Revenge is supposed to be a dish best served cold, but Faye Walker finds immediate, scorching action more satisfying in The Girl in the Vault, Michael Ledwidge's highly entertaining heist thriller.
Faye often proves to be the smartest person in the room in her unpaid summer internship at a Manhattan investment bank. Her skill at numbers has saved the bank millions of dollars as she corrects her less competent colleagues' work. Faye believes her aptitude with math will help her be awarded one of the two full-time junior investment analyst positions to be named at the internship's end. Faye, who comes from a humble background, feels confident about her career and a future with her loving boyfriend, Cavan, an Irish taxi driver who plans to be a first responder. When Faye finds out she did not get a job--her intelligence isn't as important to the bank officials as the other interns' Ivy League educations or their family connections--she channels her anger into a kidnapping scheme involving the bank's hidden cache of cash and a prominent family's son, who willingly agrees. The clever plan will harm the bank's reputation and net her enough money to assure a life with Cavan and help Caitlin, her younger sister.
Ledwidge (Run for Cover), a former James Patterson co-writer, brings energetic storytelling to The Girl in the Vault in a clever plot combined with a whip-smart, likable lead character. He keeps readers firmly on Faye's side, even when her tactics go sideways.--Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer