Booklist - August 2017

In with the Pinches, In with the Pokes

Meloy’s caper follows a new pickpocket finding acceptance and thrills on the streets of Marseille.

BY JULIA SMITH

There’s a lot to be said for a good, old-fashioned ca- per, especially one that pads out its excitement with substance, of all things. Meloy, who made a splash with his Wildwood Chronicles, accomplishes this rare feat with panache, turning out an infectious—and at times cinematic—adventure suffused with personal growth, secrecy, slight of hand, and higher stakes than the story’s protagonist ever imagined.

Set in Marseille, France, 1961, the narrative zooms in on Charlie Fisher, a 12-year-old suffering from a touch of ennui. The son of an American consul, Charlie lives a privileged life, to be sure, but also a lonely one. That changes one afternoon when he observes a group of kids expertly pick a man’s pocket and discovers one of his own belongings has been nicked at the same time. Circumstances lead to Charlie’s induction into this group of thieves, dubbed a whiz mob, which takes Charlie under its wing and starts teaching him the ropes—getting him on the whiz, as it were. Charlie has never been happier. Having never related to the prestigious progeny—princes, princesses, and the like—thrust upon him by his father, Charlie is elated by the genuine connection he feels with this diverse, criminally inclined group, particularly his new friend Amir.

This isn’t Fagin’s ragtag pickpocket crew, however; the whiz mob is a highly trained outfit (they attended a secret school!), with members ranging from nine years old to their early teens, that knows how to pull off a long con as easily as it can lift a wallet from your “britch kick.” (That’s right, britch kick.) Another joy of this novel exists in its use of language. Drawing from David W.

Maurer’s Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of
Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern (1955), Meloy equips
the whiz mob with authentic pickpocket slang that effectu-
ally functions as coded speech—a detail sure to delight kids
enamored by the clandestine. For instance, declaring a tie
pin without a diamond worthless goes something like this,
“A stickpin prop ain’t nothing but shag if it’s not got ice in
it.” Clearly the reader, as well as Charlie, will need an assist
when it comes to deciphering such statements, and what
isn’t translated in-text can handily be found in the book’s
glossary. Meloy also raises the bar in terms of standard vo-
cabulary, which will no doubt lead to a pinched dictionary
or two, but this enhances rather than impedes the reading
experience.

Before you start thinking that this is a book exclusively for
capital-R Readers, it’s important to stress how much fun it
is. The narration becomes conspiratorial at
times, speaking directly to readers and trans-
porting them to different places or times in
order to fill in plot details. So too, the action
and spirit of camaraderie will sweep them
along, especially once Charlie’s actions pro-
duce suspense-riddled consequences. Ellis,
meanwhile, adds her own charm to the tale,
adorning it with clean-lined, graphite-pencil
illustrations. These range from detailed
scenes to cheeky portraits of whiz mob
members that could almost serve as posters
for their organization, if it weren’t a secret
one. Though not all interior art was seen at
the time of this review, the available illustra-
tions perfectly convey the gang’s moxie.

Underlying the racket—that’s the pick-
pocket life, to you—is Charlie’s desire to
belong and be valued as himself. His ex-
periences with the whiz mob allow him to
explore his identity and take stock of what
he has, though it means putting his relation-
ships with his father and Amir through the
wringer. If only personal journeys could be
as simple as drifting through the streets of Marseille, though
they can be just as profitable. Charlie emerges a more confi-
dent and daring young man than he began, and this is easily
the biggest score of all.