Heist Society by Ally Carter

Release date: February 9, 2010
Author info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 287
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
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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.

I think, on the inside, I'm a little bit cynical. I was totally convinced this was not a book for me, that I'd think it was dumb or derivative in some way. Instead, I found Heist Society to be a perfect kind of book. Quick and light, but so fun and thrilling!

Katarina Bishop has just settled into boarding school--a spot she stole--only to be framed for a crime she didn't commit and expelled. She just wants to be normal for once, rather than a member of "the family", but she's unwillingly thrown back into the only life she's truly known and desperately tried to escape, a life of high risk, high reward thievery. Her father has been accused of stealing five immensely valuable paintings from a very dangerous man and it's up to Kat and her team to execute the biggest heist they've ever undertaken to save him.

I'm pretty sure I didn't think I'd like Heist Society because heist movies really aren't my thing. I've never seen one I particularly liked. But this book worked, in a large part, because of its characters. I couldn't help but like Kat and her intelligence. I also liked that she went out on a limb to seize the life she wanted, even if it turned out to not be the best life for her, and that she worked so hard to save her father. (I can't dislike a daddy's girl! :) I'd be disliking myself otherwise.) And then there's the other characters! I'd heard quite a lot about this Hale character, and he most definitely didn't disappoint. But we've got Gabrielle, Simon, Hamish, and Angus, to boot. They make up for a truly entertaining time.

Honestly, there's nothing to dislike about this book. Even if you find it's just not for you, it's such a quick read you 2on't feel like you've wasted much of your time. Though, I doubt you'll think it's not for you by the end! Entertaining, intelligent, and all-around just charming.