The Scene Stealers

By: Ian Thomas Healy

Narrated by: Summer Jo Swaine

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

Steal big.

The Crew: Olivia, the Director; Anjanae, the Artist; Pancho, the Techie; Kennedy, the Actress; Jerome, the Money Man; Vajra, the Thug. 

The Target: A painting of Anjanae's deceased mother, stolen from her and presented for sale by a professional artist. 

The Job: Steal it back and don't get caught, because high school is hard enough without facing hard time.

©2017 Ian Thomas Healy (P)2017 Ian Thomas Healy

Story line is good, some narration is not.

I listened to the entire story. I have to agree with the other reviews. The narration could be MUCH better. The male voices are fine but some of the female voices are terrible. Overall it is a good story but the swearing does not add anything to the story, but that's only my opinion. I would listen to another book by the author. However, I'd pass on this narrator.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

Worst Narration I've Ever Encountered

This is definitely the worst book I’ve attempted to read (or listen to) this year. I stuck with it as long as I could (which turned out to be a half hour) resisting the impulse to DNF it at least 10 times before finally giving in.

The narration is TERRIBLE - the worst I’ve encountered. The narrator’s voice is squeaky, nasal, entirely too high pitched, and she manages to pronounce everything with such careful enunciation that it comes out completely monotone.

The story itself isn’t much better. The characters are very stereotyped and their portrayal left me with a cringe-y possibly-racist slimy feeling - though it was painfully obvious the author was trying for diversity. The dialogue is peppered with curse words that are jarring and way too frequent to be realistic - even though it *is* about high school students. The description of the painting also made me cringe. As an artist myself, it didn’t feel realistic at all.

I wanted to stick with it until the real heist adventure began… but I just can’t.

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Could have been really good....

This one sounded like a lot of fun in the description, but it fell way short pretty early in it. It's supposed to be an Ocean's Eleven type of story but with high school kids running the show. My problems are more with the content... there is a LOT of bad language (f-bomb was used heavily too) and then there's a lot of sexual innuendos that were pretty immature even for high school kids. I guess I had bigger expectations going into this one but I would warn on the content level for sure and say it's a young adult read.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Danny Ocean couldn't plan a heist like this

I really enjoyed this book. I know this book is aimed at young teens with most of it action taking place in high school but the author always writes a captivating story that keeps you booked until the end and this book is no exception. The characters are strong and diverse but it is the friendship that makes the story once again. We have all grown up watching heist films such as Ocean's eleven etc and I love the author's twist on the tale of having teenagers go up against the system. At the moment this book is a great standalone book but the author has left the possibility of a follow up, which I hope gets written as the gang is worth spending a couple of hours with.
Anjanae is a talented painter and her greatest master piece is a portrait of her dead mother. When she takes it in to show her art teacher she never imagined it would get stolen and turn up in an art auction under the name of a famous painter. Her best friend is horrified by the theft and use to directing drama students, sets out to plan a heist to get the art back. Most of her crew is staring in the show she is producing and she will need precision timing if she wants the show to go of with our a hitch and not get arrested. She has the techie, the actress, the money man, the mussel and the distraction but most of all she has the plan and the friendship to pull it off.
I liked the narrator and thought she really helped sell the idea that they were teenagers involved in the heist.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.