Portrait of a Thief

Portrait of a Thief had so much potential! Which probably why I'm so deeply disappointed. This book was as much a victim of poor editing as it was poor writing.

The author tried to include too many social issues (i.e., pressure of immigrant children to succeed, colonialism, COVID anti-Asian sentiment, Chinese Exclusion Act, etc.) and character POVs, which resulted in a choppy, unfocused story badly in need of revision. Oh and character motivations were apparently fluid—it's about the money, oh no wait, it's about undoing past cultural wrongs.

The author refused to show-not-tell through this entire book, so descriptions about surroundings and characters were extremely short and repetitive. (i.e., "Alex Huang was not a hacker.", moonlight, daylight, sunlight, changing light, sunrise, "unfamiliar traffic", etc.)

Italics were used in too many different ways to denote:

* Chinese phrases

* Text messages

* Emphasis

* Internal thoughts

You get <i>one</i> way to use italics in a straightforward fiction piece like this so that it doesn't confuse the reader and pull them out of the story.

Chinese characters were not always explained or given enough context to make sense, so superscript with footnotes or endnotes would've been a huge help.

Very few characters get visible defining features or mannerisms—Irene just gets a statement jaw and a sharp jacket, as an example. Awkward character moments took me out of the story, like this poorly written bit about <spoiler>Irene and Alex</spoiler>—which was not earned at all so late in the book:

<blockquote>"For a moment, Alex had had the urge to brush her thumb against the curve of the other girl's cheek, press her fingers to the hollow of her throat."</blockquote>

How does this mechanically work? I had my husband try to press his thumb to my cheek with his fingers along my throat and it felt more like a Vulcan Mind Meld than a romantic gesture. Also "had had"—how did someone not change that immediately and suggest more relationship building early in the story? Two characters being toxic to each other throughout the entire book doesn't qualify as automatic enemies-to-lovers love story.

Then, a pivotal scene after <spoiler>Lily's street race in France</spoiler> was missing. That race was a pretty big character moment for Lily, but the author just skipped to the next thing as if it didn't matter as much as we were led to believe. Same with the final payoff—the final heist could've been so much more exciting a lá Ocean's Eleven. There's little satisfaction in <spoiler>skipping ahead 6 months for a where-are-they-now epilogue. We don't even see the woman from China Poly or anyone related to the company again, even though without her there would be no heists.</spoiler>

And yes, Daniel is a med student but he didn't love being a med student, so I'm confused by this random moment:

<blockquote>"His dad was in his office, the door closed. Daniel walked past it, quietly, and took a shower first, tilting his head up to the steam, the water that sluiced against his skin. As he scrubbed, he named his veins and arteries, mapped out the blood that traveled from vena cava to atria to ventricles, to lungs and limbs and curving spine."</blockquote>

Why? Does Daniel calm his anxiety/stress by mentally reciting and connecting technical terms for the human body? Show me, don't tell me. There were too many commas everywhere in this book and somehow there still managed to be run-on sentences. Using serial commas doesn't mean we don't need more detailed descriptions of people, places, and things.

The plot also needed fixes. Why risk getting caught by picking your friend who's not a hacker to run all tech for your heists? Why <spoiler>take a tour of the museums you're stealing from without wearing disguises and be caught on multiple cameras in broad daylight?</spoiler> Why would two characters fight about their art heist in public? How did Irene <spoiler>get into FBI Agent Mr. Liang's office so easily while both Daniel and Mr. Liang were home?</spoiler> Why <spoilers>didn't Mr. Liang, who is a dedicated career FBI agent, not turn Daniel and co. into the authorities?</spoiler>

Okay, I'm stopping here because this turned into a terrible rant about a book I really wanted to love. Although, I think it could make a great, chaotic Netflix series like Imposters.

TL;DR: Skip the book and watch the Netflix series instead.