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Jimmy the Hand, a young man whose facile fingers have picked many a pocket, thus earning him that name, has just helped Prince Arutha and Princess Anita in their flight to escape Krondor. That part of the story, how they got to that point, you might already know somewhat. You also might know about how, many years later, Jimmy saves Arutha's life again. But what you don't know yet (unless, of course, you've already read this book) is what happened to Jimmy in between these two adventures.

Jimmy, as part of the guild that runs all the criminal element in Krondor, the Mockers, has been ordered by the Upright Man to lay low until the excitement caused by the Princess's escape dies down. Unfortunately, the acting governor, hungry for power and desiring not to get punished for her escape, is not willing to leave things alone. His guards round up a whole bunch of Mockers, including Jimmy's friend Flora, who has been making her living as a prostitute. Jimmy, with the help of a fellow Mocker and a little magic, creates a daring escape for them. But instead of a receiving a hero's welcome, he is forced to flee Krondor, lest the Upright Man, not liking it when his orders are ignored, decides to send him out to sea in a barrel. He and Flora end up at Land's End, where she has family. Soon they'll meet Lorrie, a farm girl who goes out hunting one day, and returns to find her family dead, her brother, who she can sense thanks to a family talent, kidnapped. The other farmers believe it's only grief talking, and that her brother died in he fire, but she goes anyway, determined to find him. Bram, her friend and sweetheart, comes home from a long trip that night and as soon as he finds out what happened, he goes after her.

Lorie's injured, and Jimmy agrees to go and search for Rip. He is joined by the mysterious Jarvis Coe. What these characters soon discover is that Rip is not the first child to be kidnapped and the secret of what has been happening to these innocents is shrouded by darkest magic and obsessive love.

You wouldn't think that a unrepentantly professional thief would make a good hero for a book, but like Skif, Mercedes Lackey's thief from Take a Thief, he has some honor. Well, maybe honor's a strong word for it but he does honestly try to help people without thought for personal gain. (Mostly.) He does a lot of brave things that you couldn't usually pay him to do, but because he has a soft heart, he can be talked around by the right girl. He's quite fun to read because, not only is he so off hand about his work, he has a wryness about him (despite his age, somewhere between thirteen and fifteen) that brings the reader in with him. His very lifestyle is wrought with danger, and so even when he's not doing good, his doings are filled with plenty of adventure.

Jimmy the Hand, the third book in the Legends of the Riftwar series does a great job, shining a spotlight on a nifty character before he becomes the Lord James of later books.

Cindy Lynn Speer loves books so much that she's designed most of her life around them, both as a librarian and a writer. Her books aren't due out anywhere soon, but she's trying. You can find her site at www.apenandfire.com.