Review: Nicked

Nicked by M.T. Anderson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Loosely based on a true story about a crew going out to heist away the bones of St. Nicholas at a time when Bari, Italy, had a plague problem - because while it’s pretty standard procedure for relics to have miracles attributed to them, these bones specifically are said to weep healing tears like a phoenix. This had a great premise, but the execution left a bit to be desired, in part due to being barely over 200 pages, but also trying to pull off a tricky tonal balancing act that doesn’t really land. I suppose it’s trying to be like if the Coen brothers did The Decameron, but it’s just too short a story to go from snarky, distractingly modern-sounding treasure hunters to extensive flashbacks about the life of St. Nicholas himself. Still, as far as “books set in Italy in the time of plague” go, it’s a damn sight better than The Stone Witch of Florence.

View all my reviews