(no subject)

[skygiants]

I think it was saramily who recommended the Heist Society books to me -- Heist Society, Uncommon Criminals, and Perfect Scoundrels -- as fluffy caper vacation reads, and she was 100% correct, these are exactly the kinds of books I want to read on long plane rides when I haven't slept in twenty hours.

Kat, Our Heroine, is a weary, jaded former criminal who is tired of the life and is trying to go straight! But her past just won't let her go!

...because Kat is sixteen, 'trying to go straight' means 'enrolling in fancy boarding school.' Don't worry, it doesn't last. JUST WHEN SHE THINKS SHE'S OUT, THEY PULL HER BACK IN.

The series overall is basically like Ocean's Eleven starring a cast of criminal sixteen-year-olds. All the criminal sixteen-year-olds are independent jet-setting master thieves who hop cities on a moment's notice and have each pulled off approximately two dozen astoundingly successful crime jobs on their own. ALL OF THEM. 'But if they're only sixteen, when have they had time to learn how to --' Shhh, friends. SHHHH. These are not questions that need asking.

Every so often an adult appears briefly, to sternly tells the sixteen-year-olds that the criminal job is too big for them! their criminal parents/grandparents couldn't pull it off and NEITHER CAN THEY! time to try something low-key like conning the KGB!!! and then takes off again to allow the criminal sixteen-year-olds to return to their glamorous criminal lifestyle. Consistent adult supervision is for losers!

Besides Kat, characters include:

Hale, The Love Interest, a poor little rich boy who stumbled on Kat robbing his house once and then ran away from his unloving family to become a jet-setting international criminal
Simon, The Smart One, whose criminal skill is hacking things
Angus and Hamish, The Scottish Twins, whose criminal skill is blowing things up
Gabrielle, The Cool Cousin, whose criminal skill is being extremely hot

...I mean, Leverage it's not. (Not even when Kat decides to become an Ethical Criminal and, like, return art to Holocaust victims etc. who mostly never actually appear onscreen. I actually can't remember if anybody non-white appears onscreen either .... at all, ever. But I could be wrong on this, I'm not even sure if anybody's ethnicity is described at all except for Angus and Hamish, who are Definitely Very Scottish.) Anyway, all that said, it is fantastic beach reading.

Comments

[hebethen]

Considering that her other series has the protag spouting off about rickshaw chases in Taiwan, I wouldn't be surprised.

[skygiants]

Oooooooooof course.

[nocarename]

I like Nick, for all that we have, you know, basically nothing about him and he only exists to stand between Kat and Hale if viewed from the correct angle. From a narrative perspective anyway.

Mostly I like that his family business is being cops, but well, friendly pick pocketing and poor adult supervision.

[skygiants]

Haha I totally forgot to mention Nick but I am really entertained by the inherent hilarity of 'and their frenemesis is .... an INTERPOL agent's .... SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD SON!!!'

I kind of love how much of a love angle he is not, though. Like, I kept bracing myself for love triangle awkwardness, and it just sort of wasn't even a thing.

[annotated_em]

These sound like the best possible beach reading. *makes a note*

[skygiants]

THEY WHIZ BY.

[dhampyresa]

Does Gabrielle have a girlfriend named Xena? /asking the important questions

[skygiants]

IF ONLY. The books would like us to think that Glam Gabrielle is straight but I think probably we all know better.

[lacewood]

Haha yes, these are totally great for fluff reading. Shamelessly implausible entertainment with minimal emotional distress or thinking required! (well, Kat and Hale are somewhat distressed at some points, but not MUCH) It's my favourite of Ally Carter's series so far, I'd totally read more of these.