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“One last heist” is an excellent trope in the mystery and thriller genre for many reasons, starting with the fact that the stakes are already built into the premise: everything is riding on this one last event in a do-or-die way. Now the why, the crew involved, the specifics of the heist, and the setting and time period leave plenty of room for authors to think outside of the box as much as they want. There can be a focus on plot and fast paced action, a deeper dive into the character’s lives in order to explore what lead them to need to commit this one final crime — or a good blend of both. So many ways to explore this trope!
While these books all contain the trope for one last heist they’re all different from each other and should hit many kinds of readers’ tastes. There’s a graphic novel with three generations of a family, a YA novel with a heist competition, a getaway driver pulling off a perfectly planned heist, a socialite and her drag queen crew, a romance/crime novel starring a con artist, a teen pulling off a heist to save her dad, a space heist novel with a species existence at stake, and a thriller with a past and present heist with a ticking clock!
The Banks by Roxane Gay
The crew: Three generations: a grandmother (Clara), a daughter (Cora), and a granddaughter (Celia). Celia doesn’t want anything to do with her mom and grandma, both career thieves. But that changes when Celia gets passed up at work for a promotion and goes into revenge mode.
The heist: In one final job that can either set them up for life or cost them everything, Celia proposes they rid her firm’s biggest client of all his money…
Come for the heist, stay for the revenge.
Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
The crew: Beauregard “Bug” Montage left his life of crime— as the best getaway driver — behind and is now a family man and business owner. But his mom is about to be evicted from her nursing home, his daughter needs college tuition, and the bank is coming for his business. His former associate, Ronnie Sessions, and his girlfriend are in for one “perfect crime”.
The heist: Lou Ellen will be receiving a shipment of stolen diamonds at her jewelry store, and Sessions is going to rob her. Bug is in for one last job that will solve all his problems, and he’s planned it perfectly. So naturally, everything will go wrong…
Come for the heist, stay for the awesome car chases.
Ghostman by Roger Hobbs
The crew: Ghostman, sometimes Jack, is known as such because he’s a dude who literally disappears after a job. He was trained for this life, but five years ago, a heist went wrong and changed everything.
The heist: Jack is called in after a botched heist to find and recover the moneybags from one of the men, and he has a 48-hour ticking clock before the dye packs go boom! You also get the past chapters to learn about what happened in the heist gone wrong five years ago in Kuala Lumpur, which is why Jack is now in this new predicament…
Come for the two-for-one-heist, stay for the just-one-more-chapter pace.
Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig
The crew: Margo Manning, a wealthy socialite playing Robin Hood, and her crew of drag queens, who are not wealthy and are using the heists to try and get out of bad situations.
The heist: They are forced to pull off one life or death heist when Margo finds herself out of options…
Come for the heist, stay for the characters’ personal journeys and found family.
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
The crew: Maya Hoshimoto has given up her life stealing and rightfully returning alien artifacts after a job went really bad and is now a student studying anthropology at Princeton…and almost failing out. Her former partner, Auncle, has not retired.
The heist: Maya decides to go all in for one last heist in search of the Stardust Grail, which Auncle needs to save the Frenro species!
Come for the heist, stay for the action.
Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis
The crew: Ross Quest is an excellent thief, the only thing she’s ever been trained for (by her mom!). But she wants out of that life and to go to college instead.
The heist: Ross’ mom is kidnapped and the only way to save her is for Ross to come up with a billion dollars, forcing her to enter Thieves’ Gambit: a competition where thieves compete in international heists.
Come for the heist, stay for the found family.
Love & Other Scams by Philip Ellis
The crew: Cat is giving up the con artist life with the promotion she’s sure to get at work. Jake is a recently met bartender she needs to pull off her heist.
The heist: Attend her frenemies’ wedding with Jake as her pretend boyfriend in order to steal the bride’s priceless engagement ring!
Come for the heist, stay for the fake dating trope.
Heist Society by Ally Carter
The crew: Katarina Bishop was born into a family of con artists and thieves, something she was taught to do since birth. She wants nothing to do with it, though. Hale is her former accomplice and friend.
The heist: Hale shows up with the only news that could bring Katarina back into the world of crime: her father is accused of stealing a priceless art collection from a mobster, and the only way to save him is to find the works and steal them back.
Come for the heist, stay for the international settings.
For true crime readers, here’s an adjacent reading list: Grifters and Swindlers and Cons, Oh My! 10 Riveting White Collar Crime Books.
