Updated May 03, 2023

Best Heist Books

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— Join daring thieves and cunning criminals with our top picks for the Best Heist Books! These exhilarating novels will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow intricate plots, high-stakes action, and unexpected twists in the world of capers and cons.

Grisha and six of crows series leigh bardugo 6 books collection set.Description:- Shadow and Bone Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold-a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. Siege and Storm Alina Starkov's power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner - hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can't outrun their enemies for long. Ruin and Rising The nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

The Language of Thorns Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price. Six of Crows Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price―and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Crooked Kingdom The hotly-anticipated sequel to SIX OF CROWS, this is GAME OF THRONES meets OCEAN'S ELEVEN in a fantasy epic from the number 1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Leigh Bardugo.

Our favourite quote from Six of Crows

A classic entry in Chester Himes’s trailblazing Harlem Detectives series, Cotton Comes to Harlem is one of his hardest-hitting and most entertaining thrillers.

Flim-flam man Deke O’Hara is no sooner out of Atlanta’s state penitentiary than he’s back on the streets working the scam of a lifetime. As sponsor of the Back-to-Africa movement, he’s counting on a big Harlem rally to produce a massive collection—for his own private charity. But the take is hijacked by white gunmen and hidden in a bale of cotton that suddenly everyone wants to get his hands on. As NYPD detectives “Coffin Ed” Johnson and “Grave Digger” Jones piece together the complexity of the scheme, we are treated to Himes’s brand of hard-boiled crime fiction at its very best.  

Our favourite quote from Cotton Comes to Harlem

They say that the Thorn of Camorr can beat anyone in a fight. They say he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. They say he's part man, part myth, and mostly street-corner rumor. And they are wrong on every count. Only averagely tall, slender, and god-awful with a sword, Locke Lamora is the fabled Thorn, and the greatest weapons at his disposal are his wit and cunning. He steals from the rich - they're the only ones worth stealing from - but the poor can go steal for themselves. What Locke cons, wheedles and tricks into his possession is strictly for him and his band of fellow con-artists and thieves: the Gentleman Bastards. Together their domain is the city of Camorr. Built of Elderglass by a race no-one remembers, it's a city of shifting revels, filthy canals, baroque palaces and crowded cemeteries. Home to Dons, merchants, soldiers, beggars, cripples, and feral children. And to Capa Barsavi, the criminal mastermind who runs the city.But there are whispers of a challenge to the Capa's power. A challenge from a man no one has ever seen, a man no blade can touch. The Grey King is coming.A man would be well advised not to be caught between Capa Barsavi and The Grey King. Even such a master of the sword as the Thorn of Camorr. As for Locke Lamora ...

Our favourite quote from The Lies of Locke Lamora

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park comes classic historical thriller about Victorian London’s most notorious gold heist.

London, 1855, when lavish wealth and appalling poverty exist side by side, one mysterious man navigates both worlds with perfect ease. Edward Pierce preys on the most prominent of the well-to-do as he cunningly orchestrates the crime of his century. Who would suspect that a gentleman of breeding could mastermind the extraordinary robbery aboard the pride of England’s industrial era, the mighty steam locomotive? Based on fact, but studded with all the suspense and style of fiction, here is a classic historical thriller, set a decade before the age of dynamite—yet nonetheless explosive…  

Our favourite quote from The Great Train Robbery: A Novel

"I was the Miracle Boy, once upon a time. Later on, the Milford Mute. The Golden Boy. The Young Ghost. The Kid. The Boxman. The Lock Artist. That was all me.But you can call me Mike."Marked by tragedy, traumatized at the age of eight, Michael, now eighteen, is no ordinary young man. Besides not uttering a single word in ten years, he discovers the one thing he can somehow do better than anyone else. Whether it's a locked door without a key, a padlock with no combination, or even an eight-hundred pound safe ... he can open them all. It's an unforgivable talent. A talent that will make young Michael a hot commodity with the wrong people and, whether he likes it or not, push him ever close to a life of crime. Until he finally sees his chance to escape, and with one desperate gamble risks everything to come back home to the only person he ever loved, and to unlock the secret that has kept him silent for so long.Steve Hamilton steps away from his Edgar Award-winning Alex McKnight series to introduce a unique new character, unlike anyone you've ever seen in the world of crime fiction.The Lock Artist is the winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Our favourite quote from The Lock Artist: A Novel

For as long as she can remember, Katarina has been a part of the family business—thieving.  When Kat tries to leave “the life” for a normal life, her old friend Hale conspires to bring her back into the fold.  Why? A mobster’s art collection has been stolen, and Kat’s father is the only suspect.  Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.The only solution is to find the paintings and steal them back.  Kat’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s history—and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.With its glamorous international settings, intriguing suspense, complicated cons and even more complicated romance, Heist Society is stealing the hearts of Ally Carter fans everywhere.

Our favourite quote from Heist Society

A nearly flawless museum robbery, a missing million-dollar necklace, a stalled police investigation. For the victim of the crime, the situation calls for desperate measures.

Penelope Fitzpatrick wasn't born to wealth. Her grandfather fed the family by selling his small stash of gemstones smuggled from tsarist Russia when the monarchy fell. Now, Pen has done well for herself as a successful novelist. But when the final jewel in her family legacy becomes the target of a cunning band of thieves, and the priceless piece is stolen, the police have many excuses why they can't solve the crime. Not one to accept defeat, Pen does the only thing she can do--gather a group of friends to help catch the crooks and steal back the necklace.

It becomes apparent the thief is a master con man who is likely working with an international theft ring. The chase takes the Ladies far from home and into elegant European enclaves as they attempt to face him down. Close calls and near misses--it's never quite certain whether the women will be able to pull their own spectacular heist and see justice done.

Fans of Janet Evanovich and Jana DeLeon will love this daring and spunky group of women friends in their first mystery caper.

Praise for Connie Shelton's previous novels:

"Readers can only hope the likable characters, fast-paced plots and local color will continue ..." -Albuquerque Journal

"Down to earth and very readable." -Library Journal

"...a delightfully complex mystery." -Romantic Times (4 out 5 five stars)

"Connie Shelton gets better with every book she writes." -The Midwest Book Review

 

Our favourite quote from Diamonds Aren't Forever

Max Gladstone returns with The Ruin of Angels, the sixth novel in the Hugo-nominated Craft Sequence, which The Washington Post calls "the best kind of urban fantasy" and NPR calls "sharp, original, and passionate"

The God Wars destroyed the city of Alikand. Now, a century and a half and a great many construction contracts later, Agdel Lex rises in its place. Dead deities litter the surrounding desert, streets shift when people aren’t looking, a squidlike tower dominates the skyline, and the foreign Iskari Rectification Authority keeps strict order in this once-independent city―while treasure seekers, criminals, combat librarians, nightmare artists, angels, demons, dispossessed knights, grad students, and other fools gather in its ever-changing alleys, hungry for the next big score.

Priestess/investment banker Kai Pohala (last seen in Full Fathom Five) hits town to corner Agdel Lex’s burgeoning nightmare startup scene, and to visit her estranged sister Lei. But Kai finds Lei desperate at the center of a shadowy, and rapidly unravelling, business deal. When Lei ends up on the run, wanted for a crime she most definitely committed, Kai races to track her sister down before the Authority finds her first. But Lei has her own plans, involving her ex-girlfriend, a daring heist into the god-haunted desert, and, perhaps, freedom for an occupied city. Because Alikand might not be completely dead―and some people want to finish the job.  

Our favourite quote from The Ruin of Angels: A Novel

Death Prefers Blondes is a high-stakes YA thriller featuring a rebel heiress and butt-kicking, jewel-thieving drag queens from Caleb Roehrig, author of a BuzzFeed Best YA Novel, Last Seen Leaving.Teenage socialite Margo Manning leads a dangerous double life. By day, she dodges the paparazzi while soaking up California sunshine. By night, however, she dodges security cameras and armed guards, pulling off high-stakes cat burglaries with a team of flamboyant young men. In and out of disguise, she’s in all the headlines.But then Margo’s personal life takes a sudden, dark turn, and a job to end all jobs lands her crew in deadly peril. Overnight, everything she’s ever counted on is put at risk. Backs against the wall, the resourceful thieves must draw on their special skills to survive. But can one rebel heiress and four kickboxing drag queens withstand the slings and arrows of truly outrageous fortune? Or will a mounting sea of troubles end them―for good?  

Our favourite quote from Death Prefers Blondes

In this sexy, heart-stopping tale, one smart, sizzling mami robs the rich and protects the exploited--until one heist too many puts everything at stake. . .

Marisol Rivera barely survived being abused with nowhere to turn. So there's nothing she won't do to keep her Lower East Side women's health clinic open and give disadvantaged women new lives. Running an exclusive escort service for New York City's rich and powerful 1 percent is the perfect way to bankroll her business--not to mention the perfect cover for robbing corrupt CEOs. And when times get even tougher, pulling a heist on a mega-billionaire will secure the clinic's future--and her gorgeous crew's--for good. . .

There's just one problem: Marisol didn't anticipate bad news even more dangerous than her curves. A seductive ex-cop who's too close for comfort, and a powerful thug with a score to settle, are turning Marisol's precise planning and seductive fail-safes into insidious traps. Now this beautiful modern-day Robin Hood will have to play some lethal wild cards without rules or limits to save those she loves--and live to steal another day. . .  

Our favourite quote from Uptown Thief

The last place you'd expect to find a team of criminals is at a prestigious Philadelphia prep school. But on a class trip to the U.S. Mint - which prints a million new coins every 30 minutes - an overlooked security flaw becomes far too tempting for a small group of students to ignore. United by dire circumstances, these unlikely allies - the nerd, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student - band together to attempt the impossible: rob the U.S. Mint. This diverse crew is forced to confront their true beliefs about each other and themselves as they do the wrong thing for the right reasons. Elisa Ludwig's COIN HEIST is a fun, suspenseful and compelling thriller, told from the revolving perspectives of four teens, each with their own motive for committing a crime that will change all of their lives - if they can pull it off.

Our favourite quote from Coin Heist

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