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: #960307 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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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

Exceptional first novel
In this stylish thriller a professional crook named Robert Rivers who isn't really a bad guy gets in a war with some criminals who are very bad indeed. Rivers is assissted first by his longtime partner Switch and then by an old friend from his former life named Reggie England. Reggie, a broken down ex-biker, is at the same time the funniest character in the book and one of the darkest.

The criminals Rivers and his friends tangles with are led by a psycho businessman who is involved in murder, extortion and sex slave smuggling among other things. The book is at its best in the moments of violent, realistic conflict between the two criminal groups. There is a gritty and genuinely frightening quality to the fight scenes.

Thomas is also very good with his atmospheric descriptions of Sothern California, that capture the beauty and romanticism of the environment against which the sometimes ugly conflict takes place.

I rate this book highly for its ability to mix some many elements so smoothly -- lyrical descriptions, exciting action sequences, quite a bit of comedy and some in-depth characterization that makes Rivers, England, Switch and many other of the people in the story come fully alive. "Criminal Paradise" is an exceptional first novel that I am sure many crime fiction and thriller fans will enjoy.

Superb, exciting fiction
I picked up a paperback of this book and was blown away by it. It is exciting, entertaining and beautifully written. I have to say, it is one of the best crime fiction books I have ever read -- and I've read a lot of them. It is hard to believe that it is Steven M. Thomas's first book. The action starts when Robert "Rob" Rivers and his partner Switch rob a restaurant in Orange County that gets them tangled up with a psychopathic criminal and puts them on the trail of a kidnapped girl who they try to rescue. The villain is one of the scariest -- and most original -- I've come across. The action scenes are great, the jokes funny, the conclusion powerful and bittersweet. I can't wait for Thomas's next novel, which is supposed to be a continuation of this one with the same characters.