Heist Society by Ally Carter
Dec. 1st, 2011 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre … to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie travelled 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.
But now her dad’s life is on the line, and Kat must go back to the world she tried so hard to escape …
Katarina Bishop grew up with master thieves and spent her childhood participating in spectacular and daring robberies. But when she turned 15, she turned her back on criminality in favour of getting a good education and bluffs herself into the exclusive Colgan School only to be expelled after a few months, when someone frames her for putting the headmaster’s prized antique Porsche on top of a fountain.
Her old friend Hale (the only son of a very rich US family, who doubles as a thief) admits responsibility because he needs her help. Her dad’s been set up for the theft of paintings from a very powerful, very dangerous criminal boss called Arturo Taccone. Taccone wants his pictures back. Unless Kat gets them within 14 days, Taccone will take measures against Kat’s father.
Kat now has 2 weeks to re-enter the life she thought she’d left behind, assemble a team, identify who really stole the paintings, find out where they are and then steal them back. How hard can it be?
Ally Carter’s YA novel, the first in a new series, is a charming, thrilling, frothy crime romp – OCEAN’S ELEVEN meets THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR for teens.
Kat’s a dynamic and interesting character. Her mother died when she was young and although she loves her father, the two aren’t emotionally close. Her determination and the way she has to re-navigate the criminal world are well drawn (although the criminal road’s perhaps a little too romantically depicted with its codes of honour and behaviour). I’m not a romance fan but her relationship with Hale is complex and the will they/won’t they element didn’t grate, even with the introduction of the slick Nick as a rival for Kat’s affections.
The story rockets along, jumping from glamorous location to glamorous location as Kat and her crew track down clues and make plans and the time limit posed by Taccone gives a nice sense of urgency. There’s also plenty of humour courtesy of Kat’s crew – particularly her glamorous and bitchy cousin Gabrielle.
Carter sets up an over-riding arc with the mystery of who the master-thief Romani is and why is he interested in Kat. All in all, there’s plenty here to make me want to continue reading the series and I look forward to getting the next book.
The Verdict:
Ally Carter’s novel, the first in a new crime thriller series, is a mix of OCEAN’S ELEVEN and THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR for teens. It’s a frothy, light-hearted romp with an interesting, resourceful and dynamic main character and a promising series arc. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
HEIST SOCIETY was released in the UK on 1st September 2011. Thanks to Orchard Books for the ARC of this book.
When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre … to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie travelled 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.
But now her dad’s life is on the line, and Kat must go back to the world she tried so hard to escape …
Katarina Bishop grew up with master thieves and spent her childhood participating in spectacular and daring robberies. But when she turned 15, she turned her back on criminality in favour of getting a good education and bluffs herself into the exclusive Colgan School only to be expelled after a few months, when someone frames her for putting the headmaster’s prized antique Porsche on top of a fountain.
Her old friend Hale (the only son of a very rich US family, who doubles as a thief) admits responsibility because he needs her help. Her dad’s been set up for the theft of paintings from a very powerful, very dangerous criminal boss called Arturo Taccone. Taccone wants his pictures back. Unless Kat gets them within 14 days, Taccone will take measures against Kat’s father.
Kat now has 2 weeks to re-enter the life she thought she’d left behind, assemble a team, identify who really stole the paintings, find out where they are and then steal them back. How hard can it be?
Ally Carter’s YA novel, the first in a new series, is a charming, thrilling, frothy crime romp – OCEAN’S ELEVEN meets THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR for teens.
Kat’s a dynamic and interesting character. Her mother died when she was young and although she loves her father, the two aren’t emotionally close. Her determination and the way she has to re-navigate the criminal world are well drawn (although the criminal road’s perhaps a little too romantically depicted with its codes of honour and behaviour). I’m not a romance fan but her relationship with Hale is complex and the will they/won’t they element didn’t grate, even with the introduction of the slick Nick as a rival for Kat’s affections.
The story rockets along, jumping from glamorous location to glamorous location as Kat and her crew track down clues and make plans and the time limit posed by Taccone gives a nice sense of urgency. There’s also plenty of humour courtesy of Kat’s crew – particularly her glamorous and bitchy cousin Gabrielle.
Carter sets up an over-riding arc with the mystery of who the master-thief Romani is and why is he interested in Kat. All in all, there’s plenty here to make me want to continue reading the series and I look forward to getting the next book.
The Verdict:
Ally Carter’s novel, the first in a new crime thriller series, is a mix of OCEAN’S ELEVEN and THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR for teens. It’s a frothy, light-hearted romp with an interesting, resourceful and dynamic main character and a promising series arc. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
HEIST SOCIETY was released in the UK on 1st September 2011. Thanks to Orchard Books for the ARC of this book.
