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    The Night Thief
    The Night Thief
    The Night Thief
    Ebook100 pages53 minutes

    The Night Thief

    By Barbara Fradkin

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Simple country handyman Cedric O’Toole relies on his organic vegetable garden to supplement his meager income, so he’s upset when vegetables begin disappearing. After several futile attempts to protect the garden, he stakes it out one night with his shotgun and spots a shadowy figure running into the woods. Cedric follows and finds a young boy living rough on his land. The boy has never been taught to read or write, and no one has reported him missing. No stranger to childhood neglect himself, Cedric takes the boy under his wing and tries to find answers. Who is the mystery boy, and why is he hiding in the woods?

    The Night Thief is the third novel in a series featuring reluctant sleuth Cedric O’Toole.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2015
    ISBN9781459808683
    The Night Thief
    Author

    Barbara Fradkin

    Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist and the critically acclaimed author of the Amanda Doucette thriller series and the Inspector Green detective series, which has earned two Best Novel Awards of Excellence from Crime Writers of Canada, as well as two additional nominations. Barbara shares her time between her home in Ottawa and her cottage on Sharbot Lake in Ontario.

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    Reviews for The Night Thief

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    • 3/5
      This was my first encounter with a Rapid Reads book. I had the preconceived idea that this would be a simplistic story, meant to be read quickly with little substance to it. I was pleasantly surprised. The book does read quickly but the story is basic and good. Very engaging. The setting is Canada and the MC, Cedric O'Toole lives in a remote area on his own. When things begin to disappear from his place he looks to find the culprit. He eventually discovers an 8 year old behind the thefts and the child's story becomes the balance of the book. Older boys, reluctant to read, may find this a good series to follow. For it is a series.Read as an ARC from Library Thing.
    • 4/5
      I have to say, I was surprised and disappointed to receive this book, which appeared to be a children's book when I received it in the mail. As I reviewed this tiny novel with children's font and few pages, I gritted my teeth and decided to read it anyways, in order to review the book as I had promised. In reality, "The Night Thief" is a book written for adults with an adult theme. The main character, Cedric O'Toole is a simple man who repairs farm machines and runs a small farm. He becomes outraged that some creature has been stealing his vegetables from his garden and sets out to find this elusive thief. After many nights of trying to track down the animal, he discovers a small boy who has been looting the garden and attempting to survive by hiding out on his property. This near-feral child refuses to explain where he came from and is terrified that Cedric will call the police. Biding his time, Cedric attempts to discover the child's secrets and comes face to face with the danger from which the child was attempting to escape. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this very quick read. Although written simply, it was suspenseful and heartwarming. The author did a great job of bringing attention to the very real problem of neglected children who get overlooked or (possibly worse?) tangled up in our deficient child protective system. I would think this book may be hard to market in it's current format, as it is intended for adults who do not like to read. These adults may overlook this one because they think it is a children's book. It will be interesting to see if this marketing model is successful.
    • 4/5
      Great story. I didn't think it could be wrapped up so quickily, I also didn't think I would enjoy it like I did. I wish more authors would do shorter books instead of drag out everything. I will certainly be on the lookout for this author in the future!
    • 4/5
      Cedric O’Toole is a farmer and a handyman who is determined to discover who is stealing his vegetables in the night. He suspects a deer or perhaps a rabbit; he is shocked to discover it’s a ten-year-old boy. He is determined to win the boy’s trust and try to keep him safe from both the elements and the authorities so when another crime is uncovered that seems to involve the boy, he is determined to solve it before the police and Child Services get involved. When I saw The Night Thief in a Librarything Giveaway, I put my name in for it because I have read other books by Barbara Fradkin and I like her a lot. She is on my short list of writers including Anne Perry, Peter May, and Robin Hobb who write truly sympathetic characters while providing a cracking good story. I was not aware when I asked for this book that it was a Rapid Read – books written for people who have difficulty reading longer books for whatever reason. Had I known, I might not have asked for it; after reading it, I still have mixed feelings. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it – I did. It’s well-written and the story, what there was of it, was interesting. But I love reading; it’s my thing and I just felt, I dunno…unsatisfied when I finished the book. I found Cedric O’Toole a very likable character and I was impressed at how Fradkin could picture the plight of abused children and the failure of the services meant to help them in such a short book.But, in the end, I felt like, with the exception of O’Toole, I didn’t get to know any of the other characters or what led them to this point in their stories. I felt like too much of their tale was missing for me to feel completely engaged or empathetic and I wanted more. I think the idea behind Rapid Reads is an excellent one – any tool that gets people to read is more than commendable and, if The Night Thief is typical of the types of books available through it, then this can only be a good thing. But, for me, I would love to see Fradkin expand the story into a full-length novel. All of this makes it hard for me to rate this book. For its target audience, it surely deserves at least 4 stars. For me, though, it was more like a 3. So I’ll split the difference and give it a 3.5.
    • 4/5
      Cedric O'Toole is trying to figure out who is stealing his vegetables from his garden. When he discovers that it is a 10 year old boy doing the stealing he sets off to discover just who he is. The storyline is good and I liked the characters. My only disappointment is really the ending. It seemed just as it was really getting interesting it was over. A page or two explaining who the boy and girl are and where they were just wasn't satisfying enough. That being said I did like the book it was just too short for me.
    • 4/5
      An interesting story about a handyman Cedric Elvis O'Toole, who's living off the land out in the middle of the woods. He's been noticing that something or someone is raiding his farm and stealing items daily, farm related or personal, he's determined to catch whatever is responsible. He then catches a homeless ten year old boy that's uneducated, the situation quickly starts to unravel when the boys leads Cedric too a young woman that is gravely ill from a gunshot wound to her side that's badly infected. Where are the kids from, where are they living and should he get the local authorities involved, are all questions that were relevant in his past.
    • 4/5
      The description of this book in the Early Reviewers list did not make it clear that this was a Rapid Read (i.e. a book to be read in one sitting, aimed at adults who find reading (or reading in English) difficult or time consuming). I do not find reading difficult and would probably not have applied for this book if I had realized its target audience. I have given it four stars in the light of the stated aims of this imprint, but if I were reviewing it for personal enjoyment I would not rate it as highly.The plot opens with Cedric realizing that food and other items are going missing from his farm. He waits up one night and discovers that a mysterious boy has been stealing from him. This boy will not (or cannot) tell Cedric his name, speaks with an unusual accent, cannot read or count and is not familiar with electricity. Cedric is unwilling to report him to the police as his own mother was not always able to care for him very well when he was a boy and he sympathizes with what he imagines to be the boy's situation. After a day or two Cedric discovers the boy has a girl with him and she is very sick...I did indeed read the story in one sitting and I did find it easy to read. I understand that the vocabulary and writing style are again limited to a certain level of reading fluency. I was dimly aware of this while reading it, and it reminded me in some ways of YA fiction. The character of Cedric was well-drawn and I felt that we became familiar with him quickly. There were references to previous stories about him, but this one stands alone just fine. I had problems with his naivety (not telling any one that his mother's shotgun had been stolen, believing that he "knew" Robin and Marian and could therefore trust them, even though they hadn't told him the truth about anything etc etc) but I was not sure if this was part of his character or a defect in the plot. He seemed strangely childlike and the references to his troubled childhood could, of course, explain that, but if the author is planning to introduce a romance between Cedric and Jessica in later novels, I would find that a bit unlikely and even a bit creepy unless Cedric matures significantly.The mystery itself was set up well and I was turning the pages at the beginning to find out what was going on, but it was not really possible for the reader to guess the ending or pick up clues and it was left to Jessica to come by and explain the backstory at the end. I do prefer mysteries when you can at least look back at the end and see things you missed. The climax involving the gun and the bear trap was well-written for me - I have a tendency to find scenes like that either difficult to follow or boring and I often skim them, but this one was clearly explained and I read every word!I think while I would recommend this to some one looking for an interesting uncomplicated read, I would probably only recommend it for older teenagers/young adults.
    • 5/5
      LT Early Reviewer- Super quick read, the book is only 130 pages. Cedric O'Toole discovers the Night Thief who is stealing all his vegetable out of his garden and is is a small child. The boy is scared and mistrustful but Cedric wins his trust and tries to help him. The story was riveting from beginning to end. Cedric is very likable and the story is unpredictable but quite believable. I look forward to reading more from this author.
    • 2/5
      Barbara Fradkin's book, The Night Thief, about a homeless boy surfacing at night to raid handyman Cedric O'Toole's garden is a Rapid Read book and does considerably well given its 100 odd pages. The story has potential, but to be fully developed it needed a much longer venue. Also, given its greater focus (how we turn bad and the treatment and wellbeing of children), I was surprised and bothered by a couple of minor incidents in the plot (to avoid spoilers, they revolve around a shotgun and also, Cedric and his Aunt Penny going to the police station). The author's bio at the end is most impressive and makes me again wish for a longer book.

    Book preview

    The Night Thief - Barbara Fradkin

    Acknowledgments

    ]>

    One

    It was supposed to be a perfect October night. The moon was huge and the sky so clear I could see all the way across the field to the woods.

    But after less than an hour, I was freezing to death. My toes had gone numb. My back ached and I couldn’t feel the tip of my nose. Good move, O’Toole, I grumbled to myself as I eased my stiff fingers from the shotgun. You couldn’t wear a warmer jacket?

    I was lying in wait for the night thief. For more than three weeks now, I’d been trying to stop him from raiding my vegetable patch. My usual scarecrows and whirligigs had been useless. So first I’d welded together a tall fence using every piece of metal I could spare. Bits of car hoods and washing machines, rusty pipes and chicken wire. It wasn’t pretty, but I thought it would do the trick.

    It didn’t. The next night he dug up a whole row of baby carrots and snapped a prize ear of Peaches and Cream corn off its stalk. So I put chicken wire over the whole garden. A foot-long zucchini disappeared. I’d never seen anything like it. I share this backcountry piece of scrub my mother called a farm with lots of wildlife. I don’t mind a rabbit stealing a carrot or two, or a deer nibbling the buds off my flowers. But this beast, whatever it was, had to be feeding a whole village!

    I don’t ask for much. I know the locals laugh at my organic garden, my milk goat and my fields of rusted junk. But I like to invent things. You never know when that three-wheeled ATV might make me a million dollars. In the meantime, I get by with handyman jobs and my vegetables, which my aunt Penny sells at her corner grocery store in the village. This night thief was seriously messing with my livelihood.

    So next I got out my welding torch again and surrounded the whole garden with homemade humane traps. I caught a groundhog and a skunk, but the rest of the bait, along with half a dozen more ears of corn, was gone.

    My dog was no help either. Chevy is a border collie mix who barks if a leaf blows across the yard. Usually she sleeps on my bed, but for three nights I tied her out by the vegetable patch. I figured her barking would chase off anything. The first night she did bark, but by the time I ran downstairs and out to the back field, she was wagging her tail and there was nothing in sight.

    After that she didn’t even bark. Even when my best crop of cherry tomatoes went missing. A chill ran through me. What was this thing? What kind of creature could get through my fence, steal the bait from my traps and hypnotize my dog?

    That’s when I oiled up my mother’s shotgun. I hate guns. Hate the sight of blood, to tell the truth, ever since I was nineteen and had to identify my mother’s body in what was left of her car. But now I wasn’t just angry. I was spooked.

    I didn’t plan to kill it. I can’t shoot a tin can off a stump at three feet. But I did plan to scare it off into someone else’s vegetable patch. Now, as I crouched behind the shed with my fingers growing numb, I wondered if it had outsmarted me again.

    Just half an hour longer, I told myself. The dry cornstalks stood like stiff sentries in the moonlight. An owl hooted. A coyote yipped. Then a dark shape came out of the trees. Hunched and formless, it floated across the field. I stared at it, hardly daring to breathe. A bear cub?

    Behind me a twig cracked, and I gasped. Spun around, waving my gun. Nothing. I turned back just in time to see the dark shape melt back into the woods.

    Damn!

    I waited until the moon slid low in the sky and the shadows grew long. But the creature never came back. The next night I wore my parka and hid behind a tall stand of goldenrod near the woods. The wind was up, blowing clouds across the moon. The grass rippled and danced, making it hard to see. As I waited, my mind drifted. A hairy werewolf was sneaking across my land, slipping the latch on my back door and coming up my stairs…

    I awoke with a jolt. Sat up to see a black creature moving through my garden, bending, reaching, scooping. I almost shouted aloud. Hunched low in the grass, I raced closer. Its shape was half hidden by the corn. Too skinny for a bear but too big for a raccoon. I watched as it unwound the wire at the corner of my fence, slipped out through the hole and turned back to reattach the fence.

    What the hell?

    I ducked lower as the creature, cradling its armload of loot, scurried past and headed back toward the trees. I kept fifty feet between us as I followed it. In the forest, even the weak moonlight disappeared. The figure became a shadow that moved quickly in and out of the trees. It was like it could see in the dark. I couldn’t. I tripped over roots and cracked my head on branches. Before long, the shadow was gone.

    The next day after work,

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