Book Review: Heist Society

Book: Heist Society (Heist Society book #1) by Ally Carter

Source: Library

Description:

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.





Rating: 5 stars

Review:

It's been a while since I've found a YA novel so captivating and to think I have walked passed this book so many times at the library and the bookstores without thinking of reading it. What a mistake that was. I thoroughly enjoyed this teen caper thriller.

This was such a fun and engaging read that I found myself zipping through the pages. I actually had to make myself stop reading so I could get some sleep. That's how much I was enjoying this.

This fast paced story was about Katarina Bishop who was not the average 15 year old. She was trying to leave her old life of being a thief behind, by enrolling into Colgan, a prestigious private school. However, while she might have wanted to stay away, unforeseen events were conspiring to bring her back to her old life.

Thanks to a clever set-up, Kat was no longer a student at Colgan and was quickly thrust back into her old life starting with the arrival of one of her old friends, W. W. Hale the Fifth who picked her up from school. Hale, as Kate liked to call him (since she didn't know his first name) was a blue blood rich boy who enjoyed the lifestyle of being a pretty good thief.  Hale turned up with a rather mysterious message: "He has to give them back".

Kat knowing exactly what that meant, went to find the one person she knew it was meant for. Her dad. It turns out some expensive paintings had been stolen from Arturo Taccone, a not so nice guy who wanted them back. Unfortunately, Kat's dad was at the top of the suspects list and with Taccone not being someone you could reason with, it was up to Kat to try to find and retrieve the stolen paintings.

Knowing she couldn't do it alone, Kat (with a little help from Hale) sort of assembled a crew together: her cousin Gabrielle, Simone (tech support), Hamish and Angus Bagshaw (The Bagshaw Brothers) and of course Hale. There was another member, Nick added later but I found him to be really suspicious and was glad I wasn't the only one not trusting the new guy.

So, with her team in tack and her elaborate scheme set, Kat was ready to tackle her plan. Only problem was, no other thief has been able to do it except one and he was now considered a legend. I had actually wondered if her plan would work.

I was totally hooked on this from the beginning to the end. I'm so glad I finally gave this book a chance. It was not only suspenseful but also funny and well written. I thought the characters were delightful and interesting. I like that there were hints of romance between Kat and Hale and not so full steam ahead in your face like so many other YA novel romances. There was also an underlying mystery with the stolen paintings that made the story even more interesting.

I enjoyed reading this so much that I'm actually really interested in reading the sequel. In the end, I learned a valuable lesson to give books a chance, instead of just passing them by.