Kat Bishop is the daughter of two notorious art thieves, which meant her childhood was anything but normal. From a young age she was trained to case museums, act as a distraction for her parents, and so on. She’s no stranger to the art world or the thievery world, but after a three month break from it, she’s pulled back in because her dad is accused of stealing five paintings from a dangerous man named Arturo Taccone.
To spare her dad from the hands of Taccone, Kat is enlisted to find and return the paintings herself, but she only has two weeks to do so. With the help of her co-conspirator, Hale, her cousin, Gabrielle, and a few other colorful friends, Kat makes a plan to pull off the greatest heist of her life.
I had attempted to read this book last year, but I couldn’t get through it due to being in a weird place mentally. I’m so glad I gave the book a second chance because I really enjoyed it. I figured I would like it though because it was sort of like reading The Van Gogh Deception, only instead of trying to prove a painting is a fake, Kat and her crew are trying to re-steal a set of stolen paintings.
The characters were great in this book, especially the banter between Kat, Hale, and Gabrielle. What I like about Kat though is that although she’s a thief, she uses her skills for good. She sets out to con a con man in order to save her dad, so I’d say that’s a pretty good thing in the end. Hale was a bit of a mysterious character, but also who you rooted for Kat to be with at the end of it all. He shows a jealous side when newcomer, Nick, joins the group for their mission, which just makes Hale more lovable. As for Gabrielle, Simon, and the Bagshaw brothers are all fun characters and bring some comedy into the book, which I fully enjoyed.
I do wish we had gotten to learn more about the crew and Kat’s past with them. As much as I did enjoy the group, they all seemed like flat-ish characters since they were only really there to help Kat with her heist. Again, a little more depth of the characters would’ve been nice, but maybe there will be more about them in the next two books.
The book itself was fast-paced, which works for this kind of story. There’s definitely no moments where you’re reading and going “Come on! Get on with it!” There were a few moments where I was like “Wait, what?” and had to go back and reread a paragraph because I thought I had missed something. The best part of this book was that I could picture the story as I read in a way where it would’ve made a great movie as well.
Overall, I enjoyed Heist Society and I’m looking forward to reading the next two books that follow. If you’ve read Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series or Deron Hicks’s The Van Gogh Deception, then I’m sure you’ll like this book.
Rating: 4 stars
Genie in a Novel 
I haven’t read this author yet, but the title of this calls to me. And I love great banter. Glad it was worth the second chance for you!
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Oh, her Gallagher Girls books are the best! And I heard there’s a crossover between those and this one. You should definitely check her books out when you can 😅
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