A magically gifted con artist must gather her estranged mother's old crew for a once-in-a-lifetime heist, from the New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Suspicious Minds. Dani Poissant is the daughter and former accomplice of the world's most famous art thief, as well as being an expert forger in her own right. The secret to their success? A little thing called magic, kept rigorously secret from the non-magical world. Dani’s mother possesses the power of persuasion, able to bend people to her will, whereas Dani has the ability to make any forgery she undertakes feel like the genuine article. At seventeen, concerned about the corrupting influence of her mother’s shadowy partner, Archer, Dani impulsively sold her mother out to the FBI—an act she has always regretted. Ten years later, Archer seeks her out, asking her to steal a particular painting for him, since her mother's still in jail. In return, he will reconcile her with her mother and reunite her with her mother’s old gang—including her former best friend, Mia, and Elliott, the love of her life. The problem is, it’s a nearly impossible job—even with the magical talents of the people she once considered family backing her up. The painting is in the never-before-viewed private collection of deceased billionaire William Hackworth—otherwise known as the Fortress of Art. It’s a job that needs a year to plan, and Dani has just over one week. Worse, she’s not exactly gotten a warm welcome from her former colleagues—especially not from Elliott, who has grown from a weedy teen to a smoking-hot adult. And then there is the biggest puzzle of why Archer wants her to steal a portrait of himself, which clearly dates from the 1890s, instead of the much more valuable works by Vermeer or Rothko. Who is her mother’s partner, really, and what does he want? The more Dani learns, the more she understands she may be in way over her head—and that there is far more at stake in this job than she ever realized.
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
The Frame-Up has such a fantastic synopsis, and all the ingredients sound like they'll make for an absolute romp of a story - romance, magic, heists, oh my! But the execution of those elements falls short, and I was left feeling disappointed more than anything else.
Somehow it feels simultaneously like it's trying to do too much and fit too many pieces in, and like there are big chunks where things drag and could be tightened and trimmed. The writing stays obstinately unvaried throughout, meaning that romantic scenes and high-action scenes both lack any kind of tension. All that along with a handful of loose ends and unanswered questions, plus a romance that had absolutely zero development and very little chemistry, turned this one into a shrug for me.
Thank you to Del Rey for the advance review copy.