The Long Con

Voris (Say a Little Prayer) impresses with this taut heist thriller. Chloe Bly has practically bankrupted herself paying off her late mother’s medical bills and her own sizable student debt. To stay above water, she takes catering shifts at Miami’s luxury Carlyle Hotel and supplements her income by stealing from the hotel’s wealthy guests. As the story begins, she’s trying to swipe a diamond-studded watch from a billionaire attending a Senate fund-raiser for Andrew Carlyle, CEO of the Carlyle hospitality group. Chloe initially succeeds, only to be thwarted by her longtime nemesis, Harper Parisi, an already affluent thief who steals for the thrill. When Harper tries to turn Chloe in to Andrew for stealing the watch, however, both women are startled to learn that he already knows about Chloe’s thefts. He coerces her into teaming up with Harper to recover a Florida Hospitality Award that his business rival stole from him, offering a lucrative payout if the pair succeeds. They reluctantly agree, kicking off a nimble caper plot that’s supplemented by budding romantic attraction between the two frenemies. Fans of Glen Erik Hamilton’s Van Shaw series will delight in Voris’s clever and crowd-pleasing narrative. This is a blast. Agent: Claire Friedman, InkWell Management. (Apr.)