“And yet my contact was certain — or ‘like 85 percent sure’ — that the thief was a particular person, a man who had worked in New York publishing for a decade. He was an outsider in the industry with a reputation for becoming pushy when he didn’t get what he wanted. He seemed to conduct his business almost entirely over email. Even more intriguing: Someone, I was told, had proof.” The Spine Collector. For years, a mysterious figure has been stealing books before their release. Is it espionage? Revenge? Or a complete waste of time?