Review: Night Thief by Lisa Kessler

Lisa Kessler’s Night Thief begins along the streets of Paris, as crowds are gathering to watch Napoleon’s remains beings transported down Champs-Élysées to Les Invalides, making the year 1840. Already the story has scored bonus points with me – I enjoy a well-described historical setting, and I love Paris.

Marguerite, or Rita as she is often called, is trying to “earn” money for her escape from Paris. The police authorities refer to her as the “Golden Thief” because the golden-haired beauty is able to distract men with her charm as she swipes their valuables. Her plan is to sell what she takes and then use the money to travel across the ocean, away from the man for whom she works. I really liked this character, she’s tough and determined. There is absolutely nothing weak about her. She isn’t looking for someone to save her, she has a solid plan to save herself, as well as her cousin.

Her whole life, she’s been betrayed by men who claimed they would take care of her. With each man, her situation only grew worse. Now she is going to take care of herself.

Then she meets Kane, who can’t stop thinking about her after noticing her pick pocketing. For weeks he searches for her, though he’s not even sure why he feels so drawn to her. He’s a Mayan god, a night walker with the ability to transform into a jaguar – not that he ever does, at least not in public, because he’s fairly certain that wouldn’t go over well on the streets of Paris. For centuries, he’s avoided getting involved with humans, but he can’t seem to resist Rita.

While Rita is attracted to him, she’s no stranger to immortals and she isn’t too eager to get involved with one. She’s also a bit put off by his desire to rescue her. She’s not ready for another so-called protector to turn into a monster. She’s certain she doesn’t need him, she’ll be just fine on her own.
Kane isn’t about to give up that easily, and he’s not going to stand by idly while Rita is in danger. These are two strong characters that challenge each other before eventually realizing they should be together.

I don’t want to give away too much. That would ruin part of the fun of reading this yourself. But I will add that even though this is a novella, there’s quite a bit happening here. This is packed with action, danger, lots of emotion and quite a few very steamy scenes. The descriptions are written in such a way to elicit plenty of feelings – both good and bad. There are some horrible, gruesome things happening here to contrast against some truly beautiful parts. I’m a painter, and I’m going to cringe every time I see a paintbrush for a while. You’ll understand why if you read this.

This is a quick, fun read. Once I started reading it, I didn’t want to put it down. I was going to read a few pages before going to sleep and ended up staying up until it was finished.

I should mention, this is considered part 1.5 of The Night Series. I haven’t read the first book in the series and didn’t feel as if I missed anything. The back-story, at least all that is necessary for this story, is explained thoroughly. This has sparked my interest in reading the book before this in the series.