Oceans for a Thief
Oceans for a Thief is a riveting thriller in which an ordinary man gets caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
In Lloyd Reman’s thriller Oceans for a Thief, family bonds are tested when an insidious woman entraps a successful banker in her scheme to pirate a ship.
The narrative begins with an ominous diary entry by sixteen-year-old Matt, whose mother has just been buried, leaving him to fend for himself and his younger brother, Butch. Years later, Matt is a successful investment banker and a partner at his firm. However, his world falls apart when he tries to rescue an attractive Brazilian woman, Ana, who is being assaulted by a man in his firm’s car park. He doesn’t realize how cunning Ana is until she ropes him into her pirate scheme through blackmail. His dilemma worsens when she names the target: an LNG container ship that belongs to his biggest client, Carioca, whose CEO is his brother, Butch.
To avoid contacting his father, Frank, the underboss of New York’s most nefarious organized crime family, Matt travels to Mogadishu, Somalia, to seek the help of an illustrious pirate, Libaxo Bedri Bedri (contrary to Ana’s demands that he gets Frank to do the job). With the team assembled and plans hatched, they believe they are prepared for every possible outcome. However, what they discover on the ship is so shocking that it disrupts everything. Amid soaring risks, Matt has to battle with all he thought he knew and learn that blood might not always be thicker than water.
The book’s intrigue never stops, and there is always something new to discover about its compelling cast. Ana’s blackmail makes her appear heartless, but a closer look reveals a shattered woman weighed down by her previous life. There are sinister secrets at every turn, and the web of lies and betrayal keeps getting more tangled. Matt is always at the center, trying to make sense of it all, despite his naïveté (which leads him down many slippery slopes). With the attempts to kill Matt increasing, he realizes that nothing is certain. His theories about who wants him dead expand and vaporize at an alarming rate based on ever-emerging information.
The book’s depiction of family bonds is variously sweet and complicated. It seems that Matt can’t do anything right: even his wife, Jennifer, is upset with and disappointed in him, and his daughter, Margaret, keeps reaching for her father. Still, Margaret’s relationship with her father is stirring. Even though doctors and therapists have no idea what to do about her mutism, he refuses to give up on her, even when his wife mocks him. He persists in reading to Margaret with the firm belief that she can understand him and will one day respond. This is but one of the book’s multiple story lines; they all crystallize in its satisfying conclusion.
Oceans for a Thief is a hair-raising thriller in which a man who is in the right place at the wrong time finds himself facing multiple dangers.
Reviewed by
Gabriella Harrison
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
