Jenn's Review: Heist Society

Summary:  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.  ~goodreads.com

Review:  I really enjoy Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls , but I adore Heist Society, probably because the only thing I love more than spies are cons.   I love the cleverness and outwitting. Actually, between the cover and the theme, I was reminded of one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies, How to Steal a Million and another favorite film, The Thomas Crown Affair.

It took me a few chapters to get back into Ally Carter's style of writing, but after that it as clear sailing. It was easy to like Kat, perhaps a little easier for me to like her than Cammie from Gallagher Girls. Kat is making her own way in the world when she gets unapologetically hauled back into a life she tried to leave behind.

Kat knows all the cons and all the criminals, but she's never been up against anyone quite so formidable before ...especially not all by herself. Kat's strong and capable of taking care of herself. She's also smart enough to know she can't do it herself. Well, at least she has Hale, even if she's not ready to let him in. I craved more about all of her characters, not because they seem underdeveloped, but because I was fascinated by them.

Another reason this series resonates with me more than Gallagher Girls is that it just seems more plausible. Don't get me wrong, the Girls are lots of fun, but Heist Society seems a little less... frivolous.  I want to know where Kat goes from here, so I will be picking up Uncommon Criminals soon. I will continue with both series, but Heist Society will be the more urgent read on my TBR pile. It will be the one I'll have trouble putting down.

Final Take:  4/5