Artful

Readers who know Dickens's Oliver Twist will remember the young orphan who scrapes by on London's streets until a well-meaning gentleman steps in to save him. This book turns instead to Oliver's companion, the sharp-witted pickpocket known as the Artful Dodger, whose life is far more eventful than Oliver's. Vampires and a conspiracy against the British crown run through his story, offering an account that Dickens reportedly shied away from telling.

Peter David, a novelist who has also spent years writing comics, brings a dark, humorous, and fast-moving style to the material. The result is a portrait of one of the most memorable figures in classic fiction, seen from the edges of the city.