Blood Rubies

A jewel thief faces an onslaught of obstacles in the undercooked debut from art historian Doquang. The action opens somewhere in upper Manhattan, with career burglar Rune Sarasin’s wrists being zip-tied while her captors set fire to her surroundings. A flashback rewinds the plot six days: Sarasin has just broken into Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental hotel to steal blood rubies from notorious gem trafficker Charles Lemaire. She makes off with the stash, but not before Lemaire’s henchmen spot her and vow to track her down. To make matters worse, Sarasin’s boyfriend, Kit, reveals that his younger sister, Madee, has vanished somewhere in Thailand. The couple then tries to track Madee down while evading Lemaire’s men, but when the crime boss catches up to them, he poses an awful ultimatum: Kit or the rubies. The problem? Sarasin seems to have misplaced the gems. Doquang comes out with her guns blazing, throwing everything and the kitchen sink at her intrepid antiheroine. Unfortunately, Sarasin never really comes to life, and there’s little here to please any but the most die-hard action lovers. This caper is no diamond in the rough—it’s mostly just rough. Agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Agency. (May)