kurtwombat's review
4.0
The subtitle of this book is a little misleading. The "Detective" ostensibly refers to an actual Police Detective involved in only a very small portion of the book and/or a zealous book seller who mainly just publicized the thief of the title. The true detective of the piece is the author who puzzles together a nice character study of THE MAN WHO LOVED BOOKS TOO MUCH. The book thief runs the gamut from mysterious man of intrigue to pitiable fool then back somewhere in the middle where his is really just a self deluded jerk. How and why he so easily runs-amuck in the tender world of book collectors and book sellers unfolds gradually revealing as much about the victims as it does the thief. Before reading, I was expecting more of a cat and mouse game across international borders. It is instead a very domestic affair with Book Sellers members of an insular family embarrassed about any wrongdoing among their brethren. They suffer from an old school honor system--seemingly drawn from the antique books they handle--that makes it difficult for them to see the world in terms of strict capitalism. The author touches on a rich history of people loving books too much but show how only recently the sky-rocketing values and slick modern fraud/purchasing possibilites are dragging this world into a new glaring light. Very interesting stuff and worth the journey.
lakecake's review against another edition
3.0
This is an interesting true-crime book that follows a thief of rare books in the late 90s/early 2000s. The world of rare book collectors and dealers is really fascinating--I mean, come on, if you're reading this you probably love books and would love to own some rare first edition or autographed copy or original manuscript--and the idea of someone who would steal those books with something close to impunity is intriguing. The issue comes in because the thief, John Gilkey, is actually just kind of a noodge. He isn't doing it to be make money or to outsmart people and prove what an amazing strategist he is; he just feels like he deserves nice things because he wants them, and other people have cheated him his whole life so it's ok to take what he wants. It's such a let down--not to say that if he were trying to make a ton of money or just be an evil mastermind that it would be ok! Just that at least it would be more interesting.
crafalsk264's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
“Possession is 9/10s of the law.” This true crime story tells us of John Gilkey, who made a lifetime of stealing rare books. Gilkey felt that there is no ownership of things—just possession. Gilkey believes that because he doesn’t have the funds to purchase a book then he is justified in acquiring the item by any means. He develops a complicated method of impersonating a legitimate book dealer and has someone else pick up the book. When the dealer learns that the check bounced or the credit card is reported stolen. Ken Sanders, a collector and rare book dealer begins to recognize a pattern and sets up just as elaborate system to nationally report thefts and eventually the system works and Gilkey is identified, arrested, tried and sentenced to a prison term.
We meet the author as she arranges a series of prison interviews. Her examination is a wonderful look into the world of rare book dealers and their customers. The story of Gilkey was interesting but not as a character. The journalist/author does a good job of managing the interviews but she inserts herself in too much of the book. I found the book as a slightly better than average example of the true crime genre but not as good as the best of narrative nonfiction. Recommend to readers of books-about-books, true crime, biography, history, mystery and memoir.
jenn_cathy's review
5.0
Usually, I'm not a huge fan of nonfiction, but this was fascinating, especially being a bit too close to a bibliomaniac myself. Haven't read a nonfiction work this interesting since "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen.
the_sassy_bookworm's review
4.0
I love all things "book", so there was more then a fair chance that I was going to love a book about books and the people who collect them! This is the story of John Gilkey, a book klepto and Ken Sanders a rare book collector and bibliodick, that makes it his life story to capture Gilkey.
sanmeow's review
informative
medium-paced
2.5
the true story of john gilkey, a criminal who stole rare books, not for profit but for his own enjoyment and a desire to be admired. ken sanders is the detective who eventually caught him.
john gilkey is absolutely insufferable. his attitude annoyed me constantly. i truly understand the desire to own rare and unique books, but his motivation for it was just so irritating. that's not really a critique because it's good to showcase him for the annoying person he was.
i liked the descriptions of rare books in here, because of course i did. they're amazing. i thought the case itself was super interesting and so was the way ken sanders brought gilkey to justice.
what i didn't like is the author's writing style. i can very much tell she's a journalist. that just wasn't the style i was hoping for when reading this. i also hated the moments of the book where the author weirdly inserted herself into the story. completely unnecessary.
overall, it's interesting as a true crime case. not as much quality to it as a piece of literature.
john gilkey is absolutely insufferable. his attitude annoyed me constantly. i truly understand the desire to own rare and unique books, but his motivation for it was just so irritating. that's not really a critique because it's good to showcase him for the annoying person he was.
i liked the descriptions of rare books in here, because of course i did. they're amazing. i thought the case itself was super interesting and so was the way ken sanders brought gilkey to justice.
what i didn't like is the author's writing style. i can very much tell she's a journalist. that just wasn't the style i was hoping for when reading this. i also hated the moments of the book where the author weirdly inserted herself into the story. completely unnecessary.
overall, it's interesting as a true crime case. not as much quality to it as a piece of literature.