This is one of a pair of reviews that I wrote for my school's book club - Enjoy!
“When a heist goes wrong, teen thief Ash finds herself in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse. Ashley “Ash” Arthur is a teen thief. Motivated by the thrills as much as the money, she’s pulled off some amazing heists with the help of her childhood friend Benjamin, who acts as tech support. Now she’s got the world’s richest man in her sights, convinced that Hammond Buckland has 2 million dollars hidden away in his corporate HQ. Ash isn’t the only one with an interest in Buckland. The Australian government gets his fortune if he dies on their soil, so they’ve sent the world’s #2 assassin, Peachey, to kill him. With Ash and Peachey both sneaking around the office building and working at cross purposes, it’s only a matter of time before their paths cross and Peachey decides Ash has seen too much to live. Once it’s a matter of life and death, can Ash keep her eye on the prize? Set over the course of a single night within a single building, this is a page-turning thriller with gadgets, guts, and summer-blockbuster action”
Review:
So I’d read The Lab and Remote Control (other books by the same author) and found them quite enjoyable. As a result, I followed the recommendation of a certain librarian and read Money Run. This book reads like a Hollywood action-comedy popcorn flick from start to finish. For the premise, think Mission Impossible meets Ocean’s Eleven with a dash of Johnny English for good measure. From start to finish, this book is just one fun ride. One will likely read this book in one sitting (due to its pacing and length) and will likely have a smile plastered on their face for 90% of that period. From shootouts between assassins to Bugatti Veyrons jumping from rooftop to rooftop, to attempting to evade sophisticated security systems, this book has it all. It also has twists. Lots of twists. So many twists that there are literally twists to its twists (in other words, one could say that the book is all tied up in knots). The ending is bittersweet, but still works quite well and opens the book up to be continued in a sequel (the sequel has already been published in Australia). Despite the twists and turns that the book takes, Money Run’s plot and characters are both quite shallow. There is not much to be gleaned from the plot other than the simple lesson that greed can be the end of one and the characters are generally quite flat. The plot (in case you hadn’t already guessed) is also quite unrealistic. This all is to be expected in this type of book of course (hence the term “popcorn flick”) and so none of these issues really detract from the book in the end. I still prefer Jack Heath’s Six of Hearts series, but still made for a very enjoyable day’s reading.
4/5 stars
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