Katarina Bishop grew up all over Europe, but she isn’t an heiress. She has a Faberge egg, but she isn’t a Romanov. Kat is used to looking at a room and seeing all the angles, but that was before she stole a whole other life at the Colgan School only to walk away from it months later without a trace.

That was before everything went sideways.

While Kat was busy trying to steal a new, legit, life the family business prospered. When a powerful mobster’s priceless art collection goes missing it isn’t all that surprising that Kat’s father is on the list of suspects. It isn’t even surprising that he is the entire list of suspects.

The only problem is the mobster wants his paintings back. And he isn’t taking no for an answer.

Kat has two weeks to find the paintings and steal them back with her own heist society and the help of her friend and long-time co-conspirator W. W. Hale (the fifth). Her pursuit will criss-cross Europe and reunite Kat with some of the most talented teenagers in the world–if, that is, by talent you mean skills like picking pockets, hacking computers, and running a con.

Time is short and the job is monumental but Kat has a crack crew and, hopefully, enough talent to pull off an impossible heist (and maybe right a few wrongs along the way) in Heist Society (2010) by Ally Carter.

Carter’s writing is poised to dazzle and enthrall right from the first page. Filled with twists, turns, criminals and even some restitution Heist Society is a sleek, clever, and subtle book that somehow exceeded even my (high) expectations.

Heist Society is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year and officially in my Top Ten for 2010 list. I can’t put into words how much I love the cover or how much the writing impressed me. Let’s just say that if I could live in a book, I might want it to be this one. I fell in love with the setting, the characters, and everything else about this little gem.

Stories about criminals and their crimes have been around for years, but never has life on the other side of the law looked this exciting and dangerous all while being glamorous. A must-read for anyone with a little larceny in their soul (or a little love for an old-fashioned heist).

Possible Pairings: White Cat by Holly Black, What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Danny Danziger, The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick, The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau by E. Lockhart, Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill Mason and Lee Gruenfeld, The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, Leverage (television series), White Collar (television series), The Italian Job (movie)

If you still think crime doesn't pay, check out Anne Rouyer's list of Teen Heist Novels that prove it really does pay (in terms of good book plots at least!).