Heist Society by Ally Carter

Title: Heist Society (Heist Society #1)

Author: Ally Carter

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: February 9, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

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 a good reason: a powerful mobster’s priceless art collection has been stolen and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled off 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.

I have had Heist Society sitting on my bookshelf for the longest time but I didn’t actually pick it up until quite recently. And mostly I finally read it because I knew the sequel was coming out. But once I started reading it, I wanted to slap myself for not having picked it up sooner. It was a really fast read and one I enjoyed a lot.

Katarina Bishop thought she had gotten herself out of the family business after conning her way into private school. But that was only until she got herself expelled for something she didn’t do, despite the incriminating evidence, and before her father was accused of stealing a man’s private painting collection. Now Kat has to try to find those paintings and find a way to steal them back. But all that may be a whole lot easier said than done, because if she fails, everyone she knows and loves could be in danger. With the help of a teenage millionaire, her crazy cousin, a computer mastermind and Scottish brothers, Kat is going to have to pull off one of the greatest heist of all time, one everyone is telling her just isn’t possible.

This was the first time I have read anything by Ally Carter and I absolutely loved it. There was never a dull moment and it got to the point that I never knew what to expect next. The story was just plain interesting and it hooked me right from the start. I also loved the pace. I hate when the story drags on and this never even happened once. I also now know a lot about pick-pocketing, cons and planning heists, more than I ever thought I would know. Now if I will ever be in a situation that requires me to use that knowledge is a whole other story.

There was not one character in this book that I disliked. Kat was great and unpredictable. I honestly rarely knew what she was going to do next. She was also a big part of why I enjoyed the book so much. She was different from a lot of other protagonists, mostly because she wasn’t boy crazy which was absolutely refreshing. But there was still Hale. I don’t really know how to describe him. He’s mysterious and sounds like he would be an amazing friend. No matter how crazy Kat’s ideas were, Hale was always the first to jump on board. The rest of Kat’s crew was interesting to say the least. Gabrielle always seemed to have the right outfit for everything, Simon was always a little hesitant but somehow still wound up helping and the Bagshaws just seemed to love making stuff explode. Like I said, interesting.

Heist Society was an awesome book. So much so that I ended up at the bookstore a few days later when Uncommon Criminals came out. Now I will definitely go back and read some more of Ally Carter’s books.