2 Stars. (Young Adult)
I'm honestly waffling between a 2.5 or 3 stars. Can't say I loved this one. Read too much like fluff to me, with uncertain characters, a wishy-washy plot line that could have been helped by more action and less talk about the action and a slow to climb climax.
Kat is a con artist/thief and has been basically her entire life, when her father is accused of stealing priceless paintings from a really bad guy, Kat teams up with some old friends and family to track down the paintings and return them to the wannabe mobster before time runs out and her dad takes the fall.
The idea of the novel had a lot of things going for it, but ultimately lack of characterization and lack of action mad this book a less than thrilling ride. I think part of the problem is that the book reads quite young. I think my younger cousin would have enjoyed it much much more than I did. It felt like an Oceans Eleven in disguise in the sense that it talked a lot about what needed to be done, and readers are taken from the US to Paris to London and back again with a few other stops in between while Kat and her comrades gather info about the paintings, but in the end it all boils down to a lot of talk and not a whole lot of action.
I liked Hale, but again he suffered from lack of characterization and a lot of time when he and Kat were talking I found their dialogue suffered from a lot of things left unsaid. All this amounted to me being confused about what exactly they felt for one another, what their history was and how they would move on from this present encounter. Also, I'm not entirely sure I loved Kat. She seemed confused about her place in the con life and also her place outside of it. I felt like there was a lot of background history to the events unfolding that I wasn't privy to.
I guess maybe I was asking for a lot more from a book that is simply supposed to focus on young teen cons trying to pull off the greatest heist of their lives - kind of implausible to a certain extent in and of itself.
Okay, so reading my review I've decided on 2 stars. A fun read for those who don't mind not having a lot of background to events and are just in it for the ride.
Kat is a con artist/thief and has been basically her entire life, when her father is accused of stealing priceless paintings from a really bad guy, Kat teams up with some old friends and family to track down the paintings and return them to the wannabe mobster before time runs out and her dad takes the fall.
The idea of the novel had a lot of things going for it, but ultimately lack of characterization and lack of action mad this book a less than thrilling ride. I think part of the problem is that the book reads quite young. I think my younger cousin would have enjoyed it much much more than I did. It felt like an Oceans Eleven in disguise in the sense that it talked a lot about what needed to be done, and readers are taken from the US to Paris to London and back again with a few other stops in between while Kat and her comrades gather info about the paintings, but in the end it all boils down to a lot of talk and not a whole lot of action.
I liked Hale, but again he suffered from lack of characterization and a lot of time when he and Kat were talking I found their dialogue suffered from a lot of things left unsaid. All this amounted to me being confused about what exactly they felt for one another, what their history was and how they would move on from this present encounter. Also, I'm not entirely sure I loved Kat. She seemed confused about her place in the con life and also her place outside of it. I felt like there was a lot of background history to the events unfolding that I wasn't privy to.
I guess maybe I was asking for a lot more from a book that is simply supposed to focus on young teen cons trying to pull off the greatest heist of their lives - kind of implausible to a certain extent in and of itself.
Okay, so reading my review I've decided on 2 stars. A fun read for those who don't mind not having a lot of background to events and are just in it for the ride.
I think what I enjoyed most about this book is the fact that the author didn't go into so much detail, and so the book was a little more fast paced then most. I agree though...I would have enjoyed a bit more characterization.
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