Review: Heist Society

Kat tried to leave the life.  She said good-bye.  She enrolled in a high-class boarding school.  She thought her days of being a thief were over.

She was wrong.  When she's framed for a crime that (for once) she didn't commit, Kat is booted out of school.  And she discovers that leaving the life is a lot harder than she ever could have imagined... especially when her father is being stalked by Interpol and threatened by an angry billionaire, who will kill him and everyone else Kat loves if she can't bring back the paintings he's convinced her father stole.

The only problem is that her father didn't steal them.  Somebody else did.  Somebody brilliant.  Kat is in a race against time to outsmart the anonymous thief with her friend Hale, her cousin Gabrielle, and a mysterious boy named Nick...

Entertainment: ★★★★

Although Heist is more than a little cheesy at times, it was a fun book and I enjoyed it.  And I have to note, I loved the cover.  Really loved it.

Plot: ★★

I actually thought the plot was really cool, in theory at least.  Unfortunately, in the book, it wasn't nearly as impressive.  First of all, I really dislike characters that have "unlimited" money and are willing to throw it around on random billion-dollar ventures without asking for anything in return.  Fiction or no fiction, things just don't work like that.  Sorry.  Next, okay, these random kids - all 16 and under - are all criminal geniuses who've never been caught, despite commiting apparently hundreds of show-boaty, obnoxious crimes?  Really?  I don't think so.  I'm fine with a little suspension of disbelief, but Heist just came off as fake and silly.  Plus, the ending was incredibly cliche.

Characters: ★★

See above quibble: they all just so happen to be geniuses who've known each other since childhood, pulled off fabulous heist after fabulous heist, and have never so much as been suspected?  Plus, there's really nothing original or exciting about them.  And even their relationships sometimes feel contrived and fake.

Writing: ★★★★

Once you get over all the suspending of disbelief that Carter asks you to do, it's actually very well written and very enjoyable to read.

End Result: three stars.  A decent book, but not amazingly excellent.