Review - Heist Society by Ally Carter

Release Date: February 9th 2010
Buy it: Amazon
Add it: Goodreads

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 really liked Heist Society because it was different from the books I had been currently reading, I had never read any books about thieves and con artists before and I found I really enjoyed it. It was a light easy read with lots of plot twists and it was really hard to put down once I had started reading.

The characters were well written and they all had there own traits and secrets and it was fun getting to know each one of the characters. My favourite character is Hale but I am also a fan of geeky Simon.

I liked how you could tell right from the beginning (well when we get introduced to Hale) that Kat and Hale obviously have feelings for each other by all the detail that is in the book and by the images you get while reading the scene between them.

Kat has become tired of her life of crime and she now wants an education so she becomes a student at a respectable school. Without giving to much away, the book starts with Kat being expelled from the school for pulling a prank that she did not commit, her friends and family set her up because her dad is in trouble and they think Kat can help resolve the situation.

Kat's dad however did not commit the crime he is being blamed for and has an alibi but this doesn't stop the mobster from blaming him and demanding Kat does something no one else has ever done before... steal from the Henley Museum.

The best part of the book was the planning of the heist and pulling the heist itself. There are so many things that could have gone wrong while they were doing it that the book has you gripped to find out if they get caught or if they manage to get away with it.

I would recommend this to my friends and to anyone who likes a good quick read with a lot of fun plot twists and I cannot wait to get started on Uncommon Criminals.