Thieves' Gambit

July 1, 2023
The ultimate competition between thieves tests friendships and family ties. Seventeen-year-old Rosalyn "Ross" Quest, a member of a notorious Black Bahamian family of globe-trotting thieves, has spent her entire life honing her skills and following in her mother's footsteps. But now she just wants to live a normal life, go to college, and make some friends her age. When her attempt to evade her family and secretly make it to a summer gymnastics camp goes awry, Ross' mother is left in a life-threatening situation, and the only way Ross can save her is by competing in the Thieves' Gambit, a potentially deadly heist competition that offers its winner one wish. Ross is up against the biggest names in the game from around the world, including Noelia, a Swiss girl who's her childhood enemy. Hopping from country to country as she competes in increasingly dangerous challenges, Ross must discern whom she can trust, if anyone, while her feelings for fellow competitor Devroe, a Black British boy, grow. In a manner true to the genre, the pacing is fast, and readers will experience the best kind of whiplash as the story moves from one heist to the next. The characters are also fully realized, and it's impossible not to root for Ross as she tries to figure out who she's meant to be. A fast-paced roller coaster of a read. (Thriller. 13-18)

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July 10, 2023
Debut author Lewis illustrates a captivating push and pull narrative that centers a girl yearning for a “normal” life while navigating a dangerous game where cons and trickery are rewarded. Black Bahamian 17-year-old Ross Quest comes from a family of thieves; with her mother, she completes daring heists around the globe. Though her thrilling life has afforded her close family ties, Ross has always been desperate for friends, and intends to sneak away to a gymnastics camp. On the night she plans to leave her life of crime, the job her mother is on goes sideways, resulting in her capture by mysterious assailants, who hold her for a ransom of one billion dollars. To save her mother’s life, Ross enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a legendary, potentially fatal tournament in which the world’s top teen thieves must complete a series of heists, competing to be granted their heart’s desire. With her childhood enemy Noelia, who is Swiss and white, also competing, Ross knows she must remain guarded, but she soon finds herself taken with handsome and cunning Devroe, who is Black and British. Fresh descriptions of varied backdrops, including the Bahamas, Cairo, and France, elucidate wanderlust vibes in this edge-of-the-seat thriller. Ages 12–up. Agent: Chelsea Eberly, Greenhouse Literary.

September 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 You are trapped inside a house on a mission to steal a priceless vase. A cat is about to give away your presence. What do you do? If you're Rosalyn Quest, you hack the cat with a laser pointer. If you're not Rosalyn, a member of a family of accomplished thieves (who, frankly, often wishes to be someone else), well, then you're probably not in this situation. When she receives an invitation to compete with the best of thieves in an international heist competition, Rosalyn has more than an opportunity to break free from her family--she has a chance to save her mother. Lewis (The Half-Class, 2021) brings Rosalyn to life with more than quick quips, building the complicated relationship she has with her mother and the life the Quests live. The high-octane stakes will appeal to fans of Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Ally Carter, and the twisty plotting is reminiscent of Ocean's 8. This new teen criminal will steal hearts.

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November 1, 2023

Gr 9 Up-The Quest family is the North American crime family and Ross Quest is no ordinary teenager; she's a prodigious master thief known for her skills in orchestrating daring escapes. However, she wants nothing more than to get away from her family and live an ordinary life. During their last heist together, Ross's mother is captured for a billion dollar ransom. This forces Ross to take part in prestigious criminal contest the Thieves' Gambit, an electrifying series of high-stakes and dangerous heists spanning the globe. The victor is allowed one wish. Ross believes she will win, and plans to use the wish to rescue her mother. As Ross navigates the contest, she finds herself pitted against other teens skilled in the ways of thievery. Among them are an adversary from her childhood and a smooth-talking, attractive contender. When the stakes are huge, Ross must make the difficult decision about who to deceive and who to trust, all the while racing against the deadline that her mother's captors gave her. This thrilling adventure takes readers on a roller-coaster ride through a world of international thievery and high stakes schemes. The plot is full of heists, double-crosses, and unexpected alliances. The pacing is brisk with tension steadily building through the narrative. One of the novel's strengths is its exploration of moral ambiguity-characters are often presented with difficult choices challenging their own notions of right and wrong. Readers feel characters' struggles as they grapple with the consequences of their actions; this adds complexity to the story and elevates it beyond a mere adventure tale. VERDICT A recommended purchase for any high school library, this is a compelling choice for readers seeking a fast-paced escapade filled with intrigue and daring thefts and those who enjoyed Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Inheritance Games or Brittney Morris's The Jump.-Jeni Tahaney

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