The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

This book really disappointed me. The premise sounded interesting, but ended up being a story which began as a magazine feature and should have stayed that way. I'm an accountant, so credit card fraud is probably a little more interesting to me than the average person. However, having heard the setup a few times, the repetitious, goodness-me reporting of subsequent thefts became dull.

Also, the author tried to make herself a character. Her attempt to try on rare book collecting could have been substituted with interviews with rare book collectors. Even worse was that the author didn't bother checking into her legal responsibilities until late in the game. Frankly, the inclusion of unnecessary episodes, such as the “ride-along” to Brick Row Books, the visit to his parents house and look into Gilkey's closet packed with likely more rare, stolen books without alerting the authorities, and her embarrassment at possibly meeting friends when she's out in public with Gilkey eroded Bartlett's journalistic integrity and the story itself. Why didn't the author interview Gilkey's father?

The look into the ABA was somewhat interesting, as was the section describing catching Gilkey, but was otherwise less than stellar.