is not a stand alone, it is a part of the series.
4. If you’re a NEWBIE in a genre. You’ll be most likely SHOCKED. I don’t have any idea if it is good for your MM-addiction or vice versa.

READ IT. PLEASE, READ IT if:

1. You ENJOY/APPRECIATE/UNDERSTAND GAY EROTICA
2. If you enjoy historical GAY EROTICA FICTION. IMO it is one of the most complex sub-genres.
3. If you are fed up to the back teeth with a conventional romance and want just to try something different.

After reading the first book in the Thomas Newton series, I couldn’t miss the second book. How could I? After incredibly addictive, exciting and above all shocking and terrific adventure of Thomas Newton in London of the 18th century, I just immediately grabed the sequel.

The second book,The Thief Taker begins where the first book, Secret Societies, ended. Thomas fled from London, the city that gave him not just a roof over his head but a caring and loving home that he had never known in his life and that then cruelly took it away from him. He made his way towards Paris full of hopes for a new life with Pierre Baptiste, an attractive wealthy trader from France, whom he had become acquainted with at the Mother Clap’s establishment. But don’t expect a sweet reunion of the both in a city of love – buckle up!

William Holden stays true to his writing style. His erotica has nothing to do with clean bed linens and washed bodies. He shocks, provokes, surprises and wows readers with graphical descriptions and animalictic sex scenes. Sex made by William Holden is often dirty, unclean, rough, aggressive and reeking. You frequently find shit and seed on the same line. I am grateful that my kindle is not able to transmit smell! And there is much of exactly this kind of sex.

It is not about LOVE, it is about LUST, SEX and FUCK. (Did I mention that we’re talking about GAY EROTICA here?) Of course it is also about relationships and building partnerships, though not in a candy-manner way.

What I found really great in this series: In spite of much sex (sorry if you feel being violated by it- but it is a requirement of the genre), it has also a lot of well thought plot and a very intriguing storyline, that kept me glued to the pages. And the language, the word building!..*sigh* What a pleasure this gentlemanly dirty talk out of 18th century! The author succeeded in creating a credible historical ambience.

The Thief Taker has more twists and turns than the first book. One of the author ‘s specialities – you never know who is a good guy and who is an evil. It could happen that on the next page one of the most likeable characters suddenly turns into an insidious traitor. And vice versa. Totally unpredictable.

I like the ending. We left our hero in good hands, full of hopes on the threshold of new beginnings. I can’t talk about a cliffhanger, because it ends well and solved, but some questions remained unanswered. That also considers that a new sequel will be coming and that makes me happy!

Even if I’m an addicted kindle reader, I pay a lot attention to a book cover. The Thief Taker like Secret Societies,the first book in the series, offers a very atmospheric and beautiful cover, that unfortunately also one of the main reasons for a wrong interpretation of its genre.

All in all, a solid historical erotica, that just needs to be invented by the right readers.

Recommended.

Author Link GoodReads