REVIEW: To Catch a Thief by David Dodge

JayneB+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads1950s / crime thriller / France / Historical / Post WWII / thief4 Comments

It takes a thief…

“Le Chat” (“The Cat”), an infamous thief, has come out of retirement and is again liberating expensive jewelry from wealthy tourists on the French Riviera. Or is it a “copycat” who is stealing fortunes?

John Robie thought he had left his larcenous past behind. Once responsible for a string of daring thefts and escapes, he was caught and sent to prison just before the outbreak of World War II. Freed during the German occupation of France, Robie joined the French Resistance and received unofficial amnesty after the war ended. He retired to a simple life in the country where he befriended the local commissaire, Oriol, and tended his gardens. Now it’s 1951, and someone has been at work using his old MO. When the police come to arrest him, Robie escapes to Cannes. There, he reconnects with his former comrade Bellini, who convinces Robie to help catch the copycat.

Disguised as a pudgy, middle-aged American businessman, Robie scouts the local nightclubs and casinos and tries to outthink the new thief. When he meets Francie Stevens, the daughter of a wealthy tourist, she becomes Robie’s unwelcome ally, and together they hatch a dangerous plan to catch the thief at a gala party. But soon they both realize that Robie really is a thief at heart. With Oriol and the police on his trail, will he escape capture? Will the real thief be caught? And will Robie give up the thief?

CW – Some period terms are used. The Forword points this out.  “While many of the titles in this series include outmoded language and stereotypes now considered offensive, these books give readers the opportunity to reflect on how our society’s perceptions of race, gender, ethnicity, and social standing have evolved over more than a century.”

Review

I’ve watched Alfred Hitchcock’s movie adaptation but thought it might be fun to check out the book upon which that was based. I’ll go ahead and warn readers that there are changes from the book, mainly in the character of Francie, and that the book is more mystery than romance. Still, I had fun reading it and recommend it for what it is, which is a period crime thriller. 

John Robie has made a nice life for himself in post WWII France. He has his garden, some friends who include a Comte, as well as the local police commissioner. Trouble finds him when a series of high profile jewel thefts occur – all done in the style which Robie once used before being caught and sent to prison. With the authorities believing that Robie is once again at work, and facing the rest of his original prison sentence if caught, he has to figure out who is copying him. 

Author Dodge and his family lived in the area at the time in which the story takes place. There was a jewel heist (by an acrobatic thief) that took place in the adjoining house next to his and as Dodge and his family had left that evening for a trip to Italy, he later discovered he was (for a short time) a suspect. The actual thief had committed a number of burglaries and after Dodge had based John Robie on him, tried to sue Dodge before his own lawyers shut this down – one can’t copyright a means of committing a crime. 

The movie is true to most of the book but the book focuses more on the crime thriller part rather than the romance. Francie is a bit of an odd, flat character and initially doesn’t show well. Her mother is much more entertaining as a woman who’s grown up poor, came into wealth (seventeen oil wells in Texas) and now intends to spend her life enjoying herself. It’s only later that Francie comes to life and begins to tightly twist John around her finger. Even then, the truth of her feelings must be pointed out to John with a clue-by-four before he wakes up and smells the coffee. 

But read the book for what it is. The location and era are beautifully conveyed without going overboard. What I skim over in the movie, why John must clear his name, is elaborated on. John was in prison when the Germans invaded France in WWII and along with most of the other French convicts, he was released. Big mistake by the Germans. 

All the murderers, Frenchmen first and cutthroats only incidentally, went into the maquis and began practicing their trade on German soldiers. John, with no place else to go, joined the others.

These men formed a criminal “band of brothers” who were allowed to walk free after the war although they were not officially pardoned nor were their sentences  commuted. The police are now putting pressure on these men still in the area and will yank them all back to prison if John isn’t captured. John could have escaped but chooses to stay, cleverly hiding in plain sight, to find the real thief. 

Much of the story focuses on John and these men and the wonderful character of Bellini who runs a criminal enterprise along with several legit businesses. If you want something or to get something done, contact Bellini. 

“To Catch a Thief” spins out slowly as John methodically plots out how to do just that. The jewel heists might be flashy but much as when he was actually in the biz, it’s the preparation that is key. John does in-depth sleuthing and scouting for those he considers the best marks for the new thief. This is interesting to read but I can see why Hitchcock cuts it as spending all night casing a villa isn’t exactly wowing. 

Another thing that is altered is John Robie’s moral view of life. As he tells someone, he’s not reformed, he’s just retired. He’d got what he wanted from his thefts – money enough to live on – and so he didn’t go back to it after the war. But at heart, he’s still a thief – something which causes conflict with two people he had, in retirement, considered friends. At the end of the story, we’ll see how this alters what is in the movie vs what is in the book. 

The book is brisk, despite a lot of exposition, and well plotted. The characters are often sketches but done so well that all we need in order to know them is given. As the police net is pulled tighter, we’ll see John think his way out and in such a way that his enemies know something is off but because of their own actions, they’ll be hoist on their own petards if they give the game away. There are two romances although these are minor to the plot and, as one character says to John Frenchwomen are more practical than are American women. Read it for the time and place and John’s clever thinking. B+         

~Jayne

AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle

Related