Review
Heist Society
by Ally Carter
First
sentence:
No one
knew for certain when the trouble started at the Colgan School.
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.
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.
source: Goodreads
My
opinion:
I am a
huge fan of heist and spy stories and Ally Carter's book really
impressed me. It impressed me so much that I read it twice in 2013.
The
characters Ally created are so amazing. I love each and every one of
them – the good (are there good people in heist stories?) and the
evil ones. Kat, the main character, is a fifteen year old girl who
wants nothing more than living a normal life, going to school, having
friends, enjoy being young but she comes from a family of thieves and
conmen. So when she gets kicked out of school for something she
didn't do and is picked up by her former companion Hale she knows
there is something wrong.
Kat trying
to live a normal life and being overtaken by who she is, W. W. Hale
the Fifth who is desperatly trying to find his place in the world and
who struggles with not being part of the family daily, Kat's cousin
Gabrielle and all her other friends are such a lovely bunch of
people, trying their best and helping Kat restore her father's
reputation – I adored them all. Kat, who is struggling with being
away from the family business for only a couple months and who feels
a bit left out and not part of the family anymore, tries to save her
father from Arturo Taccone's revenge and does not always confide in
Hale, who takes this really personal. Kat and Hale have a really
strong friendship with some sparks flying between the two. It's
pretty obvious for the reader that the two care a lot about each
other but Kat and Hale do not realize how important they are for the
other one.
Kat
Bishop is also a girl after my own taste. She is determined and if
she wants something she tries everything to achieve it. She has great
friends who'll do everything for her and she can count on them every
day. Strange as it may sound now but Kat, even though she's a
fictional character, she is kind of a role model for me. For years
now I personally am struggling with being more determined and going
through with what I planned. So maybe I will channel my inner Kat in
2014 and will reach some of my long-term goals next year.
There
is one thing that really bothers me about this book. It is nothing
really but it still annoys me a bit. As you may know, I'm living in
Vienna and since there are hardly any books set in or around Austria
in the Young Adult genre I got excited when I saw that Kat travels to
Vienna in Heist Society but then a major mistake happens. When Kat
and Hale are standing in front of a bakery in Vienna the scene that
is described tells us that Kat turns around and sees snowcapped
mountains and ornate 18th
century buildings stretching out in every direction and that is just
not possible. I've been living in Vienna my entire life and I can
tell you that there is now way that you can see snowcapped mountains
anywhere near the city. There are more than enough 18th
century buildings around but just no mountains anywhere. Yes, I know,
it is a small mistake but one that really bugs me.
But
apart from that minor mistake Heist Society is an amazing novel and
an entertaining read. I cannot wait to read the second and third
books in the series.
The
books in the Heist Society series are:
- Heist Society
- Uncommon Criminals
- Perfect Scoundrels
Ally
Carter also wrote the amazing Gallagher Girls series about an all
girl spy school which I can highly recommend too.
No comments:
Post a Comment