Review: Heist Society

Title: Heist Society

Author: Ally Carter

Publisher: Hyperion

From 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 her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has 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 history-or at least her family's (very crooked) history.

My Review
This was a fun book.  This summer I read some of the Gallagher Girl series, so it was neat to see a different book by the same author.  I think girls that like that series will like this book as well!  What I really enjoyed was that the main character wasn't perfect, in fact she was a law breaker! I did worry that this might give younger girls the wrong idea about what is ok, but the reasons by Kat was doing what she was were good and understandable.  Ally Carter did a great job setting a reason for Kat's law breaking, so I don't think it gives the wrong idea. It was also fun to see a group of "kids" try to figure out how to pull such a heist. 

What I also liked was how much the story kept me guessing.  I really didn't know who to trust all the time - Hale at the top of that list! First I would trust him, then I wouldn't, and then trust him again.  I had to find out how he turned out.  What also kept me guessing what how they were going to pull this whole thing off.  The whole idea seemed so impossible! The plan isn't revealed until the actual heist goes into action, so as they were planning I was just getting more and more curious.  When I saw how their plan worked I was in awe of how Ally Carter mapped everything out so well.  There were parts I never saw coming.

There were a couple of things that did bother me in the book.  It took at bit at the beginning to figure out who was who and what their roles were.  The character of Hale really confused me at first because I thought he was part of her family.  Also, and I know I know it's a work of fiction, I did find it a bit unbelievable that these kids could just travel around alone as much as they did.  They seemed to be able to go where they wanted when they wanted without worry about money or supervision.  It seemed a bit unrealistic to me.  But I could put that aside and just enjoy the story.

Final thought: Bad girl but good story!
Best stick with you image:  Can't say or I'll spoil the book!
Best for readers who: Like the Gallagher Girl series and books with some mystery
Best for ages: 12+