Heist Society - Ally Carter

Heist Society (Heist Society #1) - Ally Carter
Grade: YA
Rating: 5/5 stars

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. (Description from Goodreads)


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It is no secret that I have a slight Ally Carter obsession. After finishing the Gallagher Girls series I could not wait to get my hands on ‘Heist Society’ and fuel my Carter fire. I had extremely high expectations – not just because it was an Ally book, but because I’d heard fantastic things about the leading male (Hale). My expectations were definitely met.

Katerina ‘Kat’ Bishop is in trouble. Despite trying her hardest to escape the family business, she finds herself pulled back in when he father’s life is in danger. What is this family business? Why, thieving of course. Professionally! Kat grew up in a world where you plan around your latest job: bank robbery, picking pockets, jewellery theft, museum break-ins...the list goes on. But thieving is a dangerous job and it’s a tough game when your life is on the line. I really enjoyed Kat. I loved her torn lifestyle. She doesn’t believe she’s completely cut-out for the life of a thief, but can’t seem to escape it for long. We get to see her question her position within her family and the community she belongs to and it’s interesting to see her work through her issues. Kat also has a pretty tough personality. She faces many dangerous turns and still manages to push her way through them – and comes out relatively unharmed too.

The book is all about family – what you would do to protect them and who you can trust to get a job done right. I loved this part of ‘Heist Society’. Despite their questionable occupations, Kat’s family sticks together through almost anything. It’s nice to see a YA book that has family members so involved with each other; it’s not done very often.

‘Heist Society’ is a sneaky book. There’s a lot of lies and surveillance undertaken in order to pull off the biggest con – the biggest Heist – Kat and her crew have ever had to face. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes portion of the heist. This was made easier to experience because the book was told in third person. So many different POVs were explored – particularly towards the end of the novel – that you felt like you were really involved in the action. It worked so well for the story. There’s something crazy-fun about seeing all their plans fall into place and the epic action that followed kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last line.

And finally, Hale. He needs his own paragraph. I fell in love with him from the very first smile and the tension that formed between Kat and Hale was enough to make me crazy. I adored his concern, loyalty and superman boxer-shorts. He’s definitely a character to keep an eye on.

Amazing start to what I’m sure will be another amazing series. Can’t wait to see what sneaky trouble Kat and Hale get up to next.

5/5 stars


Kim
(Originally posted on Goodreads)