Finder

Finder by Suzanne Palmer, 392 pages

Loner Fergus Ferguson calls himself a "finder," but for all intents and purposes is a a repo man, thief, and general con man for hire. A mission to reclaim a stolen ship takes Fergus to a backwater outpost where power is split between five kingpins (one of whom stole the ship) and mysterious Asiig alien ships routinely pass by, striking fear into the hearts of all the people who live out there. Of course, this mission cannot go as planned, and soon Fergus finds himself wrapped up in the local politics and actually caring about the lives of others.

I first read this book back in early 2020, and reread it for Orcs & Aliens. My thoughts then still hold up now: it's a fun, funny, well-created space heist. Now, however, it's also the first in a series of 4 (so far), which means I have some catching up to do!

Neuromancer

Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984) 288 pages

This originated the term Cyberpunk. It is a hard-boiled crime novel with a heist as the central plot device. It takes place in a futuristic world that would inspire the Blade Runner movies and The Matrix movies. Designer drugs, genetic manipulation, violence, and virtual reality are present everywhere. The main character Chase, while working to plant a computer virus as part of the heist, has to navigate three layers of virtual reality. The technobabble, made up terms for the future technology and the slang used in talking about it, is pretty dense. It was a struggle to find my bearings in the beginning. What is a noun and what is a verb in the sentence? From context, I'm pretty sure this is a noun. But is it a person, place, or thing? It is a bit shocking being dropped into this world, and each scene moves along very quickly. Eventually, I did become more accustomed to Gibson's use of language and went along for the fast-paced ride.
 

Full Speed to a Crash Landing

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis, 181 pages

Ada Lamarr was in the middle of scavenging metal from the crash of a giant spaceship when the airlock of her small ship blew up and left her with swiftly dwindling oxygen and the hopes that a nearby ship would respond to her increasingly urgent distress call. When a ship finally does grab her at nearly the last second, Ada learns that they're here to rescue a couple of irreplaceable items from the same wreckage. But while Ada's more than happy to help rescue the items from the volatile planet, she also has ulterior motives, ones that she must conceal from the sexy mission commander of the rescue ship.

This novella is a fun space heist, with excellent characters, fun twists, and a solid enough background that it's not confusing, though without weighing down the plot. It also ends on a cliffhanger, so the second book in this trilogy better get published soon. Cuz you know I'm going to read the heck out of it!

Warrior Girl Unearthed

 Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley, 400 pages.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was looking forward to a relaxing summer of fishing and hanging out with her dog. Instead, she ends up stuck in the tribe's summer internship program to pay off damages after a minor car accident. Even worse, she ends up assigned to Cooper Turtle, manager of the Sugar Island Cultural Learning Center and local weirdo. However, she soon comes to like and appreciate Cooper Turtle as he draws her into the fight for repatriation of ancestral remains and grave goods, a topic she quickly finds a passion for. Also featuring in Perry's summer is the possibility of romance, illegally obtained Anishinaabe artifacts, and a slew of missing girls. 

I quite liked this book, and Perry in particular. I found the plot engaging, the characters good, and the information about NAGPRA thorough and informative. Unfortunately, I feel like this book was trying to do a bit too much, and it ended up feeling sort of unfocused, and the resolution felt like it only sort of made sense. Still, I consider this a pretty enjoyable book, and a good addition to the growing category of young adult novels by indigenous authors.

The Last Mona Lisa

The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer, 376 pages

In 1911, a man named Vincent Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The painting's whereabouts were unknown for two years until it was returned to the Parisian museum. Peruggia had attempted to sell the painting to Italians, claiming that he was trying to return Da Vinci's work to its homeland, but ended up being sentenced to two years in prison. Because the painting was missing for so long, there have been theories floating around for more than a century that the painting on display in the Louvre is actually a forgery.

All of that is true.

In The Last Mona Lisa, Santlofer takes this real heist and conspiracy theory and spins it into a thriller centered on Peruggia's great-grandson, an art historian who is determined to find out why his ancestor stole the painting in the first place, as well as determining once and for all, whether the Mona Lisa on display is the real deal. But since this is a thriller, there are of course other, less altruistic, parties interested in Peruggia and the painting. It's a fast-paced story, full of twists and turns and lots of solid information about art history. While there are a lot of threads to keep track of at the beginning, it's worth it to stick it out and see how they all come together.

The Aleph Extraction

The Aleph Extraction by Dan Moren, 387 pages

A secret government team is tasked with the near-impossible mission of stealing the Aleph Tablet, an artifact that has been mythologized across the galaxy as the keystone to a long-gone alien race. To do so, they'll have to visit black market auctions and tangle with the most powerful crime lord in the galaxy, all while breaking in a new team recruit, who is both talented and volatile. Oh, and keeping the tablet out of the hands of their rivals.

This is the second book in this series, and despite not having read the first one, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its motley crew. I'll be tracking down book one, and following along with the team's future adventures.

Just Watch Me

Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay, 358 pages

Master thief Riley Wolfe has just stolen a 12-ton statue out of a dedication ceremony in the middle of the day and it was just too easy for him. He's bored and is feeling an itch to try something impossible when he finds out that the Iranian crown jewels will be traveling to New York City to be displayed in the U.S. for the first time ever. Among them is a diamond so large and striking that it's estimated to be worth $15 billion — more than enough to ensure that the hosting museum has multiple levels of top-notch security on every inch of the building. But to Riley, that makes this jewel even more enticing.

This is a twisty, thrilling heist, featuring an unscrupulous antihero (which is exactly what you'd expect from the creator of Dexter), and it is SO FUN. I can't wait to read more Riley Wolfe books in the future.

Love and Theft

Love and Theft by Stan Parish, 256 pages

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm a sucker for a heist. And within the *prologue* Parish delivers a honey of a heist, with top of the line motorcycles ripping through the Las Vegas strip to steal a $7 million necklace from a jewelry store in a casino. I think you'll understand if I had high hopes for this one. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't really deliver much heist-iness after that. Lead thief in the jewelry heist Alex is ready to call it quits on his career and settle into a new relationship with Diane (whose adult son's father turns out to be Alex's friend from a one-night stand 20-odd years ago), but as often happens, one last job comes up to pull him back into a life of crime. And this one involves a Mexican drug cartel that Alex DEFINITELY cannot say no to.

There's a lot of sex and drugs and violence in this book, which isn't necessarily bad in a book like this one, but it didn't leave much substance to make up for the problems of the book. Parish seemed to have a VERY loose reckoning of time, which my brain simply couldn't let go of as I read this book. How could a 20-something adult kid have parents that are in their mid-40s today, but met for that one-night-stand (that started in an Atlantic City bar, not a grade school) back in the 1980s? I mean, I know we all have trouble reconciling the fact that 1990 was 30 years ago, but c'mon... no editors caught that? If you can get past that, it's not a horrible book. But my brain couldn't get past the bad math.

Void Moon

Void Moon by Michael Connelly, 391 pages

Cassie Black is 10 months into her parole when circumstances push her back into the burglary business. Her fixer Leo has a line on a high roller in Vegas who's on a winning streak, and with her skills at breaking into hotel rooms and safes, Cassie is the right woman for the job. Of course, things go sideways, getting Cassie in WAY deeper than she planned.

This was an enjoyable heist, with almost all of the hallmarks of the genre (yes for tech, bespoke tools, double-crossing partners, a criminal pulled in for "one last job," and unexpected problems during the heist; no for blueprints and crime slang). The tech-speak was WAY out of date, as Connelly spent a laughable amount of ink on explaining GPS technology, but he made up for it with a wonderfully wicked bad guy. I'm a sucker for a heist, and this one was well worth the time.

The Feather Thief

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson, 308 pages

In 2009, Edwin Rist, a 21-year-old flautist, broke into an ornithological museum in the U.K. and stole almost 300 rare bird specimens. Did he do it for the challenge? To sell to taxidermists and milliners? Nope. He stole them to tie flies and sell to other fly-tiers. Yes, like the ones used for fly fishing, but WAY fancier. Johnson's book delves into all aspects of this crime, including the history of the museum and the birds that were pilfered, the squishy ethics of the elite fly-tying world, the opaque psyche of Rist, and the post-heist hunt for the birds. Through it all, Johnson weaves the seemingly disparate subjects of crime, natural history, fashion, fishing, and classical music performance into a tight, well-told story.

The Wrong Dead Guy

The Wrong Dead Guy by Richard Kadrey, 420 pages

In this follow-up to last year's hilarious fantasy heist novel The Everything Box, magic-proof burglar Coop is back at it, this time working for The Man as a part-time agent of the Department of Peculiar Science. He's initially tasked with stealing a mummy, but when that goes sideways (the mummy wakes up, placing a curse on Coop and wreaking havoc across L.A.), Coop is suddenly on the hunt for all kinds of mystical objects that may or may not help solve the problem. Throw in a stoned fortune teller, a gun-toting used car salesman, a group of self-righteous bunny-hugging rich kids, and an undead former DOPS agent with a vendetta against Coop (oh, and an elephant), and you have a rollicking tale reminiscent of Dave Barry's riotously funny novel Big Trouble, but with, you know, magic and stuff. That said, it's a bit of a sophomore slump after The Everything Box, which had better heists and a somewhat more coherent plot. Here's hoping that if Kadrey continues the series, he steps it back up in the next book.

Ghostman

Ghostman / Roger Hobbs 321 pgs.

We really never know the name of the main character of this book.  He changes identities like you change your clothes.  He is an experienced bank robber but made a mistake on a job 5 years ago.  Now he owes the "boss" of that former job.  He gets called in to "clean up" a situation in Atlantic City as payback.  The Atlantic City job was a casino and the money has gone missing.  As the Ghostman investigates, he realizes there was even more at stake.  Now racing against the clock and hounded by a federal agent, he is trying to play all the competing forces against each other and come out the other end alive and debt free.  Lots of adrenaline in this story.

A Burglar's Guide to the City

A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh, 296 pages

In this fascinating book, architecture blogger Manaugh considers the ways in which bank robbers, art thieves, and cat burglars (among other ne'er-do-wells) use and misuse architecture and urban design. In this exploration, Manaugh discusses various real-life and fictional heists, learns how to escape capture, finds out about the ways to breach vaults (and the ways in which vault owners can try to prevent those breaches), and gets the perspective of police officers, reformed burglars, and lock-picking enthusiasts (it's not illegal to pick your own lock for fun, after all). For any fan of heist movies and books, as well as for anyone with an interest in architecture or urban planning, this entertaining book is a must. Well done, Mr. Manaugh!