Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories

Book Info
Kindle Edition, 337 pages
Published February 9th 2010 by Disney Hyperion (first published January 1st 2010)
original title Heist Society
ASIN B0035OC7SG
edition language English
series Heist Society #1
characters Gabrielle, Simon, Katarina Bishop, W.W. Hale the Fifth, Arturo Taccone
setting New York City, New York (United States) Las Vegas, Nevada (United States)
Sabina Valley (Italy) ...more
literary awardsYALSA Teens' Top Ten (2010), Goodreads Choice Nominee for Young Adult Fiction (2010)
other editions (35)
Source:Kindle version borrowed from Public Library

Book Buy Links
Amazon
B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS

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.

My Thoughts

The art of stealing has always fascinated me, the preparation time, the research of location and objects, the picking of the correct members of the group and the execution of the crime itself are only part and parcel of what makes this illegal profession such an interesting subject.

Kat Bishop is an unusual 15-year-old, her education is not the conventional one for sure but her life has certainly not been boring or dull. However Kat is ready for exactly that so she finagles her way into an elite boarding school, much to her displeasure she is not there long before being expelled for an offense she did not commit.

The fun starts when she discovers how she was set up and why, the mental gymnastics that we are subjected to as we follow along with the characters is both challenging and entertaining.

What a charming group of characters we have the pleasure of meeting, pretty neat caper pulled off by Kat and her friends too!

[Kindle version borrowed from Public Library]