View source for A Thief to Catch a Killer by Kitt Townsend

{{infobox1
|title=A Thief to Catch a Killer
|sort=Thief to Catch a Killer
|author=Kitt Townsend
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Teens
|summary=A well realised, high octane teen thriller with an engaging central character and more action than you'd think three hundred pages could fit!
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=334
|publisher=Quartermaine Books 
|date=June 2022
|isbn=978-1919635019
|website=https://www.kitttownsend.com/
|cover=1919635017
|aznuk=1919635017
|aznus=1919635017
}}
Solomon Klyne isn't a bad lad, so why is he running around London committing a series of robberies? And how did he learn to crack safes? You'll have to wait to get an answer to the second question because I avoid spoilers. But I'll answer the first one: for his grandmother, who is ill in hospital and whose pitch on the market is at risk if she doesn't keep up with the rent. When he ran home to London from Spain - I know, I know, more questions I won't give you the answer to in this review - Solomon's grandmother took him in and it's just been the two of them ever since. And Sol is determined to look out for her just as she looked out for him.

Sol is a brilliant thief. The police will probably never catch him. But Priest does. Priest works for a shadowy organisation called The Order and he offers Sol five thousand pounds for a safe-cracking job. That sort of money would see his grandmother's market stall safe, so despite his doubts, Sol says yes. 

And before he knows it, Sol is thrown into a completely new world. One that operates within Britain's wealthy elite, makes use of mayhem and violence but also of cutting edge technology for morally ambiguous ends. He's paired up with another youngster, Holly Malone, who has some serious skills with motorbikes and in spying. They are assigned to befriend the son of a man who leads an international organised crime gang so that the Order can bust it...

... oh, goodness me, but I enjoyed this high energy, action-filled story. Sol is a very engaging central character - he's nobody's fool and he has a strong and settled internal moral code. But nothing is either all good or all bad. And Sol finds that the criminals he's investigating are not all bad. Neither is the Order all good. Both he and Holly are caught in an ethical no man's land, fraught with danger. They have to make a lot of decisions on the fly because nothing in this book stands still, and there are unintended consequences to every one of them. The friendship between these two is highly enjoyable and relatable but the enigmatic and world weary Priest was probably my favourite character. It's too late for him, but is it too late for Sol and Holly? We'll see.

The pace doesn't let up for a minute but Townsend finds time for real emotional connections and moments of genuine joy and pathos amid the frenetic action. The complicated plot is well thought through too. If you like teen action thrillers, ''A Thief to Catch a Killer'' is one you won't want to miss.

The good news is that a second adventure for Sol and Holly is in the works. You can keep up with news and titbits about it [https://www.kitttownsend.com/mission-xtra-club-free-books here].

If teen thrillers are your thing, you could look at the [[The Sleepwalker (CHERUB) by Robert Muchamore|''CHERUB'']] series by Robert Muchamore.

You can read more about Kitt Townsend [[:Category:Kitt Townsend|here]].

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[[Category:Crime]]