Book Review: Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg’s The Heist

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Heist

by

Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg

romantic suspense in Hardcover edition that was published by Bantam Books on June 18th 2013 and has 304 pages.

Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon


Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Smokin' Seventeen, Love in a Nutshell, Explosive Eighteen, Wicked Business, Notorious Nineteen, The Husband List, Takedown Twenty, The Chase, Pros and Cons, Top Secret Twenty-One, The Job, Two for the Dough, Stephanie Plum #3 – #7, Visions of Sugar Plums, Wicked Charms, Love Overboard, Stephanie Plums, Plum Spooky, , Tricky Twenty-Two, The Pursuit, The Scam, Curious Minds, Turbo Twenty-Three, Dangerous Minds, Hardcore Twenty-Four, "The Shell Game", Look Alive Twenty-five, The Big Kahuna, Twisted Twenty-six, Fortune and Glory, The Bounty, Full House, The Recovery Agent, Thanksgiving

First in the O’Hare and Fox romantic suspense series revolving around Kate O’Hare and Nicholas Fox.

My Take

Evanovich-Goldberg (EG) caught my attention right off with their cheeky Fox and the frustrated O’Hare. And they kept it with Fox’s clever robbery at the museum. But my seal of approval was set with the deal that’s made. Oh, yeah, this is gonna be a fun ride with scam after scam after scam…!

As clever as Fox is, Kate is also smart, and I love that EG start Kate off as straitlaced and allow us to watch as she begins to succumb to Fox’s methods. His modus operandi does the job and is sanctioned by the powers-that-be.

Oh man, Kate and her hatred for the Federal Building… I do like her litany of disabled excuses! Then there’s that fast-talkin’ Fox, too funny as he slides right out from under Kate’s accusations.

“‘Those crooks charge fifty dollars for a tongue depressor.’

‘Was your tongue depressed?’

‘Thankfully, no. It’s very well adjusted.’

‘Because it gets a lot of exercise. You’ve got to be a fast talker in your line of work.'”

Of course, I’m absolutely clueless about the line that follows this…

“Be the bus.”

Dang, you cannot say Kate doesn’t prepare for an op. Still, it’s a good thing her adorable Dad and his sense of humor and his expertise insists on coming along.

LOL, EG are just too funny and having too much fun writing this. I hate to say it…as I’ve been a longtime reader of Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series…but all the fun that Evanovich is having in writing this appears to indicate that she’s not having fun with Stephanie anymore. It feels as though Evanovich is back with O’Hare and Fox, and I am so looking forward to the next installment.

Oh, oh, oh, that boy is just too clever and brilliant at taking advantage with the best excuses! I can’t wait to see how he plans to scam the FBI.

The Story

It’s the Crimson Teardrop, a rare two-carat red diamond with a tragic past, that will be the focus of the museum’s opening. And it’s rare enough to catch Fox’s attention.

Too bad the arrest doesn’t stick, and now Kate is feeling a major letdown in her next case assignment. Pirates??? Really??

So when Nick escapes custody, Kate is not going to let a minor detail like not her job keep her from chasing him down. Who knew it was an audition?

The Characters

Special Agent Kate O’Hare, a former Navy SEAL, and about to become Eunice Huffnagle, is an FBI agent, determined to take Fox down. It hurts that she realizes he embodies her idea of a dream. Megan is her happily married sister. Jake O’Hare is their retired dad, a former career soldier, who can use a tweezer to kill a man sixteen different ways. He’s living in an apartment over the garage at Megan’s.

Spiro is one of Dad’s contacts in Greece. José Rodarte is another of Dad’s buddies.

Agent-in-Charge Carl Jessup is her L.A.-based boss. U.S. Marshal Odell Morris just doesn’t take his latest charge seriously. Ooops. Fletcher Bolton is the deputy director of the FBI.

Nicholas Fox, soon-to-be Nicolas Raider, is a chameleon, an international con man and thief, and the bane of Kate’s existence. He takes great delight in thumbing his nose at her via chocolates and champagne.

Fox’s new crew includes:
Boyd Capwell, an excellent actor but with too great an ego. He’s also Diego de Boriga, the scummy drug lord. The double-D’d Wilma Owens can drive anything. And does. Chet Kershaw is a brilliant makeup artist whose job is being taken over by CGI effects. Tom Underhill is being taken to the cleaners by his banker, George Pogue, and Fox is in position to reverse that. He needs Tom’s magic construction skills. He also doubles as Char.

Derek Griffin is a playboy investment banker who swindled too many people. The FBI wants that money back, and Neal Burnside, Griffin’s lawyer, can be played into talking. Duman is Griffin’s property manager and head of security.

Heiko Balz is just one of Fox’s victims. Bob is a wealth management consultant. A.k.a., a pirate.

Rufus Stott is the chief administrator for the St. Cosmas Medical Center. Cliff Clavin is an engineer handling asbestos removal for the hospital. Roland Larsen Kibbee is a rich old fart with too much stuff, so he opens a museum. Clarissa Hart is the young curator he’s hired. SFPD Inspector Norman Peterson is the cop who’s shown up to check the security measures for the museum opening. Sharon Cargill is the investigator from the Motion Picture Association of America.

Pete Debney is a member of the Writers Guild of America with access to screeners. Janice Debney is his very busy mother. The Viboras are a Mexican drug cartel.

The Cover and Title

The cover is similar to Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum covers in that it’s bright colors with a simple graphic: a pair of silhouettes — Fox and O’Hare — facing away from each other and obviously en garde against a puzzling lime green background.

The title has several layers of meaning, The Heist of Kate’s self-respect and the plans the FBI has for their new agent pairing.

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