Royal Heist : A Novel (La Plante, Lynda)

Rating:
Summary: A crown jewel heist
Review: I generally like my caper novels with laughs and switchbacks. Instead, LaPlante, creator of TV's "Prime Suspect," delivers ruthlessness and daring. And a seemingly endless supply of obstacles. All of which Edward de Jersey is single-mindedly determined to overcome in his do-or-die quest to keep his life in the style to which he has become accustomed.

De Jersey, son of a bookie, has risen to the top of British society on the proceeds of previous criminal success. Now he breeds racehorses, looking for his crowning jewel, a derby winner. With Royal Flush that glory is almost within grasp when it all comes tumbling down. Suddenly, in a dot.com tumble, he's bankrupt. His trusted accountant has lost it all and killed himself.

Having previously carried out Britain's most daring robberies (a fact unknown to all but his accomplices), de Jersey dreams up a scheme to gather his old gang together and recoup his losses. By stealing the Crown Jewels. There are lots of problems with this plan, of course. Security seems impregnable. The old gang isn't getting any younger and none of them have stolen so much as a stick of gum in years. De Jersey's wife is angry and suspicious about his secrecy. His accountant's sister-in-law has gotten curious. And the team of robbers keeps getting bigger.

To pull this one off de Jersey needs a lot of accomplices, including a computer hacker, a queen, a lady-in-waiting, and a footman. De Jersey himself becomes a less sympathetic character as the plans grow more complicated, but the secondary characters are appealing. There's an odd distance to this novel, which is a mite off-putting, but the daring plot keeps the pages turning.

Rating:
Summary: Slow start but turns out to be a great story
Review: I have to admit I strugged through the start of this book but was glad when the storyline picked up and turned into a great story. I have never read anything previously by this author, but will look forward to reading more.

This story had it by engaging the reader as to how a caper comes to be, gets planned out, completed and shows what the consequences are to the characters involved. All in all, a complete story of suspense and not your typical "murder mystery story whodunnit".

I enjoyed this book for its original approach and suspense and would recommend it for a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A curiously mannered caper novel.
Review: Millionaire Edward de Jersey earned his money the hard way, by stealing it. Retiring from crime, he used his ill-gotten gains to recreate himself, becoming a respected fixture of English society. Rising from the streets, the former Edward Jersey has it all-wealth, an ex-model for a wife, a healthy, beautiful family, and a massive estate where he indulges his passion for breeding champion race horses.

That is, however, until the day he discovers he's lost it all, due to a bad investment he made on the advice of a trusted advisor, who, now penniless, has committed suicide. Reluctant to give up the good life, de Jersey conceives of a bold plan to restore his wealth-he and his ex-cronies will pull off the heist of the century, the theft of the Royal Crown Jewels.

A curiously mannered version of Ocean's Eleven, Royal Heist contains little of the immediacy and sly humor evident in that book. Unlike the unforgettable Danny Ocean, de Jersey is curiously lacking in charisma. Although such a failing in its central character could doom a book by a lesser writer than La Plante, it's not fatal to Royal Heist. Full of colorful supporting character who more than make up for de Jersey, the book slowly picks up steam as the caper is planned, then kicks into high gear as the job is actually executed. And, as in the case of Ocean's Eleven, circumstances arise which prove that not even the most gifted crook can plan for every contingency.

Rating:
Summary: A curiously mannered caper novel.
Review: Millionaire Edward de Jersey earned his money the hard way, by stealing it. Retiring from crime, he used his ill-gotten gains to recreate himself, becoming a respected fixture of English society. Rising from the streets, the former Edward Jersey has it all-wealth, an ex-model for a wife, a healthy, beautiful family, and a massive estate where he indulges his passion for breeding champion race horses.

That is, however, until the day he discovers he's lost it all, due to a bad investment he made on the advice of a trusted advisor, who, now penniless, has committed suicide. Reluctant to give up the good life, de Jersey conceives of a bold plan to restore his wealth-he and his ex-cronies will pull off the heist of the century, the theft of the Royal Crown Jewels.

A curiously mannered version of Ocean's Eleven, Royal Heist contains little of the immediacy and sly humor evident in that book. Unlike the unforgettable Danny Ocean, de Jersey is curiously lacking in charisma. Although such a failing in its central character could doom a book by a lesser writer than La Plante, it's not fatal to Royal Heist. Full of colorful supporting character who more than make up for de Jersey, the book slowly picks up steam as the caper is planned, then kicks into high gear as the job is actually executed. And, as in the case of Ocean's Eleven, circumstances arise which prove that not even the most gifted crook can plan for every contingency.