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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  sally906 | Nov 14, 2009 |  A disappointment! This time of year, I enjoy cuddling up with a good Christmas-themed light novel. The Christmas Thief wasn't it! Cardboard characters and a silly plot involving stashing ill-gained jewels in a tree destined to be cut for Rockefeller Center, work together to make this a less-than-stellar performance by this mother-daughter team. Next year I'll stick to Debbie Macomber who writes fluff, to be sure, but at least knows how to create characters we care about. (  ) annatapl | Dec 28, 2008 | Authored by a mother & daughter combo, but the writing style is surprisingly amateurish given that both have produced a string of books previously. Predictable plotline, not much to recommend it. (  ) wildcard_sej | Oct 13, 2008 | I couldn't even get to the second paragraph. It has awkward phrasing and conversation. A lot of the story line is just distracting without adding to the plot. ( ) cmbest524 | May 29, 2008 | I kind of don't know where to start with this book. I think the problem is that while it was a terribly written book - I really did enjoy reading it, and got exactly what I wanted out of the experience. Let me explain. Around Christmastime, I got a strange urge to read some light, Christmas-themed mysteries. I went to the discount isle at my local bookstore and wound up picking up this one and two others. I wanted to read something that wouldn't strain my brain very much, and would give me a pleasant, Christmas-time kind of feeling. Well, above and beyond the other two books of its kind that I read, this book managed to be what I wanted. It was a very light, pleasant, uncomplicated book that left me with a pleasant, Christmast-time kind of feeling. However (and I apologize to all the Mary Higgins Clark fans out there) this is *NOT* a well-written book. Absolutely none of the characters are believable. The story is inane and silly. The descriptions of characters are poor and the dialogue is about as stiff and unrealistic as it could get. And yet... I enjoyed it. In fact, its badness could be a major factor in why I enjoyed it. It was fun to laugh at how poorly it was written while I was reading it. But that isn't the complete picture, because this book succeeds in being what it was meant to be - a piece of light reading for a particular audience. It was never MEANT to be a great work of literature. It is the literary equivalent of a Big Mac, and in that it suceeds fabulously. (  ) universehall | Mar 6, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English
The story starts with swindler Packy Noonan being released from jail, and he is planning on jumping parole, recovering a flask of diamonds he has hidden in a fir tree, and heading for freedom and Mexico. Packy’s accomplices are the very stupid Como twins, Benny and JoJo. What Packy doesn’t know is that his ‘tresure’ tree has been chosen to be the centre piece at the Rockefeller Center. Previous characters, Regan, fiancé Jack, parents Luke and Nora, and friend Alvirah Meehan are joined by Alvirah’s friend Opal, who lost millions from her lottery winnings to Packy Noonan’s scam, for a weekend in Vermont, where they plan to attend the ceremonial cutting down of the Rockefeller Center tree. A rival tree farmer who had been planning to sabotage the tree gets caught up in the scam when he finds the diamonds first. Thieves are everywhere, and Packy is not happy
This is the third Christmas mystery written by this mother/daughter combination and I have to say that it was not the best. It is easy and quick to read. The plot had so much potential for suspense – could have been a great comedy of errors sort of a mystery - but it just lacked soul for me – the characters seemed dead on the pages and none of them came alive for me. I sensed that there was suppose to be humor – but it didn’t really raise a smile.
It wasn’t a horrible book – just very average when I know both authors can do so much better. Is really just a Christmas fluff read but I sort of expected more. (