A Philosophy of Thieves

In this entertaining romp, Wilde (Riverland) pivots from caper novel to a lost-princess tale before wrapping up with Succession-level family business scheming. In a heavily stratified, post-climate-collapse future, the elite hire thieves to pull off elaborate heists as a form of entertainment. Roo Vane, who’s studying data security at Miss Farmer’s Academy, is pulled back into her family’s performative theft business after her father, King, is nabbed by authorities and threatened with exile to Alaska. With brother Dax and grandmother Nan, she plots a Grand Heist to liven up a society birthday party thrown by biosecurity whiz Mason Graves for his girlfriend Evangeline Benford, who’s close to inheriting a leadership role in the New Washington enclave from her father, Sam. Trapped during the three-day party, Roo is shocked to learn that her missing mother, Cere, is Sam’s missing wife, Serena, and she is Sam’s daughter. Her road out of thievery is clear, but her loyalties are divided. Wilde adroitly delineates the conflict between the haves and the have-nots and paints an eerie portrait of a postapocalyptic world made up of sea-walled enclaves surrounded by salty wasteland. As with any good soap opera, expect long-missing characters to turn up. It’s good fun. (Sept.)