and even, on rare occasions, torture - whatever it takes to get the story.'ĭrothe is a very likable character and the reader effortlessly befriends and follows him. I'm an information broker, and I gather what I can by almost any means I can: paid informants, bribes, eavesdropping, blackmail, burglary, frame-ups. This means I make a living by sticking myself in where I don't belong, sniffing around for dirt, and generally making a nuisance of myself. 'In the 'argot of the underworld', I am what is referred to as a Nose. He is an informant sitting in the middle of an information web, listening to the vibrations caused by other informants or Kin and his position is a dangerous one. In Among Thieves Douglas Hulick tells the story of Drothe, a smart and sarcastic member of the city's underground family.

And this reality makes the reading of books like Among Thieves a true delight because every year only a handful of debut novels live up to the hype and Hulick's is one of them. Unfortunately the following steps are not always as satisfactory as the reader would hope. Turning the first page of a debut novel is always a very exciting moment as it is the first step into an uncharted territory. When Drothe discovers the book, he finds himself holding a bit of swag that can bring down emperors, shatter the criminal underworld, and unlock forbidden magic…that's if he can survive long enough to use it.' And there’s a book rumored to contain imperial glimmer (or magic) that a lot of very dangerous people seem to be looking for - including two crime bosses known as the Gray Princes. Someone is trying to stir up trouble between lower-level criminal organizations, including the one Drothe belongs to. When his boss sends him to Ten Ways to track down who’s been leaning on his organization’s people, Drothe discovers hints of a much bigger mystery. He also smuggles imperial relics on the side. 'Drothe is a Nose, an informant who finds and takes care of trouble inside the criminal organization he’s a part of.

Publishing Information: Paperback 384 pages

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick