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The Last Job: "The Bad Grandpas" and the Hatton Garden Heist
“[Bilefsky] is a brisk, enthusiastic storyteller.… [A] meticulously researched procedural.” —Laura Lippman, New York Times
Over Easter weekend 2015, a motley crew of six aging English thieves couldn’t resist coming out of retirement for one last career-topping heist. Though not the smoothest of blokes, these analog crooks in a digital age managed to disable the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit’s high-security alarm system and drill through twenty inches of reinforced concrete, walking away with a stunning haul of at least $21 million in jewels, gold, diamonds, family heirlooms, and cash. Dan Bilefsky draws on unrivaled access to the leading officers on the case at Scotland Yard, as well as notorious figures from London’s shadowy underworld, to offer a gripping account of how these unassuming masterminds nearly pulled off one of the greatest heists of the century.
Over Easter weekend 2015, a motley crew of six aging English thieves couldn’t resist coming out of retirement for one last career-topping heist. Though not the smoothest of blokes, these analog crooks in a digital age managed to disable the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit’s high-security alarm system and drill through twenty inches of reinforced concrete, walking away with a stunning haul of at least $21 million in jewels, gold, diamonds, family heirlooms, and cash. Dan Bilefsky draws on unrivaled access to the leading officers on the case at Scotland Yard, as well as notorious figures from London’s shadowy underworld, to offer a gripping account of how these unassuming masterminds nearly pulled off one of the greatest heists of the century.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2019
87 people are currently reading
1466 people want to read
About the author
Dan Bilefsky
2 books21 followersDan Bilefsky is a journalist who has reported from cities all around the world, including London, Paris, Brussels, and Istanbul. He is currently a New York Times Canada correspondent based in Montreal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
May 5, 2019
I considered throwing-in-the-towel on "The Last Job", a book about a 2015 jewel robbery pulled off by a gang of geriatrics in England. It was a good idea but it became very predictable. Even worse, it was poorly written. So badly written in fact that after about 70 pages I began to root for Mr. Bilefsky to land as many banal statements as possible. After a while the book just became unintentionally funny. Here are just some of the truly trite sentences in just about a five-page span:
"In this job you're only as good as your last case."
"Johnson was a man of action who gave little away, preferring his work to speak on his behalf."
Of the crime-stopping Flying Squad: "Even when you have only asked them for A and B, they normally came back with A, B, C, D and E, and even F." (Now that's tenacious!)
"He knew from experience that catching a thief was usually just a matter of waiting for him or her to make a mistake. And if you waited long enough, they nearly always did." (Glad they included those dastardly women in this age of political correctness)
"Crime scenes are very sensitive and you don't want to disturb any evidence." (I'll remember that)
"Their sense of frustration was palpable." (I'm just a puddle thinking about it)
"It was one for the history books." (It sure was)
"The Last Job" just wasn't very good.
"In this job you're only as good as your last case."
"Johnson was a man of action who gave little away, preferring his work to speak on his behalf."
Of the crime-stopping Flying Squad: "Even when you have only asked them for A and B, they normally came back with A, B, C, D and E, and even F." (Now that's tenacious!)
"He knew from experience that catching a thief was usually just a matter of waiting for him or her to make a mistake. And if you waited long enough, they nearly always did." (Glad they included those dastardly women in this age of political correctness)
"Crime scenes are very sensitive and you don't want to disturb any evidence." (I'll remember that)
"Their sense of frustration was palpable." (I'm just a puddle thinking about it)
"It was one for the history books." (It sure was)
"The Last Job" just wasn't very good.
May 14, 2019
This a great story, the narrative just didn’t do it justice. Parts of the book were extremely repetitive and it felt like the story could have been well served from a single point of view, the cops or the robbers, just not both.
September 10, 2019
As the author points out: "Once the news broke that a group of cunning pensioners were behind an old-school heist that even defense lawyers deemed worthy of Hollywood, Britons of all ages affectionately embraced the white-haired crew." I really don't see why, as none of the men have any endearing qualities as far as I could tell. Not a great book by any means, but it managed to hold my interest.
June 21, 2019
I wanted to like this book so much more. This is a great crime story filled with colourful eccentric characters who turn on each other just like you expect they would, lots of tabloid-tinged history, amazing detail and a writer with New York Times storytelling credentials.
But. And the ‘but’ is big.
The writing is often tortured, overwrought and packed with details that don’t fit together or simply muddle the flow where they are placed. It needs a cast of characters as a quick reference as the story progresses. It’s often hard to follow.
Then there are unforgettable details or phrases repeated that should have been caught in the proofreading process.
“It feels like a mouthful of ulcers with a bottle of vinegar in your mouth.”
“He would go to bed in his mother’s dressing gown with a fez on.”
Was there a conscious decision to dispense with editing?
Again, I wanted to love this crime of the century book and I eagerly sought it out. Unfortunately I can’t say I would recommend it.
But. And the ‘but’ is big.
The writing is often tortured, overwrought and packed with details that don’t fit together or simply muddle the flow where they are placed. It needs a cast of characters as a quick reference as the story progresses. It’s often hard to follow.
Then there are unforgettable details or phrases repeated that should have been caught in the proofreading process.
“It feels like a mouthful of ulcers with a bottle of vinegar in your mouth.”
“He would go to bed in his mother’s dressing gown with a fez on.”
Was there a conscious decision to dispense with editing?
Again, I wanted to love this crime of the century book and I eagerly sought it out. Unfortunately I can’t say I would recommend it.
January 1, 2019
While the topic itself leads to a great story, Bilefsky captured the story with a steady sense of wonder. He didn’t just regurgitate the facts of a globally known news story that happened just years ago. He wove a story that captures the reader and satisfies the need to know all the facts.
January 22, 2019
Disclaimer: Won an ARC of this book in a giveaway.
This is an interesting story, intermittently well-told. It may just be because this is an ARC, but the book is very clearly unfinished, with many typos, contradictions (eg, Brian Reader is described at one point as proudly working-class, and at another as snobbish and elitist), repetitions (eg, in a listing of defendants at the trial, one man is listed twice), and many little infelicities (eg, in a couple places, an unusual word is used prior to being defined, and sometimes the same word is defined more than once; many brief anecdotes are repeated two or three times; in one place a span of 15 years is described as "more than two decades," and in another a span of under 45 days is described as "some 60 days").
As for the text itself, well. When it works- basically in the more-finished parts of the book- it's a brisk and engrossing read. The story- of a group of middle-aged-to-elderly career criminals and their accomplices pulling off a daring safe-deposit vault heist, and nearly getting away with it- is intrinsically very interesting, and made more interesting by the little glimpses of the past crimes and escapades of the participants.
The most interesting parts are the parts that deal with the lives and characters of the criminals, their planning the heist, the way their lives and age tie into this one last big job, and then the fraying relationships between them once the time comes to divvy up the loot, and this makes up probably two-thirds of the book; the least-interesting parts end up being the stuff about the policework involved in nabbing them, which is surprisingly simple and undramatic- most of the thieves were arrested less than two months after the heist. This is excellent policework, of course, but it doesn't make for thrilling reading- and then the primary participants in the crime all pleaded guilty instead of going to trial, and the evidence against the accomplices was so strong that their defenses collapsed almost immediately, so there's not much drama there, either.
The book benefits from interviews with some of the law enforcement people involved, some of the lawyers, a few witnesses, and a few retired criminals who knew some of the principals, but of course there are no interviews with any of the convicted criminals themselves.
As a side note: some maps (of London and the area the heist took place more specifically) and diagrams (of the building that was burgled) would be very helpful, but there are none.
Overall- this book as I read it is probably a 2.5, but I'm gonna be generous and bump it up to 3, because properly edited and fixed up this could be a 4.
This is an interesting story, intermittently well-told. It may just be because this is an ARC, but the book is very clearly unfinished, with many typos, contradictions (eg, Brian Reader is described at one point as proudly working-class, and at another as snobbish and elitist), repetitions (eg, in a listing of defendants at the trial, one man is listed twice), and many little infelicities (eg, in a couple places, an unusual word is used prior to being defined, and sometimes the same word is defined more than once; many brief anecdotes are repeated two or three times; in one place a span of 15 years is described as "more than two decades," and in another a span of under 45 days is described as "some 60 days").
As for the text itself, well. When it works- basically in the more-finished parts of the book- it's a brisk and engrossing read. The story- of a group of middle-aged-to-elderly career criminals and their accomplices pulling off a daring safe-deposit vault heist, and nearly getting away with it- is intrinsically very interesting, and made more interesting by the little glimpses of the past crimes and escapades of the participants.
The most interesting parts are the parts that deal with the lives and characters of the criminals, their planning the heist, the way their lives and age tie into this one last big job, and then the fraying relationships between them once the time comes to divvy up the loot, and this makes up probably two-thirds of the book; the least-interesting parts end up being the stuff about the policework involved in nabbing them, which is surprisingly simple and undramatic- most of the thieves were arrested less than two months after the heist. This is excellent policework, of course, but it doesn't make for thrilling reading- and then the primary participants in the crime all pleaded guilty instead of going to trial, and the evidence against the accomplices was so strong that their defenses collapsed almost immediately, so there's not much drama there, either.
The book benefits from interviews with some of the law enforcement people involved, some of the lawyers, a few witnesses, and a few retired criminals who knew some of the principals, but of course there are no interviews with any of the convicted criminals themselves.
As a side note: some maps (of London and the area the heist took place more specifically) and diagrams (of the building that was burgled) would be very helpful, but there are none.
Overall- this book as I read it is probably a 2.5, but I'm gonna be generous and bump it up to 3, because properly edited and fixed up this could be a 4.
May 14, 2019
I didn't finish because I couldn't get interested. I sometimes think only Erik Larson should be allowed to write non-fiction!
January 19, 2022
This book was not good enough that I would have been motivated to review it on its own. There are a lot of complaints about cliched writing in other goodreads reviews, but that didn't bother me. There are a lot of cliched things to say about a bunch of older thieves pulling off one last job. We've all seen that movie! So I think some cliches were inevitable, but I didn't think the writing was bad. I thought it was serviceable enough to make for a good book,had the story been more exciting and/or better organized. Parts were repetitive, to the point where entire sentences were repeated twice on multiple occasions. I had a review copy, so it's possible the sentence level repetition was fixed in the final book. I think it's unlikely that the higher level repetition - for example, two sections covering the same character's background - were fixed. That would have required some extensive changes. This repetition may have been the author's attempt to compensate for what was actually a pretty thin story. Although the concept was fascinating, the police quickly figured out who was responsible for the robbery and we spent much of the book on the minutiae of the police eavesdropping on the daily lives of several older men. There just wasn't enough there to sustain a story.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
May 8, 2019
I inhaled the "Last Job" - I like true crime stories with larger-than-life characters, that take me into strange worlds. This book is hard to put down. The author got ahold of tape recordings of the "Bad Gradpas" post-heist, so he's able to reconstruct everything going through these geezer's minds' as they planned and execute their "last job" of their criminal careers. I felt like I was right in it with them, every step of the way. On one hand, it's easy to sympathize with these crooks at the twilight of their "careers" (if criminals have careers in crime- do they?), on the other these are ruthless old codgers with long histories of dastardly deeds. The Last Job does a great job of telling this unusual story- and mega heist. You won't be disappointed.
May 20, 2019
Loved it! This is a riveting and quintessentially English tale, told with wry touches of humor and a novelist’s gift for bringing characters to life—not just the “Bad Grandpas” themselves, but also the people who caught them. Turns out the Bad Grandpas, despite being skilled thieves, were prone to amateurish blunders: one of many delicious details is the distinctive striped socks worn by the gang’s leader—picked up by security cameras and later used to identify him. I’ve been following Bilefsky’s work in the New York Times for years and longing for him to showcase his prodigious talents in a book. This did not disappoint.
November 14, 2020
A good story, but botched by the author
This book tells the story of the Hatton Garden jewelry heist, perpetrated by a group of older men. The subject had the potential to be very interesting, but the book appears to have been compiled from several articles on the subject, and often repeated the same information or quotes in different chapters, as if they had not previously appeared in the book. Moreover, there were many misspelled words or grammar mistakes, which gave such an impression of sloppiness that is difficult to believe that the story was written by a New York Times journalist and edited at all.
This book tells the story of the Hatton Garden jewelry heist, perpetrated by a group of older men. The subject had the potential to be very interesting, but the book appears to have been compiled from several articles on the subject, and often repeated the same information or quotes in different chapters, as if they had not previously appeared in the book. Moreover, there were many misspelled words or grammar mistakes, which gave such an impression of sloppiness that is difficult to believe that the story was written by a New York Times journalist and edited at all.
June 20, 2019
While the underlying story is somewhat interesting, this is a bloated, repetitive, and poorly written account that would have benefited from rigorous editing. It suffers from irrelevant tangents about other jewel heists, condescending explanations of British culture and slang for an American audience, misspellings (e.g., "well-healed East Enders"), and painful similes ("Their joy in his suffering felt as relentless as the drill they had used to break through the reinforced concrete"). This would have been much more successful as a long magazine piece. As a full-length book, give it a miss.
February 28, 2019
I wanted to like this book, but it was so choppy and hard to follow that I put it down. I will make another effort to read it at a later date. Maybe it will seem more accessible at a later date. I like to give books another chance if I cannot get into them the first time I try to read them.
August 9, 2022
A thorough and entertaining recount of one of Britain's largest burglaries. In 2015 a group of "veteran" burglars set their sights on one final caper, the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit, in the heart of London's historic diamond district. These guys had one thing going for them: careers of safe cracking and bold heists, but they had much more going against them: their lack of understanding of 21st century security technology and the sophistication of Scotland Yard detectives honed over years of solving some of Britain's largest jewel and cash burglaries. "The Firm" comprised four aging criminals with decades of prison time behind them and a combined age over 250 years. Their list of chronic illnesses included diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, COPD, early dementia, sleep apnea, prostate cancer, incontinence, colitis and more. This was not a crack team of criminals any more. The world had passed them by. In a futile effort to try to catch up with the good guys, one of the four bought and read "Forensics for Dummies" and implemented some of the ideas in it. This also meant they had to bring in more accomplices with skillsets that they lacked. More accomplices meant more potential leaks and, of course, more shares of the plunder to give out.
On the other side of the equation were veteran Scotland Yard detectives who utilized the latest high tech methodology: listening bugs, CCTV, facial recognition. They were frustrated by the fact that one of the alarms had not been disabled during the heist and had been ruled a false alarm and that small misstep meant they had to solve the crime after the fact, instead of catching the criminals in the act. Sadly that meant only a fraction of the loot was recovered, a devastating result for the people who lost life savings, irreplaceable heirlooms, invaluable documents and so much more. Nevertheless, the capture and conviction of the four main burglars plus a shadowy insider nicknamed "Basil the Ghost" provided an exciting read.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to watch the movie "King of Thieves" based on the story.
On the other side of the equation were veteran Scotland Yard detectives who utilized the latest high tech methodology: listening bugs, CCTV, facial recognition. They were frustrated by the fact that one of the alarms had not been disabled during the heist and had been ruled a false alarm and that small misstep meant they had to solve the crime after the fact, instead of catching the criminals in the act. Sadly that meant only a fraction of the loot was recovered, a devastating result for the people who lost life savings, irreplaceable heirlooms, invaluable documents and so much more. Nevertheless, the capture and conviction of the four main burglars plus a shadowy insider nicknamed "Basil the Ghost" provided an exciting read.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and plan to watch the movie "King of Thieves" based on the story.
February 6, 2026
On the Easter weekend of 2015 a group of men, most of them senior citizens, broke into a vault in Hatton Garden, the jewellery makers district in London, and made off with 20 million pounds in jewellery, gemstones, gold and cash. This book covers the caper quite well. It covers the background of the thieves involved, their meticulous planning, the pulling off of the caper, the subsequent laying low and attempts to fence the loot. It also documents the police reaction. How the legendary Flying Squad uncovered the identity of the thieves, kept an eye on them while building the case against them and eventually lowered the boom. It then covers the court case against them and their accomplices and their subsequent life once convicted.
So it's a great story and documented quite well, i.e. all the facts are covered. But there are problems in the telling of it by Bilefsky.
Others have commented that the book is poorly written to the point of being unreadable.
I agree that the book is in need of a good editor. Certain details are mentioned repeatedly as if the author were being paid by the word. And what I found really annoying was the author often repeating verbatim the taped conversation the police made of the thieves resulting in dialog like:
"No, I haven't, no, I'm not saying no, no, I don't know."
As I said, annoying but I managed to get through it mostly because the story was so compelling.
In the end the thieves were quite clever in some areas but very unwise in others. For example, after the break-in, they repeatedly went back to the pub where they had planned the whole caper and talked quite openly about it, congratulating themselves on their remarkable success. Also, during the break-in, they smashed some of the CCTV cameras around the building, but not all of them. And several times they revisited the scene of the crime in a distinct black Mercedes with a white roof and black alloys tires. This made Flying Squads' job easy for them.
My conclusion: a good story, poorly told.
So it's a great story and documented quite well, i.e. all the facts are covered. But there are problems in the telling of it by Bilefsky.
Others have commented that the book is poorly written to the point of being unreadable.
I agree that the book is in need of a good editor. Certain details are mentioned repeatedly as if the author were being paid by the word. And what I found really annoying was the author often repeating verbatim the taped conversation the police made of the thieves resulting in dialog like:
"No, I haven't, no, I'm not saying no, no, I don't know."
As I said, annoying but I managed to get through it mostly because the story was so compelling.
In the end the thieves were quite clever in some areas but very unwise in others. For example, after the break-in, they repeatedly went back to the pub where they had planned the whole caper and talked quite openly about it, congratulating themselves on their remarkable success. Also, during the break-in, they smashed some of the CCTV cameras around the building, but not all of them. And several times they revisited the scene of the crime in a distinct black Mercedes with a white roof and black alloys tires. This made Flying Squads' job easy for them.
My conclusion: a good story, poorly told.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2025
A squad of old British guys who are late-career thieves spend a few years meticulously planning how to break into a seemingly impenetrable jewelry safe deposit and get away with approx. 20 million dollars (this book will school you on, if nothing else, the pounds-dollars exchange rate circa mid-2010's) worth of diamonds, gold, etc. etc...................but screw up the aftermath and get caught, ending up in the big house despite winning the affection of the public who apparently couldn't get enough of tabloid coverage of the case.
Author had great cooperation from the detectives who cracked the case, and they in turn had a LOT of detailed knowledge of the caper thanks to bugging conversations among the perps and other methods I probably shouldn't disclose. Author does a great job of immersing reader in the moment -- I found myself getting nervous when they ran into certain obstacles during the heist ("hurry up! we're going to get caught!"). Perhaps I overidentified with my fellow old guys. For the record, I do not do burglaries of jewelry or anything else.
Not to minimize the trauma of having all your stuff stolen from safe deposit box, but at least it's not violent, and some got recovered eventually (a loose end concerned whether they had hidden some and were planning to retrieve after their sentences end), so as true crime goes it's not high on the horrifying scale, and there are many funny characters/scenes. The interpersonal dynamics of the team of perps alone are worth the price of admission. Apparently it was made into a movie with Michael Caine as the group leader -- may have to check that out.
Author had great cooperation from the detectives who cracked the case, and they in turn had a LOT of detailed knowledge of the caper thanks to bugging conversations among the perps and other methods I probably shouldn't disclose. Author does a great job of immersing reader in the moment -- I found myself getting nervous when they ran into certain obstacles during the heist ("hurry up! we're going to get caught!"). Perhaps I overidentified with my fellow old guys. For the record, I do not do burglaries of jewelry or anything else.
Not to minimize the trauma of having all your stuff stolen from safe deposit box, but at least it's not violent, and some got recovered eventually (a loose end concerned whether they had hidden some and were planning to retrieve after their sentences end), so as true crime goes it's not high on the horrifying scale, and there are many funny characters/scenes. The interpersonal dynamics of the team of perps alone are worth the price of admission. Apparently it was made into a movie with Michael Caine as the group leader -- may have to check that out.
May 6, 2019
Bilefsky paints a vivid masterpiece of nearly unbelievable true crime with thorough investigative journalism.
Using near-Brexit London as his canvas, Bilefsky explores the different shades of "grey" of criminal masterminds and the enduring human drives of greed and satisfaction. With a goldmine of Scotland Yard wiretaps to pull from and a nearly anthropoligical excavation of cockney slang, Bilefsky's portrayals of these elder statesmen of crime makes the characters nearly leap from the page.
In a gripping melange of unbridled arrogance, hubris and geriatric slapstick, the book has you simultaneously sympathizing with these senior citizens looking for their Oceans 11 moment, while laughing at the geriatric slapstick of the getaway driver dozing off for a nap during the heist, while another wanders off for a sandwich and one pees his pants during the excitement.
The Last Job shares the same heavyweight editor as Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, the book's chapters are well organized like acts in a movie (I can imagine the Hollywood rights are being purchased as I type) and the level of detail provides the concreteness of New York Times news article which eliminated any suspicions of gratuitous artistic license on the part of the author. Read the book now before the inevitable movie premier!
Using near-Brexit London as his canvas, Bilefsky explores the different shades of "grey" of criminal masterminds and the enduring human drives of greed and satisfaction. With a goldmine of Scotland Yard wiretaps to pull from and a nearly anthropoligical excavation of cockney slang, Bilefsky's portrayals of these elder statesmen of crime makes the characters nearly leap from the page.
In a gripping melange of unbridled arrogance, hubris and geriatric slapstick, the book has you simultaneously sympathizing with these senior citizens looking for their Oceans 11 moment, while laughing at the geriatric slapstick of the getaway driver dozing off for a nap during the heist, while another wanders off for a sandwich and one pees his pants during the excitement.
The Last Job shares the same heavyweight editor as Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, the book's chapters are well organized like acts in a movie (I can imagine the Hollywood rights are being purchased as I type) and the level of detail provides the concreteness of New York Times news article which eliminated any suspicions of gratuitous artistic license on the part of the author. Read the book now before the inevitable movie premier!
May 11, 2020
This is one of the most baffling 2 star books I've read and reviewed. The story is compelling--a bunch of career thieves in England now in their 60s and 70s plan a successful burglary involving muscle and planning, and then promptly mess it up by leaving clues behind and are captured. The author had great source material--he spoke to the prosecutors involved and heard the bugged calls after of the thieves who drive around with the car radio too old, complain about being old and their families, and use rhyming Cockney.
And, yet, the author blew it. The writing and editing is terrible. You start noticing it and then cannot stop yourself. Concepts and ideas are recycled. Facts are in the wrong order. An uncommon word is used without definition and then three pages later used again and defined. There is a list of 4 people with 6 entries because two people are repeated. Conversions between American money and customs and the UK are haphazard (there is explanation that the barristers wear wigs but not of the critical differences in the criminal justice system that are far more intriguing like why they all chose to or were forced to testify) to wrong (the dollar to pound sterling conversions are a mess).
It was like the book didn't go through editing. Then you made it to the end and learned it got optioned for a movie and it made some more, depressing sense.
And, yet, the author blew it. The writing and editing is terrible. You start noticing it and then cannot stop yourself. Concepts and ideas are recycled. Facts are in the wrong order. An uncommon word is used without definition and then three pages later used again and defined. There is a list of 4 people with 6 entries because two people are repeated. Conversions between American money and customs and the UK are haphazard (there is explanation that the barristers wear wigs but not of the critical differences in the criminal justice system that are far more intriguing like why they all chose to or were forced to testify) to wrong (the dollar to pound sterling conversions are a mess).
It was like the book didn't go through editing. Then you made it to the end and learned it got optioned for a movie and it made some more, depressing sense.
September 26, 2022
These guys certainly had interesting ideas on how to top up their retirement funds.
Sometimes true life events can be stranger than fiction, and this story fits the bill! A bunch of old criminals decide to pull off one last big one before they retire for good from their lives of crime sounds like something out of a movie. Only it's actually fact and it happened. However, without the happy ending of getting away with it . Nearly. But... this isn't a Hollywood story.
It's a well laid out story that introduces you to the fellows that brainstormed the idea and ironed out the details. As well as the very dedicated team of people that found them and ultimately brought them to justice. I don't think it's as easy to get away with crime in Britain with all their CCT footage these days. Or it certainly makes it more of a challenge I suppose.
Interesting story that beggars belief!
Sometimes true life events can be stranger than fiction, and this story fits the bill! A bunch of old criminals decide to pull off one last big one before they retire for good from their lives of crime sounds like something out of a movie. Only it's actually fact and it happened. However, without the happy ending of getting away with it . Nearly. But... this isn't a Hollywood story.
It's a well laid out story that introduces you to the fellows that brainstormed the idea and ironed out the details. As well as the very dedicated team of people that found them and ultimately brought them to justice. I don't think it's as easy to get away with crime in Britain with all their CCT footage these days. Or it certainly makes it more of a challenge I suppose.
Interesting story that beggars belief!
April 9, 2024
I made it to page 110 before deciding to skim the rest. The way this story was told just didn't work for me. It's not dreadful or offensive, just a bit of a chore to read.
Heaps of names at the outset made it hard to tell who would be a player in the story and who was just there to include a quote. Frequent repetition, sometimes exact, in how the main crew was described. Repetitive in general. It also pretty much gave up the story so early as to be a slog after the heist. And it spent ages on a character who you expected to be the main guy until poof, he just dropped out.
I think this could have been a more compelling story if it were better arranged and had a lot of fat cut. I just kept thinking as I read it that it could surely be shorter. I agree with another reviewer that this would have been better as a feature article than a 249 page book.
I did like the inclusion of photos in the middle of the book.
Heaps of names at the outset made it hard to tell who would be a player in the story and who was just there to include a quote. Frequent repetition, sometimes exact, in how the main crew was described. Repetitive in general. It also pretty much gave up the story so early as to be a slog after the heist. And it spent ages on a character who you expected to be the main guy until poof, he just dropped out.
I think this could have been a more compelling story if it were better arranged and had a lot of fat cut. I just kept thinking as I read it that it could surely be shorter. I agree with another reviewer that this would have been better as a feature article than a 249 page book.
I did like the inclusion of photos in the middle of the book.
May 4, 2019
An enjoyable and lighthearted book about the crime of the century in England - an analogue crime in the digital age. Several elderly criminals - bad grandpas - break into a safe in the heart of London’s jewelry district. They became folk heroes even though they wiped out many people who uninsured believing the safe was - wait for it - safe! We learn who they crooks are, who the victims are, who the police are and how the job was done.
I get a kick when authors use the same words over and over again. For Bilefsky, every crook is wily, every upscale home or town is tony, and everyone seems to have a penchant for something. Also Bilefsky’s constant conversion of English pounds to US dollars gets tedious.
I get a kick when authors use the same words over and over again. For Bilefsky, every crook is wily, every upscale home or town is tony, and everyone seems to have a penchant for something. Also Bilefsky’s constant conversion of English pounds to US dollars gets tedious.
March 12, 2020
This story is bananas and clearly will be turned into a movie or three. People in the us didn’t have this crime embedded in our consciousness the way it captured the British imagination but the audacity and identity of the actors and the heist was fantastic. The story was presented in a compelling narrative of the planning execution and police action for capturing the criminals. This is a great true crime story that Id have raved about as sequence in a fantasy novel we’re it dwarves stealing from Smaug. Though in this case there are real human victims. The story mentions them but it is hard to empathize as much as they deserve since the anti heroes are the protagonists in this story. Fans of thrillers or true crime will like this.
October 27, 2020
A detailed story, long and complex, about a group of aging thieves who pulled off the crime of the century by robbing Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in London of many millions of pounds worth of gold, jewelry and diamonds. Aging individuals themselves, they were unconcerned about the tremendous loss they inflicted on the depositors there, many of whom were of their same age.
This is a long tale about the robbery and several more allegedly perpetrated by the same group. A detailed description of the work of the London Flying Squad of detectives who brought the criminals to justice. It seemed like a longer read than needed, but there’s a lot of grit to this story and the author thought it needed the extended description. He’s probably right, l’m glad I made the trip.
This is a long tale about the robbery and several more allegedly perpetrated by the same group. A detailed description of the work of the London Flying Squad of detectives who brought the criminals to justice. It seemed like a longer read than needed, but there’s a lot of grit to this story and the author thought it needed the extended description. He’s probably right, l’m glad I made the trip.
November 3, 2019
Not terribly well written, or well edited. The most egregious error may be on p. 82, a reference to "Collins's distinctive black Mercedes with its white roof and black alloy tires." The reader was told on p. 53 that Colllins has a white Mercedes...and indeed, on p. 83, the car is white again. I really don't go looking for these errors, they just leap out at me, along with word-for-word repetition and odd punctuation choices. I plodded on, hoping things would improve, but what could have been a fascinating story was quite lacklustre, as evidenced by the length of time it took me to finish the book.
March 25, 2020
More of a 2 1/2 star book.
This book was about a jewel heist nearly pulled off by several "grandpas" - old criminals, and how Scotland Yard eventually solved the crime. I tried both reading and listening to the book. It would have been much much if it was shorter, much shorter.
I read about 25%, then went to the audio, I got within a couple of hours of finishing it, and finally just skipped to the end.
This book was about a jewel heist nearly pulled off by several "grandpas" - old criminals, and how Scotland Yard eventually solved the crime. I tried both reading and listening to the book. It would have been much much if it was shorter, much shorter.
I read about 25%, then went to the audio, I got within a couple of hours of finishing it, and finally just skipped to the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2019
I found the story interesting. I was more intrigued by the reaction in the press, media, and by the public to the these individuals. They were almost held in high regard, despite fleecing common folk.
March 4, 2020
A great story that fell a little flat. I expected to be racing through the pages of a mad-dash caper but was left disappointed, laboring to finish this book. Very well researched but little depth to the storytelling, unfortunately.
July 30, 2024
Quite a fun recap of an interesting heist story.
Gets bogged down in the details at times, to the detriment of the story.
The repetitive mentioning of the age of the men and their various ailments got tiresome. I don't need to be reminded of their bladder control issues at every turn.
Gets bogged down in the details at times, to the detriment of the story.
The repetitive mentioning of the age of the men and their various ailments got tiresome. I don't need to be reminded of their bladder control issues at every turn.
January 22, 2019
This is a Goodreads win review. This book has an amusing story about five older men who came out of retirement to to pull off a heist for their last job.
May 7, 2019
LOVED this book! Engrossing story and very well told. Such a crazy story, it's hard to believe it's real. I had trouble putting it down!
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