Heist Society by 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 her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has 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 history-or at least her family's (very crooked) history." -Goodreads.com

Overall: 4.5/5

As a huge fan of Carter's Gallagher Girls series, one of the things I couldn't help but notice about this book was how similar it is to her previous ones. The writing style, the personality and skill set of the MC, all of it was kind of ridiculously alike. And yet, Heist Society still managed to be a story all it's own.

Quite simply, I loved it. I thought it was brilliantly put to together and executed, and I have no idea how long it must have taken Carter to build the adventures of Katarina in her mind. I even have kind of a secret hope that this book will eventually be the (albeit loose, character-wise) basis for an Ocean's 14 movie to be made.

And, to add to the brilliance (though I think this probably had less to do with Ally Carter and more to do with her cover-designer), I love that little Mona Lisa smile on the cover! Irony, anyone?

Characters: 4/5
Plot: 5/5
Ending: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Happy factor: 5/5

Other books by Ally Carter: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy, Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover