As always, Ally Carter delivers. One of the best young adult authors, and one that I've had the privilege to meet at TLA.

FROM AMAZON: Since she can remember, Katarina's relatives have been grooming her for the family business - thieving. But when Kat tries to go straight and leave the "Life" for a normal life, she's promptly kicked out of her new school for stealing the headmaster's car and mounting it on the school fountain. Although she could have done it without breaking a sweat, ironically, this time, she's innocent.

In fact, she was framed - by another highly skilled thief. Her friend and brother-in-trade Hale, with his mischievous smile and limitless bank account, has appeared out of nowhere to bring her back to the Life, back to the family Kat tried so hard to escape.

Hale has a good reason: A powerful mobster has just been robbed of his priceless art collection, and he wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have cracked this vault, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he IS the list.

Now, caught between Interpol and a far more deadly predator, Kat's dad needs her help. For Kat, a consummate thief in her own right, the solution is simple: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and maybe just enough misguided pride to pull off the biggest heist in history - or at least in her family's (very crooked) history. ( )

Después de pasar su infancia ayudando a su padre, uno de los más mejores ladrones de arte del mundo, Katarina Bishop intenta dejar el negocio familiar y empezar una nueva vida en una prestigiosa escuela privada. Pero pronto descubre, muy a su pesar, que no se puede escapar del pasado. Su padre ha sido acusado de robar unas piezas de arte de un valor incalculable a un millonario Italiano muy peligroso. Con la certeza que su padre es inocente, Kat decide encontrar ella misma las obras de artes para demostrar la inocencia de su padre y así desenmascarar al verdadero culpable. Pero el tiempo corre.. Y Kat sólo tiene dos semanas parar emprender un viaje que la llevará a través de Europa y en el que descubrirá que nada es lo que parece…

The writing in this book was pretty bad. I thought I would like the adventure/action story, but it felt very wooden and distant. I'm really not a writing snob - I'll take a great plot or great characters and overlook so-so writing, but this book didn't really offer any of the above.

( )

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre…to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria…to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.

For Kat, there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way. ( )

Great quick read that doesn't stop. ( )