The Great Greene Heist is a middle grade novel by Varian Johnson that follows Jackson Greene, a middle school boy and nearly reformed prankster, who tries to win his crush through hijinks. The novel was named Publisher’s Best Summer Book of 2014, ALA ALSC Notable Children’s Book in 2015, and received a Kirkus Star Review. Johnson published the sequel To Catch a Cheat in 2016. Johnson is also the author of The Parker Inheritance, which won the Coretta Scott King Award, Playing the Cards You are Dealt, and Twins a graphic novel.

Plot Summary

Jackson Greene is ready to part ways with mischief-making and heist hijinks until he hears the news his arch nemesis Keith Sinclair is running for Student Council president, and if elected, plans to use his power to siphon funds away from other student organizations to his Gamer Club. Keith is set on revenge after Jackson and Gaby de la Cruz embarrassed him on the basketball court in the legendary Blitz at the Fitz. To make matters worse, Keith is running against Gaby, Jackson’s crush. Using his father’s wealth and ability to get early releases of popular video games, Keith bribes the other candidate to drop out, leaving the contest between Gaby and himself, and leaving Jackson worried about the fate of his beloved Botany Club and the Tech Club that is so important to his friends.

Reclaiming his role as Maplewood Middle School heist mastermind will prove difficult, as Jackson is still repairing his reputation after his last caper ended with Dr. Kelsey catching him kissing Katie Accord, the superintendent’s daughter. The event, infamously titled The Mid-Day PDA by everyone except Jackson, happened four months ago, and Gaby has not spoken to him since. When Jackson expresses his concerns about the election to Gaby, she reminds him he must follow the rules and stay out of trouble, which means staying out of the election drama. However, when Jackson learns the principal Dr. Kelsey is accepting a bribe from Keith’s father to ensure he wins the election, Jackson decides he must act to keep the bully out of a position of power over the entire student body. With just three weeks until the election, Jackson assembles a team to help him throw a wrench in Keith Sinclair’s plans. Charlie, Gaby’s twin brother and Jackson’s best friend, will serve as his right-hand man. Hashemi Larijani, devoted Trekkie and coder extraordinaire, takes the job as the team’s tech guru and Victor Cho provides financial backing for the team’s supplies. Bradley Boardman, an art geek and main office volunteer, becomes the insider link to the copy room where Lincoln Miller, the chair of the Student Honor Board, will tabulate the results.

As the election looms closer, Jackson and the team formulate a plan to steal the Scantron machine used to count the votes from the copy room and reconfigure it to swing the election for Gaby. As Jackson works to overcome the challenge of getting past the ironclad Guttenbabel lock on the copy room door, which locks from the inside and outside, Charlie helps Gaby gain more support by earning the loyalty of the environmental team led by Carmen Cleaver. However, when Carmen’s group SAKS learns that Keith’s posters are not made from recyclable material and defaces them, Gaby worries the tone of the election is turning nasty. On top of her anxiety about the campaign, she must figure out how to deal with Omar who wants to be her date for the formal. There is only one person Gaby wants to go with, and she cannot be sure he feels the same since he kissed another girl.

Jackson, Charlie, and Hashemi break into the school and gather enough information to order a replacement machine and snap photos of the lock system. Employing the services of Jackson’s brother Samuel’s friend, whose father owns a lock and key shop, the crew obtains copies of the keys needed to enter the room. When the crew returns to Hashemi’s storage shed and finds all their supplies including the counting machine stolen, they know they have been double-crossed by Victor and their chance at stealing the election hangs in the balance. Jackson scrambles to create a new plan while he continues to work to repair his relationship with Gaby. After delivering a compelling speech which was met with thunderous applause, Gaby feels more confident about her chances of winning, but she still does not know how to handle Omar. She decides to be honest and tell him she only wants to attend the formal as friends.

Election day arrives and everyone is on edge, even Dr. Kelsey, who plans to alter the results if Keith does not emerge as the winner. When the machine malfunctions, the results are delayed until the evening of the dance. Jackson arrives at the dance wearing a tuxedo borrowed from his brother as well as a hidden microphone. Hashemi, who hoped to snag a dance with cheerleader and fellow Trekkie Megan Feldman, is stuck in the surveillance van keeping track of the team via microphone. Keith, Gaby, and Dr. Kelsey are unknowingly wearing GPS chips in flowers gifted to them by the Botany Club. Megan is tasked with distracting Lincoln, and while he monitors the machine, she swaps his key. In a desperate moment of panic, Keith enters the copy room with the supplies Victor stole from Hashemi’s shed and prepares to stack the ballots in his favor.

When he hears footsteps, he hides in the closet with the evidence in hand. Keith hears Jackson’s voice discussing the rigged machine and waits until the coast is clear to exit his hiding place, but when he goes to unlock the door, his key does not work, trapping him in the copy room. Dr. Kelsey, Lincoln, and Charlie enter the copy room to check the results.

Bradley delivers a congratulatory bouquet to Gaby which promptly incites sneezing from everyone. When a sneeze emits from the closet, Dr. Kelsey opens the door to find Keith clutching his falsified ballots. Lincoln declares the election compromised and Keith banned from any future Student Council campaigns. Intent on taking down Jackson Greene once and for all, Dr. Kelsey asks to search his pockets and Gaby throws herself into his embrace long enough to swipe the evidence from his pockets. Gaby is declared the unofficial winner of the election, Hashemi finally gets his dance with Megan, and Jackson awkwardly hugs Dr. Kelsey. Jackson confesses the real reason for the Mid-Day PDA was his need for dance lessons from Katie. He sincerely apologizes to Gaby for any pain he caused her, and she agrees to teach him the merengue. Much to Charlie’s dismay, Jackson decides to not expose Keith’s treachery to the school newspaper, but when he shows Charlie the keys he swiped from Dr. Kelsey’s pocket, the duo immediately begins planning their next heist.

The novel’s back matter includes a complete list of “The Greene Code of Conduct” and “The Great Greene Heist Cons.” The author also wrote a prequel, entitled “The Kelsey Job.”