Consider how you'd feel if you agreed to look after a neighbor's cat while he's away to visit his sick father. In the process of washing the blanket, you find an odd shaped key in the cat basket and leave it alone.

The next thing you know, you're at your job as a bartender, when 2 Eastern Europeans come in, order a drink, spit it all over your bar counter and then proceed to systematically beat you up. Life just goes downhill from that point.

You pass out, find yourself in a hospital where you're informed that you had a kidney removed because it ruptured as a result of the beating, returning to your apartment, you find a bunch of thugs going through your neighbor's apartment, you are again beaten up by different thugs and someone with a police connection.

How does one go from having a happy if aimless life to running from the first 2 thugs, the police, more thugs and being wanted for murder. Yes, there is murder ... multiple murders of your close friends and other strangers who happened to get in the way of the thugs. Why does everyone want this key? What does it unlock? And how do you avoid getting yourself killed? Oh and by the way, your neighbor comes back and wants his cat back.

I really hated what they did to the cat, and I'm just surprised it wasn't more traumatized and still liked humans.

If you like very raw and violent thrillers, this is one for the shelves. ( )

This is a tightly written story which begins with a mystery - who were the two big Russian guys and why did they beat Hank up? The story that unfolds is at times ironic, sad, humorous - but always entertaining.

Hank is not a hero, and makes bad choices, but this makes him more human and believable as the protagonist of the story. He is anybody, maybe everybody. Trying to get through life, be the best sort of person he can be; trying to forget the past and forgive himself.

Bud the cat is a great side kick and a nice addition to the plot.

A very good story. ( )

Over-the-top-action, realistic dialogue, and a plot that leaves the reader breathless. Literally. There were times I had to put the book down because I was starting to hyperventilate. The next two in the series beckon, starting today. ( )

I’ve always been a fan of the ordinary guy faced with extraordinary circumstances story; Grisham’s novels come quickly to mind. The formula allows the average guy or gal reading the book an instant connection to the hero. There are usually bad guys, an unwinnable scenario, and the hero must work in areas far outside his comfort zone, usually becoming a better or more balanced person in the end. I am a sucker for that story, no matter how many times I read variations on the theme.

Charlie Huston’s [Caught Stealing] presents a variation I’ve never read before. Sure, it starts out familiar enough: Hank Thompson, once a baseball phenom, broke his leg trying to stretch a double into a triple, and now wastes his days as a bartender with a better than average drinking problem. The extraordinary circumstances present themselves when two Russian thugs pull him across the bar and beat him senseless for no obvious reason. But here’s where Huston takes a different route. Hank doesn’t make any of the usual choices; he doesn’t do the right thing, he doesn’t do the honorable thing, and he doesn’t come close to the smart thing. As the forces against Hank mount, he consistently seems to choose the worst, most stupid path. And though Hank makes choices to survive, his path certainly doesn’t make him a better person, just a better, more capable murderer and criminal.
Huston’s sardonic voice and keen eye for the criminally malevolent made for a searing read. A warning: This book is not for those with delicate sensibilities; the language is filthy, the characters are corrupt, and there are no morals or messages waiting for you at the end of the road. But, if your game, Huston writes unusual and compelling characters and delivers a pulsating story.

Bottom Line: Gritty and dirty. Good at what it sets out to be: a thriller without a heart of gold. ( )

I picked this up as a free ebook for the Sony Reader and was interested in sampling Charlie Huston based on positive recommendations elsewhere. Being the first of a trilogy it seems like a good place to start and although at times I did feel that it was hard to follow exactly what was happening overall I really enjoyed it and the character and will continue with the rest of the trilogy. ( )