Among Thieves

British author Packer juggles various narrative threads in her intriguing debut, mostly set in the 1980s. The strongest plot line concerns Albanian Mehmet Lucca and his quest for revenge. Devastated by the murder of his two brothers and his father’s subsequent death, Mehmet, a business tycoon who was once “a simple farmer,” seeks the man he holds responsible for their murders: Jules Geci, a member of a well-connected family. Mehmet’s younger brother, Gabriel, insists on accompanying him on the search for Jules, with tragic consequences. Meanwhile, in a less compelling story line, college friends and criminals, Andy and Pads, recruit English drug dealer Jeremy “Jez” Cross, who also dabbles in credit card fraud, to travel to Spain to launder some counterfeit money. There predictable complications ensue. Mehmet, Pads, and Jez each have a distinctive voice, but their stories converge only at the end, by which time many readers will feel that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. (June)