The Art of the Heist Review

The Art of the Heist is the infamous Myles J. Connor Jr’s true story about his wild years in the 60’s through early 80’s robbing banks, museums, having shootouts with police, and spending a huge portion of his life in and out of jail being accused of heinous crimes. Connor’s grandfather helped instill in him his love of art from a young age.

As he reached adulthood, Connor craved to own the beautiful swords and paintings that he always adored. He would steal from the archives of some of the most famous museums and was even offered a curator job once. But the biggest heist Connor has ever done is to steal a Rembrandt off a museum wall and use it for negotiating his prison sentence.

When not robbing banks and museums, Connor was the lead singer of a rock and roll band called Myles and the Wild Ones. He was known as The President of Rock and Roll to his numerous fans. Connor had a genius level IQ and could have attended any prestigious college that he wanted but instead he chose to live a life of crime.

To this day, the 1990 heist of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is still unsolved and the paintings are still missing. Although Connor was in jail at the time, the FBI always believed that he was somehow involved in the $300 million heist.

The Art of the Heist is the best memoir that I’ve read in a long time! Books about bank robberies and heists have always fascinated me and it was thrilling to read about a true story. Connor’s life while full of adventure had to have been sad for him. He was addicted to living a life of crime and suffered the consequences for it.

Connor’s memoir reads like a fiction novel with suspenseful action and nail biting courtroom drama. The book was heavily researched beforehand to ensure accuracy and that none of Connor’s confessions would cause him to return to jail. Overall, this is an outstanding true crime memoir that readers will greedily devour in one sitting.