Nobility

Snakes in the Grass on a Train In this standalone Fast and Furies thriller...One broken man battles a brutal gang of pickpockets on board the Amtrak Crescent train with some help from a girl who's no angel--not yet. Hitchcock meets Tarantino in a tale of courage that fuses suspense, romance and retribution. The novel was inspired by an old James Coburn film called Harry In Your Pocket. And Reb's meticulous research into the light-fingered art will leave readers wondering what's still in their wallets and where their wallets are. Before long, they'll wonder too who gets off the train alive. Like the other series entries, Nobility weighs in at 35,000 words--a bit shorter in length than readers may expect. But the books are in fact novels, not long short stories or novellas, just as the following titles are all sold as novels though under 50,000 words: The Old Man and the Sea, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men,The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde... Trivia

--Most of the reviewers singled out the chapter called Palindrome Fever, wherein the train goes crazy with palindromes appearing every which-way. But the structure of the book is another palindrome, with four sections--A, B, B, A: the two A's are of equal length, as are the two B's. And, if you like this sort of thing: the first and last words of each part are colors. We begin with black, progressing to the rainbow of colors that closes the book.

--The pickpockets use the names of Roman gods in this story. Thieves have already used colors twice: in The taking of Pelham 123 and Reservoir Dogs. Days of the week or numbers would be too tough for readers to keep straight. Plus, this gang is arrogant--and tonight they feel like gods.

--Nobility exemplifies Reb's Big Five narrative goals: to thrill, delight, astonish, move and inspire.