Sunday, June 5, 2011

Richard Doetsch: The Thieves of Heaven

In his debut novel Richard Doetsch explores what a man will do possible save to life and soul of the women he loves, even it means breaking a promise to her, his friends and bringing in to question everything that he believes.

In a small room in one of the most protected places on Earth The Sistine Chapel a master thief has come out of retirement to steal what are considered some of the most precious things are Earth, the two keys to Heaven. Michael who has given up on God and religion has no qualms stealing the keys if it means he may have the ability to save his wife. Although Michael may not believe in the Keys there are those who do and they will stop at nothing to possess them. Michael is unaware of the havoc he will create on Earth if he is able to steal the keys and they fall into the wrong hands. Everything Michael knows and believes will be tested, but everything he does is to help save his wife Mary, in this world and beyond.

Great book, great story, great characters, everything was well done in this novel. There is something about a good old fashioned good vs evil plot line that just that the ability to draw the reader into the story. I really enjoyed this book. Doersch writing style, characters and storyline had all aspects that I look for and enjoy in a thriller. This book does have a religious basis, as it is Good (good in this book is based around the Catholic beliefs) vs Evil, however, I am not religious in any way, shape or form and I really enjoyed this book. I do not think that it was Doersch's intention to use religion in this book to sway an individual to follow the Catholic ways. Religion and good vs evil just go really well in hand.

Michael, is a master thief, but he puts away the only career that he has known for the love of his life Mary (well that and the pesky thing of getting caught). Michael is a strong and weak character all at the same time. His wife is dying and he will do anything to protect her, help her even if that means going against the beliefs that his wife has. Michal also struggles with his own beliefs about and whether he believes in God or not all he truly knows is that he believes in Mary. There is also something about characters for me when they are a Thief. Just the planning and skill that they have to acquire to accomplish their mission has always intrigued me. I find that Doetsch did a great job of giving Michael a believable skill set and I do not think there was one point in the book where Michael did something that was (for lack of better comparison) Dirk Pitt like. Michael's interaction with his wife and Paul (his PO and best friend) are really well done in the book. You can tell that Michael does not want to disappoint or betray either of them but he finds himself backed in to a very tight corner, and he is unsure of which option is the right choice.

Simon's character was also really well done. I think that Doetsch could create a whole series of books around Simon. Simon is a priest who holds a whole different type of sermon, also know as he is a the protector of God and the items He has left of Earth and Simon is not above killing to see that they are protected or killing those that evil so evil is unable to achieve the upper hand. You get to see pieces of Simon's past, why and how he became, essentially a killing machine for the church. There is a lot of depth to Simon's character and I think this book only truly scratches the surface of it (hence my belief that Simon could have a series of his own).

Normally, I do not enjoy books when you know who the bad guy or enemy is, however, in this book I found that I worked extremely well with the storyline, plot, characters and I think the overall effect that Doersch wanted to achieve. Some of the Evil elements/people within this book do have some supernatural aspects, but they are fighting the darkness of the Catholic religion so I think this can only be expected. Plus these supernatural elements are not in your face and occurring all the time, so those who are not a fan of the genre will still be able to thoroughly enjoy this book. The evil in this book is down right scary and even to me who is not religious it made me think, what if this actually happened, which I think speaks to how well this book is written. The evil characters are well done and scary and are shown that they can be any where and no one is the wiser, which is always a scary aspect.

This book had everything that I look for in a thriller, a great mystery, lots of suspense, some action and a great cast of characters. Excellent book, and I look forward to reading more about Michael and I hope Simon too. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for their next suspense book, I do not think that you will be disappointed with this one.

Enjoy!!!!!
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