The Elysium Heist by Y. M. Resnik

I’m a sucker for a fun heist story - who isn’t? All I knew when I requested this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review was the tag line that it was a sapphic Ocean’s Eleven type tale. It sure lived up to that billing! This book threw together an interesting group of women to pull off a heist at a casino. I enjoyed a lot of this book, even if the characters often felt like stereotypes. I could rest easy if I never had to encounter the virginal prostitute trope again, and I felt that the author could have used one more pass from a Jewish sensitivity reader. I enjoyed the fact that one of the protagonists was an observant Jewish woman, but her embracing of her own lesbianism felt rather quick, and I don’t think the author realized how her villainous husband played into several antisemitic stereotypes. The prostitute’s asexual sister who was in love with the casino’s AI was fascinating and I wish the whole book had been about her. I don’t mean to sound too critical - this was a fun and breezy summer read.