Heist Society

Heist Society (Heist Society #1)

Ally Carter

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.

I'm not sure what it was exactly about this book that I loved so much. It was written a little cold and unfeeling, and yet I still fell in love with the characters. I got caught up in the suspense of the cons and fear that Kat might not be welcomed back into the family. I adored the con artists. They were brilliant. It was unlike any other YA book out there. I suppose that because of it's difference, Heist Society is officially one of my new favorite books.


Katarina Bishop is a con genius. She's 15, with the brain of a man who has been conning for years. The book starts off with Kat being wrongly accused of "destroying" the headmaster of the Colgan School's car. She gets kicked out, and finds herself in a limo with her old partner-in-crime, the gorgeous Hale. She learns that a powerful guy is accusing her father of stealing 5 of his paintings, and he wants them back in 2 weeks. So, Kat & Hale assemble a "crew" to get these paintings back. The story is fraught with danger and emotion and stealing. It's kind of like Robin Hood- they steal from others to give things back to their rightful owners. I loved the world of these con artists. They had oddly high morals for thieves, if you ask me. I mean, they wouldn't think twice about stealing the Mona Lisa, but they are incredibly loyal to each other. I also don't think they would willingly kill anybody. I dunno about that last one, though. They were one big family, even if they weren't all blood relatives. 


I adore Kat. I want to be her. She's so smart and cunning, it's hard not to be envious. She's incredibly brave, and loyal to her friends and family. Even her cousin, Gabrielle, who was kinda mean to her. In my opinion, she only messed up once in the whole book, and fixed her mistake perfectly. She's just fantastic. And then there was Hale. W. W. Hale, to be exact, but no one knows what the W's are for. He's caring and smart and funny and gorgeous and sweet, really sweet. He's a bit of a flirt, but it works for him, because we know that he only really cares about Kat. He's also ridiculously rich. I do really want to know the exact story of how he and Kat met, because it isn't explained in the book. He's just all around awesome.

 "Of course the only downside of attending a fictional school is that our lacrosse team sucks."

Did I mention I really love it when guys go only by their last name? No? Well, I do. Anyways, the rest of the characters were awesome, too. There were Bagshaw brothers, Angus and Hamish, who were just hilarious. They weren't twins, but they certainly acted like it. And then there was Simon, the tech geek without social skills. And Gabrielle, Kat's beautiful cousin who flirted with everyone and wasn't exactly kind to Kat, but they were sort of make-shift sisters, so Kat put up with it. And lastly, there was Uncle Eddie, the con legend. They were all so unique and brilliant. It was awesome.


Lastly, I wanted to say I just adore that cover. Cover-Kat is so pretty, and the shades are cool. It just really suits the over all feel of the book. I love it.


Seeing as this is now one of my favorite books, I definitely give it 5 stars. It was really different and interesting, and I highly recommend it. :)


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