A review by grassangel
Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

3.0

Soundtrack recommendation: Terry Gross by Dessa

A decent book can be ruined by a bad ending. This book is one of them.
The ending is not bad in how it leaves the characters or even morality-wise (as much as a story about thieves can be moral), but it does feel rushed and not particularly clever. There also didn't feel like there were enough signposts as to the

Spoiler

betrayal

. Most of all, it wasn't emotionally satisfying.

Spoiler

Ross essentially loses three times over, emotionally returning to the emotional state she was in at the start, losing and cutting ties to the friends she gained along the way; realising the truth to her mom's manipulations, thus 'losing' her mom and her edge over the organisation; and finally losing her trust in (and burgeoning relationship with) Devroe.

I hope the ending is mostly down to this really being part one of a longer story. That the frantic last chapter, while capturing Ross' state of mind well, has more that is yet to be explained. Because everything else was well done. There were multiple heists, a showdown on a train and a switcheroo of a stolen object, lasers were dodged and a fancy party attended, listening devices and laptop hacking. All in all, a great rollercoaster of a plot with many ups and downs. There was even some very minor commentary on how the super rich get rich and the racial politics of those in said circles.

Would have been 4 stars if not for the ending, and the ending itself is 2 stars. Splitting the difference and going for 3 stars for now.