Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Thief

By: Fuminori Nakamura, Satoko Izumo - translator
Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £10.99

Buy Now for £10.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly that sometimes he doesn't even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him; nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections....

But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life and offers him a job he can't refuse. It's an easy job: tie up an old rich man and steal the contents of a safe. No one gets hurt.

Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery. And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.

©2009 Fuminori Nakamura; 2012 Satoko Izumo (P)2012 BBC America
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Nail Through The Heart cover art
A Man cover art
The Honjin Murders cover art
The Boy in the Suitcase cover art
The Easy Life in Kamusari cover art
Blue Heaven cover art
The Hangman's Daughter cover art
No Country for Old Men cover art
Devil in a Blue Dress cover art
Strip cover art
Cold City cover art
The Last Voice You Hear cover art
Karitas Untitled cover art
Legend cover art
Smoke and Whispers cover art
Some Danger Involved cover art

Critic reviews

“I was deeply impressed with The Thief. It is fresh.” (Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize–winning author of A Personal Matter)
“Compulsively readable for its portrait of a dark, crumbling, graffiti-scarred Tokyo—and the desire to understand the mysterious thief.” ( Booklist)
“Disguised as fast-paced, shock-fueled crime fiction, Thief resonates even more as a treatise on contemporary disconnect and paralyzing isolation.... Mystery/crime aficionados with exacting literary standards, as well as readers familiar with already-established-in-translation Japanese writers Miyuki Miyabe ( Shadow Family), Natsuo Kirino ( Out, Grotesque), and Keigo Higashino ( Naoko, The Devotion of Suspect X), will especially enjoy discovering Nakamura.” ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about The Thief

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Clever, twistful, authentic

I enjoyed the story immensely. So many mystery novels are based on the same set of plots, but not this one! Up until the very last chapters, I did not see it coming. The main character (the math teacher) is somewhat one-dimensional, but I felt I sympathized with him, especially towards the end of the book.

The narration was OK.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Take it or leave it

Interesting little story but I can’t say I liked it. Robotic rendition with overemphasised Japanese names didn’t help.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great little story

I wanted something short to pass the day while I did some DIY. Nothing too long like I usually do and something by a Japanese author; which I really love. . This great little story ticked all the boxes of keeping me distracted and engaged. Will certainly try more by the same author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Weak plot

This wasn’t for me, there was a great deal about the technique of pickpocketing but no clear understanding of the character motivations. Overall the ending left me wonder the point of the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Below par

A jerky and at times disjointed performance. The protagonist aside, the world seemed to be populated by caricatures. It felt a lot like reading an anime cartoon at times. There are some clever ideas and it had its moments but overall I was left far from gruntled.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I hoped it would be

The performance is not up to the normal standards you find on Audible. There is something in the editing that makes the story not flow correctly.

The story itself is interesting in parts, but continually probes at a darker, more substantial character development that is never realised.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!