Summary:
Seventeen year old Aaron
stumbles into the aftermath of a five million dollar bank heist gone
wrong. Hiding under a canoe, Aaron partially catches the murder of one
of the robbers. In the chaos he sneaks away with the money and heads
straight for the closest place of safety, his high school. Terrified,
Aaron tells his shocking tale to Amanda Becker, his drama teacher, but
it doesn't take long for one of the psychotic robbers to show up. In the
locked down school the pair are relentlessly pursued in a quest to get
the money back and wipe out the evidence.
Release Date: March 28, 2012
Age Group: YA
Source: Review copy from author
Review:
This was a neat book, and very different from my usual reads. For someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers, I've read two good ones lately: The Pineville Heist and The Girl in the Wall. Both were YA thrillers, a new genre for me, and I really enjoyed them.
The Pineville Heist starts with the entire town of Pineville abuzz with the news of a bank robbery: five million dollars has been stolen from the town's only bank. While hiding in the woods, Aaron sees two of the robbers and watches them hide the money. He goes back to the site with his two best friends, but they're caught by the robbers, who turn out to be murderers as well. The three boys run, and Aaron ends up hiding under a canoe. While hiding, terrified for his life, Aaron witnesses one of the robbers murder another robber. He does not see the killer, except for his boots, since he's hiding under the canoe when it happens.
Aaron discovers the money is hidden under the canoe with him. He picks it up and runs for his life, towards his school. His hope is to get help for his friends, one of whom he knows has been shot, and to turn the money in to the authorities. But, when Aaron gets inside his school, things go awry. He can't find anyone to take him seriously and when someone finally does listen to him, no one believes his story.
What follows is one really intense night of Aaron fighting to stay alive. He is trapped in his school, with only his teacher as an ally (and really she's a burden since he feels the need to protect her) and the murderer is after them both.
What I liked about The Pineville Heist was the fast pace and the plot twists. Chambers took things in a direction I wasn't expecting and I loved that. Especially considering who the villians were---that was a nice surprise!
There were some times that Aaron did the dumbest things. He had chances to kill the murderer and didn't take them. I know that he was trying to do the right thing by maiming and not killing, but the repetition of him letting the killer get away got a little old for me.
Overall, though, I did really enjoy this book and would definitely recommend it, especially to fans of thrillers.
This was a neat book, and very different from my usual reads. For someone who doesn't read a lot of thrillers, I've read two good ones lately: The Pineville Heist and The Girl in the Wall. Both were YA thrillers, a new genre for me, and I really enjoyed them.
The Pineville Heist starts with the entire town of Pineville abuzz with the news of a bank robbery: five million dollars has been stolen from the town's only bank. While hiding in the woods, Aaron sees two of the robbers and watches them hide the money. He goes back to the site with his two best friends, but they're caught by the robbers, who turn out to be murderers as well. The three boys run, and Aaron ends up hiding under a canoe. While hiding, terrified for his life, Aaron witnesses one of the robbers murder another robber. He does not see the killer, except for his boots, since he's hiding under the canoe when it happens.
Aaron discovers the money is hidden under the canoe with him. He picks it up and runs for his life, towards his school. His hope is to get help for his friends, one of whom he knows has been shot, and to turn the money in to the authorities. But, when Aaron gets inside his school, things go awry. He can't find anyone to take him seriously and when someone finally does listen to him, no one believes his story.
What follows is one really intense night of Aaron fighting to stay alive. He is trapped in his school, with only his teacher as an ally (and really she's a burden since he feels the need to protect her) and the murderer is after them both.
What I liked about The Pineville Heist was the fast pace and the plot twists. Chambers took things in a direction I wasn't expecting and I loved that. Especially considering who the villians were---that was a nice surprise!
There were some times that Aaron did the dumbest things. He had chances to kill the murderer and didn't take them. I know that he was trying to do the right thing by maiming and not killing, but the repetition of him letting the killer get away got a little old for me.
Overall, though, I did really enjoy this book and would definitely recommend it, especially to fans of thrillers.
This one sounds really interesting I might just have to get my hands on a copy of it soon. Great review :)
ReplyDelete-Kimberly @ Turning the Pages