The spider heist by Jason Kasper

Blair is minding her own business, desperately trying to hold onto her third waitressing job, when a mysterious man offers her a job.  When she is unceremoniously fired from her job, Blair is left with little choice but to discover what he wants.  Her mystery man, with the mysterious job offer, turns out to be Sterling - and his offer really is too good to be true.  He has a buddy who needs some help to get his dating mojo back, and all Blair has to do is hang out with him at the bar and get him to loosen up - though she will get a bonus if she can get him to take her home.  It seems like a sweet deal, but when Blair manages to wrangle an invite back to his place she finds herself dragged into a very messy situation - messy for her, but also for the group of men who take her and her 'date' hostage.

Blair is not an ordinary waitress, she is a former FBI agent who left the Bureau under a cloud and after several months in prison.  Her skill set and training make her a terrible hostage for her would-be captors find that out the hard way, but they are determined to carry out their plan even with a trouble making Blair in tow.  When Blair is identified from footage taken at the bank, it causes a massive headache for the heist crew and for Blair, because now their carefully laid plans are slowly unravelling.  Blair knows that something isn't right with the heist crew and the way they are working, but can she figure out what is happening before her world implodes?  And will the heist crew be able to pull off their great escape, or will Blair and the intense FBI scrutiny about her being their lead to the downfall of the entire mission?

I picked up The spider heist because it was on a new books list and couldn't resist giving it a try after reading the blurb.  I read a lot of crime, thriller, and action books and I have a definite preference for books that are punchy and fast paced, without a lot of excess description to drag the story down.  Picking up the book to read the first few chapters and see what it was like turned into sitting still for a few hours and reading the book in one session because I didn't want to put it down.  Told from the different perspectives of (mainly) Blair and Sterling, the story unfolds with neither side being fully aware of what is happening with the other person, which adds some nice tension and a chance to understand the characters and story rather than having information rammed down your throat.  The other main characters add depth to the story, as well as providing opportunities for the story to grow and be more than a two dimensional cliché (which so many action/crime/thrillers can so easily become).  

A great read, and hopefully the next book in the series - The sky thieves - will be just as good!

If you like this book then try:

• The killing kind by Chris Holm
• Breaking Creed by Alex Kava
• The basement by Stephen Leather
• City of fear by Alafair Burke
• The better sister by Alafair Burke
• Eeny meeny by M.J. Arlidge
• Spare me the truth by C.J. Carver
• Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz

Reviewed by Brilla