2021
WISE Score
A con artist's daughter must cycle through her past identities to talk her way out of a bank heist while trapped with her ex and her girlfriend.
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If your teen wants a thriller that actually respects their intelligence, this is it. It’s a fast-paced bank heist story on the surface, but the real meat is Nora’s history as the daughter of a professional con artist.
It’s gritty, feminist, and doesn't pull punches about how trauma shapes a person. It’s the kind of book that turns 'reluctant readers' into fans because it moves like a Netflix series.
This is firmly for the 14+ crowd. The themes of sexual abuse and the psychological weight of the 'con' lifestyle require a level of maturity that younger middle-schoolers likely won't have yet.
The book centers on a history of severe domestic, psychological, and sexual abuse. While it models resilience and loyalty among friends, the tone is intentionally gritty and focused on survival rather than kindness or cooperation.
The central conceit—a girl who was raised to be whoever her con-artist mother needed her to be—is a clever, layered approach to the thriller genre. The way Nora deploys her past 'identities' to manipulate a hostage situation is highly creative.
For a 14-year-old, the book is safe, but it contains heavy trigger-warning content regarding past abuse and a high-tension bank robbery. It's not a 'surprise' danger, but the content is intense.
It offers a sophisticated look at trauma recovery, the complexity of queer relationships in high-stress environments, and the agency of young women in abusive systems.
Tess Sharpe has written a book that feels like it was born to be adapted for the screen. The setup is a classic thriller trope: three teens walk into a bank, a robbery goes wrong, and they end up in the vault as hostages. But the twist is that the protagonist, Nora, is the last person a bank robber wants to deal with. She’s spent her life playing whatever role her mother needed to pull off a scam—the innocent daughter, the grieving sister, the perfect student.
What makes this work is the structure. The narrative jumps between the current crisis in the bank and the 'girls' Nora used to be. Each past identity taught her a specific skill—how to pick a lock, how to read a person’s weakness, how to take a hit. It’s a fascinating look at how a childhood defined by manipulation can create a very dangerous, very capable young woman.
For parents, the 'watch-out' isn't the bank robbery; it's the history of abuse. Nora’s mother is not a misunderstood anti-hero; she’s a predator who used her daughter as a tool. The book deals with the aftermath of that—including sexual abuse—with a directness that might be a lot for some readers. However, for a teen who can handle the weight, it's an incredibly empowering story about taking those survival skills and using them to protect the people you actually love.
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