Oceans 8 in the English Countryside

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First some disclaimers: This is the first novel I've read by this author, I haven't read the first two books in the series, and I don't usually read books in this genre. In spite of that, I enjoyed this women-centric heist novel that read like a script for an Oceans 8 movie set in the English countryside.

It's no surprise the book read like a movie script since Lynda La Plante has written for British television. She shares plenty of backstory from the first two books so I was never lost in the plot. However, the large cast of characters, especially the women involved in the heist, made it difficult to keep them straight.

The action begins when Dolly Rawlings is released from serving an 8-year prison sentence for killing her husband. It's well known that she was involved in a large diamond robbery just before being sent to the "nick" so a group of women who knew Dolly from prison scheme to get a share of her wealth. Of course, retrieving the diamonds does not go as planned, and the plot continues from there.

The ending of this novel is quite abrupt. I often prefer an ambiguous ending where the reader gets to interpret the characters' next steps, but this entire novel wrapped up in two sentences. Perhaps the story will continue in a fourth book?

Thank you to BookishFirst, Simon & Schuster, and Zaffre Publishing for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.