Cam “Skip” Smith is going to graduate from a prestigious prep school. Cam Smith is going to Princeton in the Fall. . . just as long as no one finds out Cam Smith is really Philips O’Rourke, the youngest member of a thieving, scheming family. Skip thought he left his family behind when he ran away at thirteen but they are pulling him in for one last job. This job could be the “big one”, but it could also be fatal.
Thieving Weasels is one of those rare stand-alone books in YA. You are never sure who is conning who and you won’t know who to trust till the last page. Despite the book’s fun cover, this novel does have some teeth to it.
I perked up when this book was mentioned at the BEA YA BUZZ Panel because it had the scheming family “who is conning who” elements I liked in The Curseworkers series by Holly Black, complete with the mafia and New York/Long Island setting.
I think the fast-paced plot and the quippy dialogue will pull in reluctant readers.
Side Note
- I couldn’t unsee the character of Uncle Wonderful as Kevin O’Leary from shark tank because
he goes by “Mr. Wonderful”. . . Is this like a thing?
- Also, during the YA Buzz panel, it was revealed that a photo shoot was done for the book cover and the
woman playing Skip’s mom is a preschool teacher.
1/2 of the blogging duo at Books and Sensibility, I have been blogging about and reviewing books since 2011. I read any and every genre, here on the blog I mostly review Fantasy, Adult Fiction, and Young Adult with a focus on audiobooks.