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If you're thinking about purchasing a copy of John Jaffe's debut novel, THIEF OF WORDS, you'd better make sure you have plenty of tissues to stop the flood of tears you may experience. I didn't cry, really I didn't. But John Jaffe (a pseudonym for John Muncie and Jody Jaffe) knows how to pull a reader's heartstrings in this romantic-type comedy that, in many ways, resembles a writer's experience with love, life and the wacky profession of print journalism. THIEF OF WORDS is a love story, not a romance novel, so let's get that straight before we go any further, OK? The cover of the book is reminiscent of a Harlequin romance novel, though it isn't.
At age 26, Annie Hollerman thought she had her love life and her career at a top North Carolina newspaper under complete control --- until one fatal mistake not only destroys her career at the paper, but also ends her relationship. The book begins in 1982 and then rapidly transports the reader 20 years later. Annie, now 46, runs her own literary agency, destined to never date another journalist again until her girlfriend, Laura Goodbread, decides she has the perfect guy for Annie: her boss, Jack DePaul, a longtime features editor at the Baltimore Star-News.
Similar to the popular film You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Annie and Jack start conversing via the Internet (doesn't everybody these days?) and viola! Before we know it, Annie and Jack are out on their first date, having the time of their lives.
THIEF OF WORDS isn't just a well-developed love story that will give any Nicholas Sparks novel a definite run for its money; it's also extremely funny at times and is dead-on with its numerous machinations of newspapers, editors and reporters. While Annie and Jack do fall in love with each other, another interesting aspect of THIEF OF WORDS is how Jaffe dangles Annie's forlorn past from not only the reader but from Jack as well. Near the end of the book, I kept wondering if Annie's mistake at the North Carolina daily was as dire as former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair's. You'll have to read THIEF OF WORDS to find out because this reviewer has no comment.
--- Reviewed by David Exum
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