The finalist tours for BBNYA are underway, this is one of the books that I read for the competiton.
By Hook & Crook
S.G. Karam
What if robbing a vault earned you a standing ovation?
In the city of Azoria, heists are a sanctioned sport, a dazzling spectacle where only the boldest thieves thrive. And Lars Harrow is the best.
But Lars wants more than fame. He wants the heist that will cement his legacy and put him beyond the reach of the city’s power brokers. When a shadowy patron offers him a job targeting Cecil Thume—the ruthless mastermind who controls every theft in Azoria—Lars sees his shot at something bigger.
Yet the deeper he digs, the more dangerous the game becomes. A brutal murder sends a clear message: Thume isn’t just profiting from the city’s underworld… he is the underworld. And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep control.
As the line between thief and pawn blurs, Lars must decide how much he’s willing to risk. The city, his crew, and his own future hang in the balance.
If you enjoyed books like Six of Crows, Mistborn, or The Lies of Locke Lamora, you won’t be able to put down this electrifying tale of ambition, greed, betrayal, and redemption.
Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon
What I love about BBNYA is coming across books that I wouldn’t otherwise pick up, especially when they are very enjoyable books, like By Hook & Crook.
The concept of this book is amazing: teams that pull off heists as entertainment to gain notoriety. They then find themselves in a much more dangerous game as they start to target the power players in their city.
This book is full of intrigue, which was fantastic. I quite liked all the double crossing and switching allegiances. It made me suspicious of everyone and made for some tense reading.
From the start, there was a lot of action; it did lag a little at points in the middle, I think, because there were so many threads to the story that needed to be kept up with. As it came to the climax, though, the pace was right back to where it had been at the start.
I did think that some of these threads could have been left out without it impacting the overall story. It’s hard to say, though because it’s book one of a series, so maybe these threads have been included to introduce some things that will be explored further later in the series. They just felt a little tacked on in this instance.
The characters were great, there were a lot of people to keep track of, but I enjoyed the camaraderie of the teams and the mix of personalities that each team has. I did feel at points I would have liked to go a bit deeper with the characters, but there was so much happening that there wasn’t really the chance.
I won’t lie; I have a few questions about the ending, and it’s going to be hard to explain why without giving things away. It was wrapped up well, with some expected and unexpected antics, but I felt like I missed some crucial information that helped the characters reach the endpoint.
Overall, this was a very unique and fun story that I really enjoyed.
S.G. Karam is a software professional, lifelong geek, reader, educator, cook, traveler, tinkerer, blogger, amateur guitar maker, tech book writer, and for the first time, a sci-fi/fantasy novelist.
Reading fantasy has been a huge part of his life, starting with Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Robert Asprin, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Tolkien, and continuing into authors like Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin.
Instagram: https://instagram.com/yaystevek
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sgkarambooks
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.
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