Red Notice and the Art of the Heist

Netflix’s Red Notice has become a huge sensation, taking audiences by storm and solidifying the popular streaming service as the future of moviemaking almost overnight. In this blockbuster-style film, an FBI profiler and an art theft played by Ryan Reynolds and Dwyane Johansen, plot the ultimate heist to catch an elusive criminal who always seems to be one step ahead of them. The popularity of this movie, a tried and true trope paired with good-timed comic relief, maybe a surprise to some but we crime fiction lovers have always known the art of the heist is almost too tempting to resist. From high-profile heists, only the best detectives can solve to master art thieves from historical literature, the art of the heist is all about wits, timing, and a crew that is willing to do anything to complete the mission. If you loved the thrills and adventure in Red Notice, we’ve got five heist and heist-adjacent books you’ll want to pick up. At their center is the mission, but more than that these heist books pair unforgettable characters with a masterful knowledge of how to commit the perfect crime. After all, heists are an artform all their own.
In L.A. Cassie Black is another beautiful woman in a Porsche: except Cassie just did six years in prison and still has "outlaw juice" flowing in her veins. Now Cassie is returning to her old profession, taking down a money man in Vegas. But the perfect heist goes very wrong, and suddenly Cassie is on the run—with a near-psychotic Vegas "fixer" killing everyone who knew about the job. Between Cassie and the man hunting her are a few last secrets: like who really set up the job, why Cassie had to take the change, and how, in the end, it might all be a matter of the moon...
Related: Michael Connelly's Top Three Tips for Writing Thrillers
We'd be remiss not to mention Win by Harlan Coben. While not exactly a heist novel, you can expect thievery, adventure, and more than enough danger to keep you on your toes:
Over twenty years ago, the heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors—and the items stolen from her family were never recovered.
Until now. On the Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead—not only on Patricia's kidnapping, but also on another FBI cold case—with the suitcase and painting both pointing them toward one man.
Windsor Horne Lockwood III—or Win, as his few friends call him—doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up with a dead man. But his interest is piqued, especially when the FBI tells him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism—and that the conspirators may still be at large. The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades, but Win has three things the FBI doesn't: a personal connection to the case; an ungodly fortune; and his own unique brand of justice.
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