Long story short! I wasn’t going to order this book at all. I owe my best friend for prompting me to. Thing is I love getting books in the mail and that month most of the books available for choosing weren’t my type of genre.
Well, I shrugged and ordered this one anyway. Guess what, I really enjoyed it!
The Gryphon Heist is something like a clean book version of the Oceans Eleven movie.
When I first started it, it took me a little time to get into. The first couple of chapters gave background to Talia, the main character, and set the stage for the writing style and everything, but it was slow getting the story started. About chapter 16, when Talia meets her “civilian deadweight” Adam Tyler, is when things pick up and the story starts. And its veeeery worth getting through those chapters.
Things I liked.
Honestly besides the slow start, I liked all of it. The plotline was well detailed, well executed and well concluded. Tidbits of information are shared along the way, questions in the back of your mind answered over the course of the book, and happily, even as the book does have another after it, its written in a way where you want to read the next one because this one was so good, and not because the story was unfinished.
The characters were just perfect themselves. Talia was… a non-stereotypical female protagonist, which I find personally is rare when a book is written by a man. Somehow I’ve found that men tend to write very very very basic stereotypical females, even as Mcs. Such was not the case with Talia. She was her own character with her own strengths and weaknesses that made her unique. And she was not overly “attractive” and not pathetically entanced by whatever stereotyped females are entanced by.
Adam Tyler, or just Tyler. What can I say about him without giving away spoilers? I liked him… a lot. Even from the beginning with his cockiness towards Talia and really… his cockiness through the whole book, I grew to love him as a character a whole lot. I loved his story. I loved his character. If you want to know more you’ll just have to read the book.
Pavel Ivanov. Well, I’m Russian for one. So this was fun to read (did I mention how much I enjoyed that little kidnapping scene with Talia at the beginning of the book?). His character… I liked until the character Val came into play. Which is when the story sort of takes a turn and etc. etc. I won’t say more for the sake of spoilers. I can say that he was a gentleman, and he was rich and smart. And not bad looking. And I kinda hoped along the way, that Talia would end up with him. Also, just a side not, Pavel Ivanov is SUCH a generic Russian name. It’s like calling someone in an American book Bob Brown or Sam Smith.
Eddie, Val, Mac, Finn, and Darcy. These team crew members, both in their arrivals into the story and through the plot, each shone their own light. I did minorly mix up Finn and Mac, but it wasn’t a big deal and they split up as two characters eventually. That’s something I admire when an author can create individual voices for their array of characters even though they work in close quarters and are not main characters.
Things I didn’t like/content.
I don’t know what I would say I didn’t like… it was so well done. there was hardly any romance at all and what little there was did not take away from the plot at all. There was a bit of violence I’d say, but that didn’t bother me at all either, and in fact most of it was non-lethal.
All in all, this was a great book and I’m super glad I got and read it, and if you enjoy suspense books, I recommend adding this one to your list! (recommended ages 15 and up simply because it’s not aimed as a children’s book)
Five stars. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own.
~Libby