Long ago, Rifts were torn into the reality of the Mortal Plane and invaders, the Demerosh, spilled into existence bringing with them war and a new, strange, frightening magic. Five thousand years later, the Great War is a distant memory, the Demerosh pushed back into the holes from whence they came. But gone does not mean forgotten. The Rifts remain.

No one has seen inside the “Hidden Kingdom” of Alletierre for eighty years. No one knows the state of the Rift nipping at Alletierre’s borders. No one is sure if the royal family is friend or foe to the Mortal Plane. So when Renn, a retired Thought Thief, accepts a job to find a lost priceless family heirloom hiding somewhere inside Alletierre’s gates, she makes sure the client pays through the nose.

She won’t be able to make it inside on her own though. Lucky for her Brannora, the new queen of Durandur, is also going to Alletierre along with her beautiful and efficient lady in waiting, an affable Golem ambassador, and a young wizard with an unwanted mental parasite.

As desperation forces this group of outsiders together and the walls of the Hidden Kingdom start to close in, everyone must choose who to put their faith in. But that is easier said than done. How can someone be sure what is real and what is in their mind? How can you tell if you are using someone, or if you are the one being used? Can these people keep Renn safe and help get her home to the family she loves? And can they in turn learn to trust a Thought Thief?

For fans of the Worlds Beyond Number podcast and Leigh Bardugo, Thought Thief takes the grit and tenacity of Spinning Silver and combines it with the mind bending magic of Inception.