One perfect house. One dead body. One bad day.
There are thousands and thousands of decent homes – very nice homes – with nobody living in them.
There are thousands and thousands of broke young people – very nice young people – with nowhere decent to live.
This is where Al comes in.
Al lives in wealthy people’s second houses when the real owners are away. He’s charming, convincing and easily lost in a crowd. Life is perfect.
But unfortunately for him, Al and his friends have just broken into the wrong place, on the wrong day – and found a body. And now they’re in a whole heap of trouble.
Featuring crooked builders, dodgy coppers and some very dangerous spies, A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering is a gripping thriller about what it’s like to be young, skilled, unemployed – and on the run.
Book Info: Print length: 456 pages. Publisher: Penguin. Publication date: 25 April 2024
My Thoughts:
Every now and then I like to take a break from the darker side of fiction and read some light hearted crime and having seen Andrew Hunter Murray talk at Capital Crime Festival in London in July I knew I had to read his book.
Al is the main character and the voice behind the story. He’s an “interloper” which means he house sits large and luxurious properties whilst the owners are away. However, the owners don’t actually know he’s there, he researches the properties meticulously, tracks the owners whereabouts and breaks in living rent free until they return and then finds another property to “house sit”. He’s been successfully living this way for several years and using a strict number of rules hasn’t been caught YET.
However, as Al is now telling the reader his story from prison, it’s fair to assume something has gone terribly wrong involving a dead body, another group of interlopers, a police hunt, some criminal gangs, missing millions and several spies.
This is an amusing story and I particularly enjoyed Al’s self depreciating and dry humour. My only quibble was that it was a tad too long for my taste and I found my attention drifting on a few occasions. If, however, you are looking for a fun escape from reality, then give this a go.
