Thieves’ Gambit

Debut author Lewis illustrates a captivating push and pull narrative that centers a girl yearning for a “normal” life while navigating a dangerous game where cons and trickery are rewarded. Black Bahamian 17-year-old Ross Quest comes from a family of thieves; with her mother, she completes daring heists around the globe. Though her thrilling life has afforded her close family ties, Ross has always been desperate for friends, and intends to sneak away to a gymnastics camp. On the night she plans to leave her life of crime, the job her mother is on goes sideways, resulting in her capture by mysterious assailants, who hold her for a ransom of one billion dollars. To save her mother’s life, Ross enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a legendary, potentially fatal tournament in which the world’s top teen thieves must complete a series of heists, competing to be granted their heart’s desire. With her childhood enemy Noelia, who is Swiss and white, also competing, Ross knows she must remain guarded, but she soon finds herself taken with handsome and cunning Devroe, who is Black and British. Fresh descriptions of varied backdrops, including the Bahamas, Cairo, and France, elucidate wanderlust vibes in this edge-of-the-seat thriller. Ages 12–up. Agent: Chelsea Eberly, Greenhouse Literary. (Sept.)