Review: Coin Heist by Elisa Ludwig

Publish Date: June 10, 2014
Publisher: Adaptive Books

Synopsis: 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 slacker, the nerd, the athlete, and the "perfect" student – band together to attempt the impossible: rob the U.S. Mint. The 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 could change all of their lives for the better—if they can pull it off.

Review: **Some spoilers may be present** When I first heard the synopsis of this book, I was instantly intrigued. 4 teenagers devising a plan to rob the U.S. Mint?! That sounds awesome! I couldn't wait to read it. But once I did, it fell a bit flat for me. Now, don't get me wrong. I read this book in 2 sittings. I really did want to know what happened next and if they pull off the heist. But that's where I had the problem.

First off, let me say that I really did enjoy the 4 separate points of view and how it rotated through each one in a row. However, I found that they all sounded very similar. I would be halfway through a chapter and have to flip back to the beginning to see which character was narrating. You would think that for such diverse characters, they would have different attitudes. The diversity of the characters is why I had heard this reminded some of "The Breakfast Club"- there was the princess, the nerd, the jock, and the class clown. Together they cause a ruckus. Flashback to the 80s!

Now, moving onto the main plot of this book- a heist at this federal building in order to get enough money to save their school. Now they are high schoolers, not to say that high schoolers are not intelligent. But it is a little far-fetched that they could flawlessly plan this down to the minute and it goes pretty much exactly the way they planned. Minimal to no bumps in the road, the plan just works. I would have enjoyed this story more if they were challenged more. If there was more suspense over the outcome of their plan. What I was most taken aback by is that they pull off this heist, get caught, get turned over to an administrator of the school and nothing happens!! They saved the school, their original goal. Yay!

All in all, this book was just okay for me. I imagine that if I had read this during my middle school years, I would have been a bigger fan. 

Recommended For: Fans of middle grade/early young adult

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.