Synopsis:
The main character was just a young boy when he was abandoned at a hotel called Troyon's by a man who may or may not have taken him from his parents. He was renamed Marcel Troyon, learned to speak French, and was raised without affection. As he grew older, he took to thieving and occasionally stole a few coins here and there from the guests at Troyon's. One such guest, Bourke, caught him. Rather than turning him in to Troyon's owners, Bourke took him under his wing. By 1910, when Bourke died, “Marcel Troyon” was long gone. In his place was Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf, whose guiding principles were to never have friends and never fall in love.
Years later, Lanyard returns to Troyon's after a few successful thefts. His intention is to lay low for a while, so he's a little startled to see Roddy, a detective from Scotland Yard. However, Roddy isn't after him. He's focused on Monsieur le Comte Remy de Morbihan. Seeing as how he has nothing better to do, Lanyard figures he'll watch De Morbihan too.
To Lanyard's shock, De Morbihan indicates that he knows who the Lone Wolf is. It's not long before Lanyard finds himself in the cross-hairs of the Pack, a mysterious criminal group De Morbihan is part of. He is given two choices: either join the Pack or cease operations in any of the Pack's territories and perhaps eventually be assassinated.
Review:
I was having trouble deciding what to read next and chose this book, out of all the ones in my e-book collection, using a random number generator. I couldn't even remember why I'd added it to my collection, but, now that I've finished it, I'm pretty sure it was one I downloaded after thoroughly enjoying Maurice Leblanc's The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar. Lanyard and Lupin had several similarities, and one character in Vance's book even said they were much alike. Unfortunately, Lanyard wasn't as enjoyable a character as Lupin.
