Product Description

The literature of larceny welcomes a newcomer with some serious chops, as Steven M. Thomas muscles his way to a place at the table–elbow-to-elbow with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen–courtesy of a harrowing, hilarious, two-fisted, hard-boiled thriller that’s pure heaven for anyone who loves a hell of a crime novel.

Robert Rivers is a crook. No excuses, no apologies. Breaking the law is his calling, crime is his rush, capers his reason for getting up in the morning and staying up late at night. But he’s a thief with honor, plotting and pulling off carefully choreographed heists where no shots are fired, no blood is spilled, and nobody gets hurt . . . except in the wallet. After a brief stint behind bars back in the day, he’s managed to carve out a comfortable existence, cheerfully plundering the sunny Southern California community whose streets he tools in the tweaked-out Cadillac DeVille that’s his pride and joy.

But now Rob (whose name has become ironic) is pushing forty, and–like his trusty partner, Switch, who’s got a pregnant girlfriend and a hefty stash of loot–he’s thinking about quitting the game. But then he and Switch, pulling their latest Butch and Sundance, score a payday that could end up costing them plenty. Inside a strongbox packed with greenbacks rests a disturbing black-and-white photo of a beautiful young girl, eyes full of fear as naked as she is. It’s an image that Rob can’t shake, and a wake-up call: There are rules even he won’t break. It’s also his one-way ticket into the underbelly of the underworld–a lethal landscape of sex slaves, sadistic psychopaths, and sawed-off shotguns, where honor is for fools, and trust is for suckers, where very bad people do even worse things and nice guys don’t finish at all. They just get finished off.

With its alluring setting, quirky characters, and restrained and subtle prose, Criminal Paradise has something for every thriller fan. And with sharp natural instincts and writing skills as serious as his humor is sly, Steven M. Thomas shows as much promise as any author on the suspense scene.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1193187 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-26
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
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.(Mar.)
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Review
"Robert Rivers is a superb character, and I loved his sidekick. The opening heist was so wonderfully done, so much going on in that opening scene alone....Send me anything this guy writes, he's the rare and real deal." --Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

Review
Advance praise for Criminal Paradise

“Criminal Paradise is one hell of a story. Robert Rivers is a superb character: the wry voice, so full of compassion and weary knowledge; women would kill for this guy. The style is truly like Elmore Leonard. Send me anything Steven M. Thomas writes; he’s the rare and real deal.”
–Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

“Dark, violent, twisted, yet with a heartwarming understanding of an intelligent criminal mind–Thomas snags you from the robbery on page 1, convincing you that felony is a regular day job, and defining greed as a man’s deserved dreams.”
–Vicki Hendricks, author of Cruel Poetry

“Steven M. Thomas, master of the nugget of wisdom, is a perfect tour guide for the underside of Orange County, California. From comic lowlifes and menacing sociopaths to thoughtful, literate burglars, Thomas knows his people. He is a welcome addition to the ranks of Chandler, MacDonald, and Kellerman, a talented writer whose SoCal characters walk–or rather drive–right off the page.”
–David Carkeet, author of Double Negative

“Both Steven M. Thomas and his case-hardened but humane thief Rob Rivers make striking debuts in this suspenseful slice of Southern California noir. The plot is the kind of gritty tale James M. Cain would have admired. And the hard-boiled yet poetic descriptions of Orange County flora, fauna, and criminal depravity read as if Raymond Chandler had somehow reemerged and moved his action a little to the south.”
–Dick Lochte, author of Sleeping Dog

Customer Reviews

Promising but struggles on the straights and falls over at the finish line...
Unfortunately for Steven M Thomas, Rob Rivers, his main protagonist in his first crime novel, can't maintain the likability factor, the humour or the humanity of Block's fabulous Bernie Rhodenbarr. It's painfully obvious that Thomas has attempted to emulate Block's unique style all too often throughout the book, but in doing so has failed in giving Rob the subtleties of character (and "niceness") that Bernie's endowed with.

The story starts out satisfyingly enough, but gradually starts to show the shortcomings of Thomas's background in short story writing - that is, maintaining a regular pacing of action, and character and plot development, for an arduous 249 pages. There's far too many inconsistencies concerning the specific involvement of too many of the characters: Who exactly they are - in a visceral sense; why they're somewhere at a certain time - so often disconcertingly improbable for the storyline; why they even want to get involved with, or act on behalf of, an ultimate loser like Rob. And let's face it: You'd never invite Rob Rivers home for dinner in case he seduced your daughter or pocketed your siverware - such are his morals, or lack thereof. Whereas there'd be no worries at all with Bernie Rhodenbarr.

In particular, the character of Rob's landlady, Mrs Pilly was totally unconvincing. Near the start of the story, she's described indirectly but convincingly as a rather prim and proper, nosy, middle-aged busybody with a 1950s sense of morality. Towards the (highly unlikely) ending of the story, she's miraculously transformed herself into a Luger-toting mama threatening to blow some guy's brains out! Please. Artistic license needs some bounds!

I could continue raising all sorts of plot, dialogue, characterisation and continuity issues as I saw them, but suffice it to say I certainly won't be reading any more Steven M Thomas. Well, not unless he buries the amoral Robert Rivers.

interesting crime caper
In California Robert Rivers and Switch rob the Cow Town restaurant. However when the two thieves open the safe to take the cash from inside of it, they find a fascinating photograph of a naked underage Vietnamese female; they assume that the restaurant owner Orange County business mogul Lewis McFadden is using and perhaps selling teenage girls.

Rivers enlists his biker friend Reggie England to help him break into McFadden's house. However they find a shocker; tied to the bedposts is a Vietnamese girl who says her name is Song. They liberate Song taking her to Switch's home while he is out of town. Rivers and nineteen year old Song share a sexual encounter. McFadden recaptures her with plans to sell her at a slave auction, but also owes Rivers for his stealing of his merchandise and as an example for other such petty thieves.

This is an interesting crime caper that loses some of its charm with the transformation of River from a likable heroic thief to a disappointing user-predator when he has sex with Song even if she is a consenting adult; he becomes the serpent in CRIMINAL PARADISE turning off many readers. Still this is a deep look at the sex slave market alive and thriving, just ask River's Orange County landlady.

Harriet Klausner

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "A BEAUTIFUL FINE-TUNED ENGINE, THROWN OFF BY ONE LOUD "PING"!"
This is author Steven Thomas's first novel, and I would place his writing style somewhere between Charlie Huston and Lawrence Block's "THE BURGLAR" series. The story takes place in Southern California and the main protagonists are Robert Rivers, known to his friends as Rob (Which is kind of ironic, since that is what he does for a living.) and his trusty sidekick and partner in crime "Switch" Jackson. Rob and Switch have a long and successful history of burglaries behind them, and they both have fanciful dreams of retiring from the business at some point in the future, after completing a heretofore, undefined, unattained, magical robbery. On Monday, June 21, 1995 at 1:10AM they carried out an intricately planned robbery of a "Cow Town" steak house restaurant. Part of the decision making process as to the date and time was the fact that Sunday was Father's Day, the third richest day of the year for most restaurants. As the robbery was perpetrated, and Rob was cleaning out the safe, along with the money was an envelope that contained a nude picture of a young, bruised and frightened, Vietnamese girl. The age of this girl would be a contentious point throughout the rest of the story.

Rob is overcome with a pang of sadness wondering what the plight of this poor Vietnamese girl might be. Enticed by the thought that the rich guy who owns this restaurant, probably has more money in his house, along with a possible key to the status of this girl, Rob decides to find out where the owner lives and scope out possibilities of a home invasion. At about this time another key character for the "good guys" (If you can consider people who rob and steal and possibly hurt people bad, as "good guys".) enters the picture. Reggie England, an overweight, bearded, long haired, biker, with a Svengali like effect on young women, who was an early criminal mentor to Rob when he lived in St. Louis, shows up unannounced. Rob invites Reggie to move in with him till he can get his life in order, and when Switch declines to participate in the planned home invasion, Reggie steps up to the plate.

Throughout the telling of this "buddy" crime spree, the author is at his best during his humorous character descriptions. But what keeps me from rating the overall story 5 stars, is when Rob, who is normally the model of logic and the moral compass of this story, if there could be one in his line of work, falls "head over heels", "want to get married", "dream of having kids", "in love", from one or two brief viewings, and limited contact, with the voiceless Vietnamese woman/child. As well as the story is written up until this point, it's like buying a beautiful new luxury car where everything works perfect, the ride is as smooth as silk on polished steel, but the engine keeps making this "ONE-LOUD-PING"! This book is still worth buying, but it would be better with the engine tuned up.