The Second Thief

This is a story that allows you so deep into the main character's being that you can't help but truly know him and hope he makes the right choices. Travis Thrasher is talented in keeping the story moving in a way that just when you think you might predict what comes next, he throws you for a loop. This is a story of past mistakes and second chances. Hope and longing, along with redemption, are themes weaved in throughout the story. As with all of Thrasher's books, one can't help but keep reading in order to find out what happens next.

Lots of twists in this book. The main character starts out as a "crooked" man and once he is involved in a plane crash, it shows how he changes his life and makes decisions that will effect him and his family. The ending will shock you and leaves you hanging. Great read!

Travis Thrasher has won me over as an avid fan...Second Thief was Thrasher's third novel, yet the second I have read and have thoroughly enjoyed. Fast paced, easy to read, hard to put down....it catches you from the first line and coaxes you into the story, and as usual with Thrasher's stories; it leaves you wanting more. He has a way of developing his characters to a point that, no matter how unsavory they may start out, you grow to care about them and hope the best for them. This tale starts with central character, Tom Ledger, leaving his job where he is bored with his ordinary boring life and has hijacked crucial company secrets from a computer which he plans to sell to a rather ominously dangerous bidder....Tom has been going no where in life, he has left the one woman that really loved him for what he thought was a better life. Boarding a plane to his proposed wealthy future,where he shall be set for life, Tom has no idea what fate has in store for him. Seated next to a minister with whom he wants little to do , Tom finds himself selfishly praying "Please God, let me live" as the plane suddenly loses control and begins to plummet into a Nebraska cornfield. Tom incredibly does live and his choices and beliefs are questioned as he faces his second chance at correcting his mistakes in life and his chance at redemption through his journey of finding his beliefs...the story moves along at a good pace and the ending has a moral, a great double meaning for the title and a great plot twisting ending that you won't see coming. I LOVED this book and cannot wait to pick up Mr. Thrasher's next novel....I almost feel like I am dishonoring him by reading his novels out of order. I usually like to start at an author's first novel to see by the time I get to the end of his works, where their strengths lie and how they have grown...well, I have read Travis' third and last novel and both are excellent and although there may be signs of growth, he remains markedly consistant and his stories remain quite strong...my only question is....which story should I read next....thank you, Mr. Thrasher, for putting out great stories with a moral to the tale, without being preachy...while being entertaining and thought-provoking and spinning a great yarn.....A+++++++

I have read several of Travis Thrasher's books and they have tended to be slow paced, intimate and heartwarming and I have come to expect the same ol' sappy formula. While I haven't thought of Mr Trasher as the best writer, his stories are adorable and I have hoped to see more depth, range and growth in his storytelling. Well, my prayer was answered and boy was I irritated (at first). My initial response was has he has listened to those critics and now thinks he can write a screenplay for a Tom Cruise movie. (And this is coming from someone who wanted to see something different from the author) It took me a while to get into the story, to adjust to a more fast-paced novel.Also, Mr Thrasher's narrative style which while unique is even more disconcerting for this story type. Tom Ledger is a more jaded person than all the other characters in Thrasher's books I've read so far and his slow, painful and real transformation is worth reading the book for. However, what takes the cake for me is the ending twist. Much like when I saw the movie "The Sixth Sense",I never saw it coming and even though I criticized the book at the start of reading it, when I neared the end, it all came together and it was extremely well worth it. More importantly, I got the message .

The Second Thief the third novel of Travis Thrasher, author of 'The Promise Remains' and 'The Watermark.' Writes this thought-provoking story about a desperate man, Tom Ledger, living on the edge in search of comfort and ease. It begins as Tom is willing to risk his own soul, maybe his own life by stealing his employer's closely guarded secret of vital company documents to the highest bidder. Not knowing what is going to happen to him-within hours of commiting his first crime. He's flung into a life and death drama. He boards an airplane along with one man, Kent Marks. The one man who will introduce him to the one thing that will save his life. Suddenly the airplane drops like a rock into a Nebraska cornfield. One thing of a miracle, he survives the crash. Now he faces what could be the final moments of his life.Even at the most crucial time Tom's attempt at prayer is self-serving. Like something out of the Twilight Zone, Tom walks away from the wreckage. Tom takes a journey through the seedy underworld searching for answers why he was spared from the accident. Why was he given a second chance? That's what Tom Ledger got. When we get second chances everyday. Tom had his second chance before his final journey. He meets Earl after his rescue. This old fellow helps him in his search for life and God. Then flashbacks and fast forwards of his aunt and uncle Dale & Lily, his estranged brother Sean and his former girlfriend, Allegra and the son he never knew, Tommy. Everything he left behind had come to find him. The second chances of making things right. Here he confronts his past and all the consequences he must encounters with all the corporate espionage, terror and even murder. Trying to connect with his past he makes life and death decisions. I'll leave the question to you, the reader. Will he make the choice to follow a path that will destroy everything that he ever held dear? Or, will he find another way to his redemption and salvation? Like Tom, if you were given a second chance. What would you choose? Just remember, the Thirty-Second Psalm [Psalm 32]. It sure let me see the light about second chances. Perhaps it will for you, too.