Book Review: The Heist

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (June 18, 2013)

It's a good bet to say that I am not in Janet Evanovich's target audience for her usual books.  But this is not one of her usual books as she co-writes it with Lee Goldberg, author of the Monk and Diagnosis: Murder books.

There are very few books that I can sit down and read in a full day.  The last such book was Mockingjay in the summer of 2011.  However, yesterday, I started to read this one and I could not stop turning the page.  The pacing was so great that I was finished reading a tad bit after 9 PM.

Evanovich and Goldberg have created the start of what should be a thrilling but comedic series.  Kate O'Hare is a take-charge FBI agent and former Navy SEAL.  Nicholas Fox is an international con artist that she has pursued for the last 5 years.

What happens when O'Hare finally catches him?  He gets arrested and escapes his captors.  This is where the hilarity starts to ensue.  Her bosses at the FBI are somehow convinced that it would be a great idea to team her up with the con man to help bring down other wanted the criminals.  It comes with a catch.  She can't allow him to get caught or she goes down with him.

The action is non-stop and they take us to exotic locations as Mount Athos in Greece and the islands of Indonesia.  The dialogue is fast-paced and there are plenty of Toblerone chocholate bars involved.  There's also some sexual tension between the two of them.

Rich Hedenfels writes about how the two of them wrote The Heist.  It's funny that the article mentions the book being set up like a TV pilot because I felt the same way while reading it.  I've got a feeling that the Fox and O'Hare series will be around for some time to come.