Thief Of Thieves vol 4: The Hit List back

"This book is a weapon, and I aim to use it."

Diggle doesn't miss, I assure you. I love a turn of phrase like that.

Gone, however, is the comedy. THIEF OF THIEVES used to be riddled with mischief but the smirk has been wiped off its face. It's been wiped off Redmond's too.

How does the most spectacularly successful, efficient and proficient wool-puller in the world manage to land himself in increasingly dire straights by the end and so beginning of each successive book? Here he's in a police cell in Rome, being threatened with a cut-throat razor by a Chief Inspector on behalf of Italian mafia godfather Don Parrino.

Well, he liberated a ledger from Don Parrino's palazzo in Venice. It contains a list of political and police payoffs and its blackmail gold or dynamite depending on how you look at it. In this world information is everything and Redmond will need to be economical with what he disseminates if he's going to survive the police, Parrino and - back home - the bloodthirsty Lola. When you finally find out what that sadist has been fiddling with in his fingers you will wince. This gets very nasty indeed.

The lighting by Adriano Lucas is as ever a joy whether by a sun-bathed poolside or late into an explosive night, and I couldn't imagine this series without Shawn Martinbrough's bold forms and implacable stares.

There is more to come but you can consider this a finale of sorts, with the cast is substantially culled by its conclusion. I'd probably mop the floor now for your jaw will be greeting it shortly.

Oh, okay the comedy's not altogether gone. There are always those multiple little sub-titles like…

"Home Again,
"Home Again,
"Jiggety-Jig"

… as Redmond is confronted with the burned out shell that used to be his shore-side luxury home.