Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Review: Heist Society by Ally Carter

cover-heist-large
Title: Heist Society
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Hyperion
Date Published: February 9th, 2010
Pages: 287
Awards: ALA Teens’ Top Ten (2010)

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her 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's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. 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 (very crooked) history—and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way. (GoodReads)

After seeing this book on the shelf at the library, I was really excited to start reading this. A book about a teenage thief sounded pretty interesting! However, I have to be honest, I wasn't really getting into it at the beginning. It was just okay. The book does start out pretty engaging with Kat getting kicked out of a prep school for a crime she was not a part of...for once. Then the story jumps from place to place, as Kat and her family/friends complete heist jobs around the world.

Sure, it makes for an interesting story and I have to remember, this is just a story, but the practical side of me is wondering how any of this is possible, in the least. I understand Kat's family is a family of thieves, but plane tickets are expensive. This girl has traveled to more places than I could even dream of traveling to. Another thing that bugged me, Kat's education. At the beginning of the book, Kat is attending the Colgan school, but this seems to be her choice. She is only there for a few weeks before Hale "rescues" her and brings her back to the family business. It seems that prior to this, she had spent more time working for the family than going to school. Being someone who values education and works in the education field, I cannot wrap my head around a fifteen-year-old getting away with not going to school. Not only that, Kat appears to be very well educated. At times, I felt she acted like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old rather than someone several years younger.

Okay, there's my beef. That aside, I found the story fast-paced and engaging. I am having a hard time trying to rate this book. While I had issues with some of the logistics, it wasn't a bad story. I wanted to read on to see how Kat and her crew would carry out the job. If you are looking for something fun and light, this is a great beach/lazy day read.


I read somewhere that Heist Society is being made into a movie. So I thought I would have a little fun casting for the movie.

             Kat                                Hale                                    Gabrielle
Ellen Page  
        Ellen Page                   Garrett Hedlund                        Emma Stone

2 comments:

  1. To be honest, I love heist stories but I did not feel this book at all. The dialogue was messy and the story was all over the place.
    I do believe it would be a good movie and I love your casting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that the story was all over the place. When I finished I didn't really feel I gained anything from the books.

    ReplyDelete

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