The Mirror Thief

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{{Infobox book

| name = The Mirror Thief

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| image = The Mirror Thief.jpg

| caption = First edition

| authors = Martin Seay

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| language = English

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| genre = fiction

| publisher = Melville House

| release_date = 2016

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| isbn = 9781612195599

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| oclc= 1004774853

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The Mirror Thief is a 2016 debut novel authored by Martin Seay. "Set in three different versions of Venice (Italy, California, and Las Vegas) during three different time periods (16th century, mid-20th, early 21st)," it follows Mark Lawson's reading of The Mirror Thief, a book tied to Stanley Glass.

Plot

The plot is "set in three different versions of Venice (Italy, California, and Las Vegas) during three different time periods (16th century, mid-20th, early 21st)."{{cite news|last1=Morgan|first1=Adam|title=How Martin Seay Wrote 'The Mirror Thief'|url=https://chireviewofbooks.com/2016/06/21/how-martin-seay-wrote-the-mirror-thief/|accessdate=October 29, 2017|work=The Chicago Review of Books|date=June 21, 2016}} It follows Curtis Stone as he looks for card counter Stanley Glass in Las Vegas, Nevada, but instead finds a book which "inspired" Glass's life called The Mirror Thief; this takes Stone into a mise en abyme through his reading.{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Scarlett|title='The Mirror Thief,' by Martin Seay|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/books/review/the-mirror-thief-by-martin-seay.html|accessdate=October 29, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=May 27, 2016}}

In a review for The Guardian, Mark Lawson noted that "Topics under consideration range from why bingo is a fascist game, through penetrating reflections on the poetry of Ezra Pound and techniques of glass-making, to the visual resemblance between the French philosopher Michel Foucault and the Greek-American actor Telly Savalas."{{cite news|last1=Lawson|first1=Mark|title=The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay review – a clever, time-hopping debut|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/23/the-mirror-thief-martin-seay-review-novel|accessdate=October 29, 2017|work=The Guardian|date=June 23, 2016}}

Critical reception

The novel received good reviews from The New York Times and The Guardian.

References