What is it about stories of transgression that keep us wanting more of them? Tales of heists, con artists and even murders permeate all corners of society, from Dostoevsky to “Tiger King.” It is this insatiable thirst for accounts of crime — and if based on real events, all the better — that journalist Michael Finkel exploits in “The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous Obsession.”

It recounts the astonishing saga of Stephane Breitwieser, the notorious art thief who stole hundreds of pieces of art between 1994 and 2001, mostly from museums throughout Europe — a collection that was estimated to be worth around $2 billion.

The level of detail Finkel is able to provide, thanks to extensive reporting and hours of interviews with Breitwieser himself, is uncomfortably gripping, as if the reader is watching these events unfold and working as an accomplice to the French robber’s crimes.

“The Art Thief” is the kind of book that is worth finishing if its subject matter gets one’s attention in the first place, given that the story only gets more scandalous and appalling as it progresses.

Given how much and how often he stole, it is inevitable that recounting so many details of these heists would dull one’s senses to each otherwise astonishing feat. Though it can sometimes feel like Finkel is belaboring his point, perhaps that is the author’s intention, a way of underscoring the extent of both Breitwieser’s skill and addiction.

Although the definition of a page-turner, this book will also likely force the reader to consider why details of this kind are so exhilarating to us in the first place. — Krysta Fauria, Associated Press

As he watched Black citizens declare war on segregation during the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr. realized “there is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.”

More than 50 years after King was assassinated, Jonathan Eig (author of “Ali”) illustrates how King exemplifies that courage and remains an icon of the Civil Rights Movement in “King: A Life.” But in hallowing him as a prophet of racial integration and nonviolence, Eig argues, “we have hollowed him.”

Drawing on recently released FBI files, telephone recordings and interviews for this first full-scale biography in decades, Eig acknowledges King’s frailties and failures, as well as his radical critique of economic inequality and the war in Vietnam.

Eig enriches his familiar narrative of King’s activism with moving stories of how “his presence radiated through the crowd.”

Eig also details King’s character defects. The biographer reminds us that King plagiarized, usually from prominent ministers. Although he knew the FBI was tapping the phones of friends and colleagues, intending to undermine the Civil Rights Movement, King maintained sexual relationships with many women.

Although King appeared to accept the possibility of assassination with equanimity, Eig reveals he feared confrontation, was guilt-ridden, overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility, and subject to severe depression, for which he was often hospitalized.

At the end of his life, as race riots erupted throughout the country, King had changed, according to Eig. Although he continued to oppose Black separatism, he had concluded racism was pervasive in the North as well as the South. King now advocated radical reconstruction, including massive urban revitalization and a guaranteed income.

Although almost a thousand cities have streets named in his honor, Eig concludes the only way King can help Americans decide where we go from here is to take seriously his advice that the nation’s survival depends on our ability “to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” — Glenn C. Altschuler, Minneapolis Star Tribune