Let me cut to the chase: if someone had told me a book about stealing a Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian would have me grinning like an idiot during a 3 AM security audit, I'd have questioned their judgment. But here I am, three espressos deep, Ranger snoring at my feet, genuinely entertained by what is essentially a heist movie in audiobook form.
That said, I've got a bone to pick with the first hour.
The Slow March Before the Sprint
Look, I've sat through military briefings that moved faster than the opening of this book. Scott Brick—and I say this as someone who's listened to dozens of his performances—starts this thing like he's reading a legal deposition. Dry. Measured. Almost dull. Brick can do dense and methodical extremely well—his work on Great Influenza earns that style—but a caper novel is not the place for it. I nearly bumped it up to 1.5x before the action kicked in.
But here's the thing: once Grove's assassins enter the picture and Nick and Kate start actually doing their con artist thing, Brick finds his groove. His comedic timing is genuinely sharp—there's a scene where Kate's dad and his band of AARP-card-carrying mercenaries are planning an op, and Brick delivers it with this bone-dry military precision that had me laughing out loud. As a guy who's worked with plenty of "retired" operators who absolutely would sign up for something this ridiculous, it hit home.
The F-Bomb Problem
I'm not squeamish about language. Spent 25 years in the Army—I've heard it all. But the profanity in this book is scattered so randomly it feels like someone spilled a salt shaker of F-bombs across the manuscript. One minute it's light banter, the next someone drops a hard curse that doesn't match the tone at all. It's not the language itself that bothers me—it's the tactical inconsistency. Either commit to an R-rated operation or keep it PG-13. Don't give me whiplash.
The Crew That Actually Works
What saves this book is the ensemble. Nick Fox is your classic charming rogue—think Ocean's Eleven energy without the Clooney smirk you can actually see. Kate O'Hare is the straight-arrow FBI agent who's just competent enough to be believable but frustrated enough to be entertaining. That same odd-couple dynamic—competent woman, chaos-agent man, tension that never quite resolves the way you expect—shows up in Evanovich's earlier work too; I clocked similar energy in Two for the Dough, which makes sense given she's one of the authors here. The chemistry between them works, though it's more buddy-cop than romance despite what the genre tags suggest.
But the real MVPs are the supporting cast: the flamboyant actor who takes his cover identity way too seriously, the Geek Squad tech who's clearly watched too many spy movies, and Kate's father with his crew of senior citizen mercenaries. The authors clearly did their homework on how these types of operations actually get planned—the logistics aren't perfect, but they're close enough that I wasn't throwing my phone across the room.
Globe-Trotting Done Right
D.C. to Shanghai to Scotland to Montreal. The pacing once it gets moving is genuinely solid—each location brings a new complication, a new angle on the heist. It's the kind of fast-paced action that works perfectly at 1.25x speed during long drives between client sites. I burned through the back half during a round trip to Houston without checking my progress once.
Is the plot ridiculous? Absolutely. A former White House chief of staff running a private security agency and stealing Chinese artifacts to... honestly, the motivation gets a little murky. But that's not really the point. This is popcorn entertainment, and it knows exactly what it is.
Who Should Deploy This Mission
If you want literary fiction that makes you contemplate the human condition, keep scrolling. If you want something that'll make a commute disappear while you listen to a ragtag crew pull off increasingly improbable schemes, this is your book.
Skip it if: inconsistent pacing drives you crazy, unexpected profanity bothers you, or you need your plots to be airtight.
Listen if: you enjoyed Ocean's Eleven, you like your action with a side of humor, or you just need something entertaining that doesn't require your full attention after the first hour.
Ranger's Verdict
Scott Brick eventually delivers, even if he takes his sweet time getting there. The book is fun, fast (once it warms up), and doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is: a well-executed caper with likeable characters and enough action to keep you engaged. Worth your time? If you've got a long drive ahead and want something that'll keep you awake better than another true crime podcast, yes. Ranger approved this one—he didn't even twitch during the action sequences, which means they were compelling enough to keep my attention instead of petting him.
