Heist Society, Ally Carter

Kat has grown up in a large, extended, and very quiet family. (No squeaky shoes there.) It's the kind of family which enjoys the better things in life, especially art and miniature submarines. The kind of family which has a bit of an iffy relationship with the law. Where going straight and law abiding is the most rebellious thing you can do.

Kat is a rebel.

She pulled off the biggest con of her life when she was fifteen- scamming her way into a prestigious boarding school. This effectively cuts her ties with her past life, her family and most of her friends, but she's seen the effects of living on the run for the law, and she doesn't want to spend time in jail for cheap thrills.

So that's decided, ties are cut, skills get rusty- and then someone gets her expelled- someone from her past life. Her family is in trouble, and they need her.

Well, some parts of her family think they need her. Some other highly respected and influential family members think they don't need a teenager who's publicly announced that she doesn't want this life. But when it turns out that Kat's father's life is in danger, frankly she couldn't care less what other people think of her. She's got to get him safe, using every globe-trotting contact, exotic skill set, and carefully honed con art at her disposal.

Which, once more of the picture becomes clear, isn't really the greatest set of tools at her disposal. The adults are all out for plot-related reasons, her crew has all the erratic-ness of working with teenagers and their hormones, and her own skills are rusty. Which when you're facing someone who likes to SPOILER: brand his own staff as a minor disciplinary measure, is kinda nerve-wracking.

Whew, and the boys are pretty excellent. Pretty, and excellent. There was a really cute nerd, and goofy Weasly boys twins, and a dashing pickpocket, and an even more dashing con boy. *fans self* It was lovely. ^_^ In fact, the one boy I didn't like was the one who turned out to be a plot-related spoiler, which made me feel a LOVELY judge of character. Oh, and there were excellent girls who I am really looking forward to seeing when the MOVIE COMES OUT SOON, even though they won't be teenagers- (wait, that means the charas will be MY age? AWESOME.) - ahem. As I was saying, awesome girls. But I went into the book knowing that it was written by Ally Carter. Of course the girls will be awesome. That's a given.

I gave it three stars out of five. I did really like it, but for some reason the characters didn't connect to part of my soul in the same way that the Gallagher girls did. I hear there's another book in the series, right? Please? yay! ^_^