Wow, another great read coming from Charles Belfoure! If you haven’t already, you should give this new (to the world of fiction at least) author a read! I loved his first novel, The Paris Architect (reviewed here), and I was so excited to learn he had published a another story! Now, these two books are not related in any way, plot wise, so you can easily read in any order.

In House of Thieves, we are sucked into 1886, New York City. Post Civil War, pre Statue of Liberty, Belfoure provides a look at the emerging players of the city. We have John Cross, who is distantly related to none other than the Astor family. Living a comfortable life as an architect, with the comfort of knowing that he can fall back on his familial ties to the “old money” of New York, John never thinks that his world can become the polar opposite to his current life.

I’m no historian, but the historical references in this novel are absolutely fascinating; Belfoure seems to have really done his research and that pays off tenfold. We are presented with a vivid glimpse of New York City in a time when the entire country was still recovering from the Civil War, and money and reputations were rife. I really learnt a lot, and now I really want to find more stories set within this time period.

Like I found when reading The Paris Architect, Belfoure really knows how to flesh out his characters. We have an interesting concoction gangsters, privileged debutantes, and everyday people. Even though their class structures were vastly separated, that doesn’t stop Belfoure from seamlessly intertwining them, and, as a result, producing a fascinating and thrilling read.

If you’ve read The Paris Architect, you’ll want to give this one a read! If you’ve not read either of them, you can get them here: The Paris Architect: A Novel and here: House of Thieves: A Novel

Until next time ~

Pegasus.