I went into The Long Con expecting a slick, high-stakes queer heist with sharp edges and satisfying twists. What I found instead was a story that flirted with big ideas—grief, rivalry, revenge—but never fully committed to them. There’s plenty to enjoy here, especially if you love the genre, but it didn’t quite con me into full emotional investment.
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Hype Report
Read The Long Con as an ARC. So there is not a lot of hype just yet. Read the review to see if you get hyped!
Aesthetic
The Cover
The cover of The Long Con by Jenna Voris immediately caught my eye. The palette and styling matching associations for Maimi and the late 1980s juxtaposed with side by side faces in sunglasses just felt interesting. In the lenses of the glasses beach resort scenes set the stage for the heist.
Interior
This version of The Long Con was an uncorrected proof, so I cannot comment on the styling or usability of the finished digital file.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
The cover absolutely made me read the description of The Long Con. Together the premise and the visual promise made me request the ARC.
Summary
In Short
Two rival con artists are paired for a high-paying job, but can they trust each other enough to get the goods?
From the Publisher
Two rival conwomen team up on a high-stakes heist at Miami’s most exclusive new island resort in this sultry, slow-burn thriller.
Nothing brings Chloe Bly more joy than swindling rich people out of their money. Ever since her mother’s funeral, she’s used her hotel catering job to slip into people’s rooms, pawn their valuables, and use the haul to pay off her family’s medical debt. It’s a perfect system—until she finally gets caught.
But instead of turning her in, the eccentric billionaire hotel owner wants to hire Chloe for a job. The con is simple: infiltrate his rival’s new luxury hotel—pure opulence, from its lavish suites to its guests’ attire, accessible only via yacht—steal back his missing Hotel Excellence Award, and get away clean. At stake? Enough money to offer Chloe a way out of debt, out of Miami, and away from her problems forever.
The only problem is that Chloe won’t be working alone. Instead, she must team up with Harper Parisi, the disgustingly wealthy, frustratingly gorgeous conwoman who’s been crashing Chloe’s jobs all year. Suspicious about why Harper would risk it all for the billionaire’s scheme, Chloe doesn’t trust her—or the complicated feelings she sparks. With time running out and millions of dollars on the line, Chloe must get in and out without letting her emotions sabotage her chances of getting rich . . . or getting even.
Character Analysis
It pains me to say this, but the side characters in The Long Con are more interesting than the main characters. I was instantly interested in what was going on with the core set – Chloe, Priya, and Logan, but as time went on, I felt like I didn’t get enough of the personality I was promised, and was bogged down in how much time Chloe spent looking at Harper’s mouth. Even the characters of Andrew and Katharine held so much backstory, but so little was revealed in the end. I felt that the character development was lacking. It could be argued that Chloe did have a developmental arc, but it was tenuous at best.
It was great to see an LGBTQ+ cast. I wish that more of their individual personalities had been featured throughout the story.
Writing Style
For the most part, the storytelling was compelling, and the plot moved along at a fairly brisk pace, as one would expect from a thriller. It got a little murky in the middle. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for it, but there was a period where I just couldn’t be prevailed upon to care what was happening in the plot or with the characters. I think this might have been a delivery issue, but I can’t quite pinpoint what it was that was causing the issue.
Themes
There are themes of grief, revenge, and rivalry. Rivals to lovers (sorta) could be noted as a trope.
Critical Evaluation
The stakes of this heist just never landed as weighty enough. It all felt so trivial – haha, just messin’ with ya. There were some holes. For instance, the team was supposedly pulling off “jobs” all year, but most seemed to pickpocket people at upscale events, yet Logan tells the Chloe that she is a bad pickpocket? So, what the heck has been her contribution to the team? Talking their way into events? This didn’t feel thought through.
Personal Opinion
I love heist stories, and I wanted to love this one, but ultimately I just wasn’t that invested. It felt like the reasons were tenuoius, the stakes were low, motivations unclear, and the relationships muddy. I understand that the point was misdirection so you don’t “see it coming” but the reveal felt lackluster because the misdirection wasn’t cleanly executed. There was no buy-in. The main character just seemed confused and unsteady.
Recommendation
The Long Con is worth reading if you are looking for a queer heist story with relatively low stakes and light romantic elements.
Tell me your favorite heist story in the comments!
Buy This Book
May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
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