No Such Creature

In Blunt’s overwrought thriller, 18-year-old Owen Maxwell, an orphan who’s spent the last eight summers traveling across the U.S. with his bombastic great-uncle, Magnus “Max” Maxwell, robbing rich Republicans, wants to give up the criminal life. He’s been accepted to Juilliard’s drama program, and Max is getting too old to pull off the complicated heists. When the pair leaves San Francisco, flush with cash and stolen jewels, they catch the eye of a shadowy group of thieves known as the Subtractors, who track major thefts and steal the loot from the robbers. Complicating matters is “flat-out gorgeous” Sabrina Bertrand, the 20-year-old daughter of a legendary crook known as the Pontiff, one of Max’s idols. Shifting between the Maxwells and the men who pursue them, Blunt (By the Time You Read This ) never develops any of the characters beyond the initial stereotypes: the old master losing his touch; his young reluctant apprentice; and various thugs who aren’t above a little torture. (Apr. 27)