*4.5 stars. Ahhh I enjoyed this so much! Full review to come!

There was a lot of backstory that I didn't need as a fan of the show, but I think that's the nature of a tie-in novel. It's a tough balance to strike between giving a lot of background for the new fans, and not overloading long-time fans. But the con was excellent, and the characterizations and dialog was spot-on. I loved the backdrop of comic books and Comic-Con, and once I really got into it, it was quite good.So, long time Leverage fans can skim the backstory, and new Leverage fans can get a

Finished in one day! I actually recorded a podcast episode with the author, Matt Forbeck, back in December before his Star Wars: Rogue One Junior novelization came out and we chatted about this book for awhile.The Con Job is a wonderful look into an off season job they pull and it's right up Hardison's alley. They get to go to San Diego Comic Con. You get to spend time with each of the characters, but clearly Hardison is the one having the most fun. Everyone gets their moment and there are some

Edit: TNT officially announced they have not renewed Leverage so the Long Goodbye Job which aired on Christmas was the series finale. So now we can only hope that the franchise will live on in a novel series.I have been a fan of the Leverage TV show since the first episode and it is the single oldest series recording on my DVR. Add in the fact that this book revolves around the crew running a job at Comic-Con International and I couldn't believe my luck when I got the opportunity to receive an e...

The Con Job is a cleverly-titled Leverage tie-in, because the con is being perpetrated at San Diego's Comic-Con. Get it? Writer Matt Forbeck does a good job of translating the TV show's characters into book form, and he certainly puts his research (or experience) of conventions to good use in this caper about faked comic book art, wronged artists and dangerous hentai magnates, with nods to cosplay, nerf sword fighting and backroom role-playing. As a piece of writing, it feels padded (do I need t...

This was really very terrible. The set-up for the plot was not bad, but the writing....oh, the writing. A small sample for you:"As one of the toughest mercenaries Nate had ever met, Eliot - Nate felt sure - had never had much time for things like comics. If it wasn't featured on ESPN or didn't involve cooking, it wasn't the kind of pastime Eliot cared about. He preferred to do things rather than read about them" (9).If this seems clunky, simplistic, and out of character for season-four versions

If you follow my reviews much then you know it is a rare event that I give a book five stars.. Even really good books suffer from some sort of flaw that keep me from rating it above a four. However, Forbeck has done an excellent job with this particular intellectual property and I believe it deserves the highest rating.When one reads a book based on a television series, there are a number of pitfalls that authors fall into. Forbeck manages to avoid every pitfall and rather than simply rehashing

Personally I think this book. Is brilliant. I may be slightly biased as I absolutely loved the show. Still upset it was cancelled but the writing was outstanding and the characters are also great as always. Nate and the rest of the crew head to ComicCon to take down a comic book forger and thief. Lorenzo was taking original artwork from the old time comic creators with the promise of selling them and cutting a check for the money. Anyone guess what happened? That's right a relative went to our f...

Leverage is a major fandom for me and I want to like the books badly. But I can't even finish this one. I really can't. One of my beloved characters has been kidnapped and we haven't heard from them in ages, and I am walking away because I can't stand my cringe level any longer.I'm rather suspicious that the author has much of any familiarity with the tv show, as characterization here is sketchy at best (Parker's led "a sheltered life"? Nate's easily emotionally vulnerable? Eliot's practically d...

I picked this up because I grew up with the series and it is one of my all time favorites. I absolutely loved it, it was so much fun. I thought it was hilarious that they had Will Wheaton and the character that he plays on the show, and a bunch of other people making cameos throughout the book. In addition, it featured Hardison and Parker, my two favorite characters on the show. I love their adorable chemistry and how they are starting to build their relationship. Plus, like always, they manage

4 STARSWhen I learned that there were three tie-in novels for Leverage, I worried. Tie-ins, historically, have disappointed me deeply. Why take my chances on yet another one and only to set it aside in defeat?Thankfully, that’s not the case with The Con Job. The first of the three Leverage tie-ins, it’s a little more Hardison-centric (he gets to run a con at a con, y’all!), and it’s a blast. Sure the writing sometimes strikes me as “dude who writes 250 page mystery novels all the time and they a...

The potential was there. I mean, it had all the elements: great set-up, solid con job, compelling bad guy, and a Wil Wheaton cameo.And it just...it could have been better. The dialog was stilted, and I feel like the continual revisiting of Nate's son was overkill. If you watched the show, you know about it. If you didn't watch the show, the odds that you'd find and be interested in the book are pretty slim.The climactic end scene went on way too long, there was a superfluous and poorly motivated...

The Leverage Crew steal San Diego Comic Con. This book has some flaws. For one thing, while they wind up going against a proper target (a land developer with multiple interests including Manga), the crew starts out against a basic crook who probably could have been taken down by the police. Occasionally the writing feels a little clunky when it reminds us that Nate sees Hardison as a protege or Parker has a complicated relationship with her old mentor Archie. That said, this book is worth readin...

It's really more of a 4 but I'm giving it a 5 for now. Mini review WIP, but probably not anytime soon.

This book exceeded my expectations. It is just like it would be if it was a normal episode of Leverage, but better. Since it's in a book, you read what each person is thinking whereas if it was in a TV episode, you wouldn't really know. Mr. Forbeck, you did this book justice and I thank you sooooooooo much for that. You deserve a high-five. :)

ok so this book was not the best example of heist writing i’ve ever read but as an adaptation it shone. it really knew its audience... up to & including the bit where hardison, parker & eliot show up to an over crowded hotel and There’s Only One Bed. the loose plot is that the crew have to go steal Comic Con, because Crime Reasons, and at various points they: go to a star trek party, run into cha0s (who is never seen in the same room as wil wheaton, just saying), put parker in slave leia cosplay...

A great read for all Leverage fans, especially those of us mourning its cancellation. It reads like a great episode with fast pacing, a perfect setting, a believable con, and fabulous character moments for all. I can't wait for more!

An enjoyable read. A little bit pulpy and the writing in some sections is repetitive (mentioning the same thing in almost exactly the same way only a chapter or two apart) as well as having some editing errors that can take readers out of the story. If you can get past the fact it feels a bit too much like fan-service at times, a fun, Leverage-like romp!

This rating is purely because I'm in love with the show and I have no shame for it.

You can read the full review over at The Founding Fields:http://thefoundingfields.com/2013/01/...Shadowhawk reviews the first Leverage novel, based on the hit TV show created by John Rogers and Chris Downey.“Matt Forbeck strikes again in a love letter to geeks and nerds.” ~The Founding FieldsMatt Forbeck is undeniably my favourite author, and over the last one year, definitely the one I’ve read the most, with seven novels and eight comics that were all released in 2012. And 2013 is shaping up to...