The Pineville Heist by Lee Chambers

Aaron Stevens is pretty unpopular in school.  As the son of Derek Stevens, the richest man in Lee Chambers’s The Pineville Heist, it’s no wonder: the people of Pineville all suspect that Aaron’s father is planning on closing the local mill.  If that happens, Pineville will become a ghost town without any industry, forcing everyone to move away.  To secure their own fortunes while simultaneously giving a big “screw you” to Derek Stevens, a couple of people decided to rob the Pineville bank.

When his father forces Aaron to walk to school, Aaron unknowingly sees the robbers. Later overhearing the sheriff talking about the robbery, Aaron puts two and two together and talks a couple of his friends into skipping school to recover the stolen money.  But when the robbers are murdered, Aaron and his friends are caught in the middle of everything.  Grabbing some of the money and running back to school, Aaron is separated from his friends.  Terrified that they didn’t make it out of the woods alive, Aaron is left running for his life, having to remain one step ahead of the relentless killer who wants his stolen money back.

I don’t normally read thrillers, but I found myself quickly drawn into The Pineville Heist. While the writing can at times be a little bit awkward, I found I stopped noticing it as I got caught up in the plot; The Pineville Heist is the type of book that you won’t want to put down.  Now that I’m finished reading it, I can’t wait to see the movie, which was filmed locally and is due out in early 2015.