Heist Society

Synopsis: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.

Summary:

A mystery within a mystery combined with blueprints, family betrayal and a job stealing art from the most secure gallery in the world. Impossible, if not for the incredible child geniuses that decide to take it on.

My Thoughts:

Heist Society contains possibly the most cliche group of characters for this kind of genre. But weirdly, enough I’m okay with that.

These are people who openly joke about the time so and so stole the Queen’s corgis and how the real Mona Lisa is actually the fake thanks to a completely brilliant switcher, but the fake isn’t half bad either.

They are a young team of bandits along the lines of MI5 before they found their righteous path because their jobs are anything but possible.

The plot is fast, fun and full of interesting art malarky, historical landmarks, city highlights and incredibly complex con ins and outs.
But ultimately, this book is nothing spectacular. It is clever, yes. It is interesting, yes. It is a whirlwind of a page turner, yes. But it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before.

The plot unravels nicely, a few surprises and twists thrown in to keep things spiced up but I felt as if it took a while to get off the ground as the family business and the situation had to be set up as this was a stand alone novel.

The main character – Kat – albeit sassy is a bit of an idiot. She worries too much and is too internally conflicted with herself and her skill set. One minute, shes okay with being essentially a thief and the next she’s filled with crippling hatred, what’s that all about?

I felt like the eccentric supporting characters covered up Kat’s blandness as a character and she only mildly improved when they were all bouncing off one another, without them and her stressy ways, there wouldn’t be much of a character left which is a shame as it was the only massive flaw I found with the story.

I decided to stick with it, the further I read, the more intrigued I ended up being, eventually to the point where I could forgive some of the characters shortcomings but they still ultimately fell a bit flat.

The villain wasn’t really a villain, more a bodyguard or businessman with overzealous ideas for power. There were some power shows like “get in my limo while I talk down to you” but nothing scary. Even his threats I couldn’t take seriously. He was yet another piece in a much larger puzzle, I just feel as if he could have been that much more daunting and an actual plot tangent rather than a dead end.

It was an enjoyable read. I kept going back to it despite my feelings towards it and finished it under the 2 day mark.

I definitely wasn’t amazed by this, as I said above, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done before. But it held my attention, it was a fast and easy read, and it did do some things in different ways that made it slightly updated than most but ultimately, it felt too similar to a lot of other stuff in the same genre. But that’s to be expected I suppose!

Final Word:

An interesting twist on a genre already sodden with numerous con-men and women, Kat and Co take a brave stand and come out on top.