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V.R. Marks
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The Thief (RC Investigations Book 1) Kindle Edition

by V.R. Marks (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 111 ratings
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When doing the right thing looks all wrong...

Allie Williams has incriminating evidence proving her company’s new wonder-drug is lethal. In a last ditch effort to save lives, including her own, she races to the safety of her hometown, hoping the 'innocent until proven guilty' theory will prevail.

Ross Carpenter has a reputation for resolving situations people prefer to keep off the police record. When a new client accuses his former high school sweetheart of theft and much worse, he's compelled to take the case. Even when the trail leads back to their hometown.

It quickly becomes clear that Allie won't survive without his help, but defying a client will destroy his fledgling investigations business. Together they must expose the truth before the woman who stole his heart winds up dead.

"V.R's books have it all mystery, suspense, romance..." --Sissie, reviewer

Buy your copy of The Thief and start reading today!
Previous page
  1. Print length
    209 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2012
  5. File size
    555 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fans of romantic suspense are going to adore this debut novel from V.R. Marks." - Award-winning author, Kathy Carmichael"...characters you really come to care about." - Cindy, SnS Reviews"Marks hits all the right notes at all the right times in this classic romantic suspense." - Award-winning author, Vicki Hinze

From the Author

RC Investigations: The Back Story The Thief started with a dinner. Or rather a discussion about geographic profiling during dinner with a few friends who serve in the Army.Greatly simplified, geographic profiling means if you study the criminal patterns (at the scene or within the case at large), you get clues to point you toward the area where the criminal most likely lives.It was fascinating and I'm not doing the topic justice (pardon the pun) because I locked on to a different detail. Call it a novelist's quirk (or curse).The part of their stories that caught my attention were the tales of cooperation (or lack thereof) between law enforcement agencies. Even different departments within the same agency often had trouble sharing the right information to close a case quickly. It became clear (in my imagination at least) that a new type of investigator - or consultant - is emerging in the field of law enforcement.A team like RC Investigations can use techniques like geographic profiling to connect the dots and get that information out to the right authorities. They are smaller, more mobile, and can assist on baffling cases going cold, or even take on private cases that might not get the right attention through typical legal means.Granted, the team has its challenges in The Thief, but the goal of the fictitious RC Investigations is to bridge the gap and be a resource for both law enforcement and the general public - if you can afford their expertise.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009KELVNW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (October 1, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 555 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 209 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 111 ratings

About the author

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V.R. Marks

V.R. Marks

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According to Alfred Hitchcock, "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." USAToday bestselling author, V.R. Marks feels the same way about writing romantic suspense. After falling in love with the suspense genre during a Hitchcock film festival, Marks combined that with a passion for writing that eventually became adventurous romantic suspense novels readers crave. Marks and his wife live under the rule of two Maine Coon cats who provide regularly scheduled breaks from the keyboard.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
111 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jean
5.0 out of 5 stars 3rd book of RV Investigations
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2013
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As soon as you start reading this series, you don't want to put the books down. The writing is great and keeps you interested.
Avery good book.
One person found this helpful
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LAWonder10
4.0 out of 5 stars "The Thief' - well-written but with sexual content. Not recommened for YA
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013
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This is a steady moving mystery/romance book.
Ross and Allie had been best friends growing up and High School sweethearts. At graduation, Ross - from the "wrong side of the tracks"- and Allie - a prominent lawyer's daughter- went separate ways with a promise to keep in close contact through letters. Ross went into the Army and Allie went to college. They soon both felt betrayed because while both wrote faithfully, they neither one ever receive their letters. They both felt betrayed and yet still, ell over a decade later, loved each other. Neither had been able to settle into a relationship with another.
After all those years, Ross's new employment threw them together in an undesirable way. One was the investigator - the other the victim. Could they have changed that much in all those years? How can one allow the other to go to prison for many years or worse?
One night their lives were thrown together when a shooter tried to kill one while the other was in the house going through the upstairs bedroom. The one upstairs got there just in time to eliminate the shooter before his/her past love was killed. Thus began a new, unsettled relationship between the protector and the one being protected. How much could they trust each other?
Whew! Are you totally confused. This is a well-written mystery/romance but was somewhat drawn out and repetitive.
[Spoiler] Beware of some sexual content not advisable for youth.

The story would have been totally great without the detailed sexual encounters. I have to give the author credit for not going into more explicitness than was expressed. This is a perfect example of how a story is not enhanced but ruined by the sexual input. The desire, feelings and thoughts were enough without the descriptive act. It was not detailed in other references.
The mystery was fairly predictable but still good.
2 people found this helpful
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mdg
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2020
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A good solid read. I would have enjoyed a more in depth look at the characters but it’s a good solid read.
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Just An Ordinary Gal
3.0 out of 5 stars Romance First, Thriller A Distant Third
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2013
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The emphasis in this book is the romance between Ross and Allie, not the hide-and-seek thriller plot.

There is a nice twist at the end, but it is foreshadowed in a way that diminishes the surprise.

It's fun to root for two people who find romance anew after believing they've lost each other for a long time.

On the other hand, some of the internal dialogues were typical of the daisy-wheel thinking (he loves me, he loves me not; she loves me, she loves me not) that makes so many romances into a psychological pingpong game for the reader.

The plot also suffers from the kind of scary movie behavior that makes viewers want to grab the character and say, "Hey, c'mon, you know better than that." On the one hand, Allie does a great job eluding her stalker assassin; then suddenly she feels safe enough to go for a little walk in the woods that almost gets her killed.

Writing is relatively free of any big errors, and that's a plus.

Nothing terribly wrong here and nothing that makes it memorable for me.
One person found this helpful
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Cindy O
4.0 out of 5 stars Good suspense plot with 2 characters you really come to care about
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012
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Ross Carpenter was born and raised in a small town in South Carolina. He struggled with shame due to his father and where he came from but the one good thing he had all though high school was Allie Williams. When Ross left for the Army he thought Allie turned her back on him because she never answered any of his letters. His mind told him it was because she thought he wasn't good enough for her.

Today after being in the Special Forces for years he owns his own private security firm called RC Investigations. His latest client hired them to find and retrieve stolen information. When Ross see's that the person being accused of stealing the information is Allie, Ross's curiosity about what would make the good girl prom queen turn bad makes him take the case.

Allie Williams was a publicity manager for a pharmaceutical firm. When she realizes her boss has been laundering lots of money and plans to release a drug that he knows has dangerous side effects she does the only thing she can think of, takes proof of both and runs. She decides the best place to hide is in plain sight in her hometown at her aunt's house who is away on vacation.

Ross saves her from an attempt on her life but she is wary about why he is there. He hasn't been back to town since he left all those years ago and she hasn't heard a word from him and now he has suddenly shown up as her savior.

Ross chooses not to be totally honest with Allie about many things, like why he is really there and that he is still in love with her even after all of these years. Allie isn't upfront either with truth's from both the past and with what really happened with her boss.

The author did a great job of taking us on the journey with Allie and Ross as they worked through all of their past issues along with running from the assassin's that keep coming for Allie. Ross's teams at RC were great secondary characters and I hope they are going to be getting their own books in the future.
16 people found this helpful
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Brigitte
5.0 out of 5 stars The Thief
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2013
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I enjoyed all the characters...I did not want to put this book down... the author is a great story teller
One person found this helpful
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John
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2015
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Good read!! Kept my interest throughout
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Karen Miner
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2013
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Am so thankful to Debra Webb for tuning me into V,R. Marks. The suspense is thrilling & nail biting & the romancce is tender & sweet. This is a book you can't put down. You fall in love with Allie & Ross & feel as if you are there living this story.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2012
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This book had a very good story to it I really enjoyed it and will read more by this author recommend to anyone who likes a really good story
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars a good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2015
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book because it was easy to put down and pick up when I only had 5 to 10 minutes reading time. Good characters and pretty predictable at times that is eh it only got four stars
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Helen
5.0 out of 5 stars gripping action romantic thriller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2012
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Really enjoyed this, fast paced and action packed read. Well written with good characters and detailed plot. Was keen to pick the book and get back to reading.
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Trick
4.0 out of 5 stars An easy to read book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2012
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A book that i could pick up and read at any time and still not know the ending and how it would end up.
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lou bailey
4.0 out of 5 stars fab
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2013
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Fab, brilliant writing, I am trying to collect as many books from v.r.marks as I could possibly afford well done
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