Thief

This is truly an amazing story. I say this as a Stock Broker with a degree in Criminal Justice. Thus the insight into the mind and the day to day activities of a largely successful white-collar criminal is fascinating. I feel that from the stand point that Frankel was able to manipulate the system and the people around him makes this book worth all five stars. J.A. Johnson, Jr. puts Frankel's story to life right in from of your eyes. Yes, at times it drags a little, but that is a reality and only adds to the life that Martin Frankel led. It doesn't just stop with the book as Frankel will probably be extradited to the states in 2001 and it will be an enthralling case to watch.

What more could you want in a true crime book? "Thief" tells the story of a bumbling financial wizard with a criminal mind and a harem of young girls. It all begins with the suicide of one of the girls and branches out to involve nothing less than the Vatican. When officials began to suspect that Martin Frankel was bilking insurance companies out of hundreds of millions of dollars, he fled his Greenwich, Conn., estate for a life on the lam. The author's crisp style and keen eye for detail make this an incredible read.

I live less than half a mile from Mr. Frankel's former estates in Greenwich, and I was shocked by what I learned about my neighbor when I began reading J.A. Johnson's stories in the Greenwich Time in the spring of 1999. Johnson is to be commended for his outstanding reporting both in the newspaper and in "Thief." Whenever I wanted to get details that the NY TImes, Wall Street Journal, and no one else had on Marty Frankel I turned to the Greenwich Time. I continued to get those details from Johnson's book.

It's obvious that a few of the reviewers below have an axe to grind. Perhaps this is the book they wanted to write, or maybe they're one of Frankel's cohorts who still harbor an irrational allegiance to a two-bit criminal. Regardless, their reviews are inaccurate and way off the mark. Thief is indeed a fascinating story of sex and greed. Martin Frankel and his minions bilked innocent people out of millions of dollars. Mr. Johnson does an incredible job of ferreting out the facts and piecing together one of the best crime dramas of the last several years. When is the movie coming out?

I thoroughly enjoyed J.A. Johnson's aptly titled book. Too many in the media seemed to have glorified Martin Frankel as a sort of folk hero, but "Thief" clearly demonstrates that Frankel was nothing but a thief who victimized many people and didn't earn a single of the perks he enjoyed for so long, those privileges which are normally reserved for people who work hard and create things of value to society. Mr. Frankel only took and took and took, and hopefully he will eventually get the punishment he deserves.