*I was given a copy of The Frame Up in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Headline and Gwenda Bond for my copy of the book.*
Synopsis:
A magically gifted con artist must gather her estranged mother’s old crew for a once-in-a-lifetime heist, from the New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Suspicious Minds.
Dani Poissant is the daughter and former accomplice of the world’s most famous art thief, as well as being an expert forger in her own right. The secret to their success? A little thing called magic, kept rigorously secret from the non-magical world. Dani’s mother possesses the power of persuasion, able to bend people to her will, whereas Dani has the ability to make any forgery she undertakes feel like the genuine article.
At seventeen, concerned about the corrupting influence of her mother’s shadowy partner, Archer, Dani impulsively sold her mother out to the FBI—an act she has always regretted. Ten years later, Archer seeks her out, asking her to steal a particular painting for him, since her mother’s still in jail. In return, he will reconcile her with her mother and reunite her with her mother’s old gang—including her former best friend, Mia, and Elliott, the love of her life.
The problem is, it’s a nearly impossible job—even with the magical talents of the people she once considered family backing her up. The painting is in the never-before-viewed private collection of deceased billionaire William Hackworth—otherwise known as the Fortress of Art. It’s a job that needs a year to plan, and Dani has just over one week. Worse, she’s not exactly gotten a warm welcome from her former colleagues—especially not from Elliott, who has grown from a weedy teen to a smoking-hot adult. And then there is the biggest puzzle of why Archer wants her to steal a portrait of himself, which clearly dates from the 1890s, instead of the much more valuable works by Vermeer or Rothko. Who is her mother’s partner, really, and what does he want?
The more Dani learns, the more she understands she may be in way over her head—and that there is far more at stake in this job than she ever realized.
Review:
This was my first ARC of 2024 and I really was not expecting it to be a DNF. I’m honestly quite disappointed as this sounded so interesting, but it was, for lack of a nicer word, boring.
I found the opening chapter to be genuinely confusing. I had no idea who was who and what was going on. This is definitely one of those books that read like you should already know the world and its people, but you don’t so it makes no sense. Maybe I was just super tired when I started it or maybe I’m a bit of an idiot, but I really didn’t know what was happening and this put a sour taste in my mouth going forward.
There were a few cases of what I suppose you would call insensitive descriptions, one being: “He had the look of someone who’d been in and out of jail”. What does this even mean? Please describe this “look” as I’m very curious. I had no idea criminals came with a default look. Am I being silly for not liking this description? Possibly.
The one part of the first chapter that really made me laugh was one of the characters turning to the bartender and asking for “the best whiskey you have” and it’s Jim Beam. I wouldn’t exactly call that a highbrow whiskey but sure. This isn’t a necessary thing to include in the review as it has no relevance to how good or bad the book was, but I thought it was funny and worth mentioning.
After making it, honestly, not too far into this book I did decide to stop reading. I felt like I was wasting my time trying to slog through the pages and giving in to that feeling is not something I want to be doing in 2024. If you aren’t enjoying something stop. Which is exactly what I did.
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