'To have and to heist' book review: Implausible plot with colourful characters

CANADIAN writer Sara Desai has made a name for herself with romantic comedy books The Marriage Game, The Dating Plan and The Singles Table. With her fourth book she adds an extra layer with an action-packed wedding heist.

Down on her luck Simi Chopra is unemployed again, drowning in debt and living in horrid conditions. When her best friend is accused of stealing a multimillion-dollar diamond necklace, she teams up with a mysterious stranger to steal the precious treasure back. Simi sees it as an opportunity to help clear her friend and get the large reward, so sets out to turn a group of wholly under-qualified strangers into an elite heist crew, to take the necklace from dangerous criminals at a high-society wedding.

Sara Desai

British film Polite Society showed that a highly implausible action caper set around a wedding can work and this book somehow manages to do the same. The author blends together various story troupes into a fast food novel that gives readers an entertaining cocktail of comedy, romance, a heist, quirky characters, and unexpected surprises.

What gives this book real entertainment value is just how unskilled the heist team is, which generates laughter and adds unpredictability to the plot. The other thing that works in favour of this book is unexpected characters that pop up and a free-flowing writing style that moves along at a brisk pace. Those who like more serious books with a realistic plot won’t appreciate this escapist book and will likely get annoyed by many of the farfetched ideas. There isn’t as much romance and chemistry between the two leads, either.

This book is ultimately for those who want to read something that isn’t particularly brain-taxing and will give them a quick fix of entertainment on the pages. Those who do like this book should find the author’s previous work.