Seven books about talented criminals & con artists

Jesse DeRoy lives in New York with their family. DeRoy is a former consultant, rock-climbing instructor, and award-winning journalist.

Safecracker is DeRoy's first novel.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven titles about literature's greatest thieves: talented criminals and con artists that provided inspiration for writing their novel. One title on the list:

Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight

My first exposure to Leonard was through the silver screen, but when I started reading his novels, that’s when I really understood how much of his work is about smart people being dumb and dumb people being smart. In Out of Sight, Jack Foley is as clever as they come. After breaking out of prison, he robs a bank by convincing a bank teller that another customer — who has nothing to do with Foley and is completely innocent — is carrying a bomb in a briefcase. And yet, he’s not smart enough to steer clear of U.S. Marshall Karen Sisco. I’ve joked that Safecracker is a bit like if Out of Sight and the Ocean’s Eleven had a baby, not just because of the heists, but because of the how much the criminals involved enjoy themselves.

Read about another entry on the list.

Out of Sight is among Lina Chern's seven crime books where characters make terrible yet totally believable decisions.

--Marshal Zeringue