STEALING GREENWICH

An international thief’s daughter starts a new life—and new heist—in this series opener.

Frankie, a White middle schooler, is accustomed to helping on sophisticated heists with her internationally renowned con-artist dad, and she likes it that way. When he is finally apprehended, Frankie’s world is turned upside down, as she’s sent to live with her police-detective uncle in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attend school for the time. Frankie—shrewd, skeptical, and world-wise—is resistant to her new life. Soon, though, she learns of a local millionaire landlord who is abusing his power, keeping his apartments in unlivable conditions and threatening to get many of his tenants deported. Determined to take down the “slumlord,” Frankie decides to execute her first solo con. Much to her initial chagrin, she’s aided by her persistent new friend Ollie, a “slightly pudgy” boy who Frankie guesses is “of Mexican descent” and whose fashion obsession becomes key to the success of their heist. Frankie’s first-person narrative is told in journal format (handwritten, Frankie tells readers, in a lined notebook). This conceit is both unnecessary and inconsistent with her characterization as someone savvy to how recorded information can be used to incriminate her. A lack of engagement with the Latinx and economically marginalized characters so integral to the plot as well as the positioning of Uncle Scotty as an honest cop in contrast to the corrupt justice system places this firmly into White-savior rather than Robin Hood territory.

Don’t fall for Frankie’s con—better heist books exist elsewhere.