Copy Cat

"Kid, do you believe in fate?" So begins this tale of adventure and redemption of a teenaged thief, and the legendary cat burglar who teaches him that stealing is not a game.

Josh Campbell, 16, is an abrasive, suburban delinquent typically at odds with life—his parents, his school, and his peers—but harbors an atypical dream of one day becoming a professional thief. He works under the wing a semi-retired fence and small-time pawnbroker, Abaas (Abe) Harun, who orchestrates shoplifting excursions to the mall. But with the depth of Josh’s talent going largely untapped, every night he returns to suburbia, where barricaded in his room he enacts his dreams of professional burglary in the fantasy world of video games. Life, Josh fears, will go nowhere.

That all changes during a school field trip to an affluent retirement community, and he’s caught swiping a priceless heirloom from a dozing resident. His captor berates the young thief for his sloppy moves, and forces him to return the property. But calm his ego, the humiliated young thief steals from his captor a unique silver lighter. When Abe recognizes it as belonging to his long-missing partner and legendary jewel thief, Max Brener, he sees new hope for Josh’s higher education… not to mention his own subsequent profit. Abe sends the boy back to Max with a proposition. But the scrupulous, retired pro refuses to participate.

At first Max is at the end of a life lived poorly. He has spent the last decade in search of five objects he stole early in his career, and now wants to buy back and return. Each of mysterious origins, they still hold profound meaning for their original owners—they are the last physical ties to lost relationships—something Max always denied for himself. But when their inflated black-market prices prove out of reach, the 70-year old is forced out of retirement… just in time to realize he’s too old to pick even a simple lock. For Max, Josh’s intrusion presents a fortuitous prospect. For Josh, life has hit a rare beat when fantasy is met with opportunity.

What follows is the turbulent apprenticeship of a career criminal and the unlikely friendship that forms between two generations of thieves, each with their own philosophies to life, but just one lesson to learn.

As Max masterminds a series of heists from New York to London, Josh completes his training to use common materials and common sense—and just the right amount of sophisticated gadgetry—to pull off the perfect heists.

One by one, as the items come into their possession, each reveals new levels to Max’s past, including a story of unrequited love that parallels Josh’s own. But when the apprentice learns that his mentor is surreptitiously paying their victims fair market value for the items he steals, the truth of Max’s sentimental agenda threatens to tear the partnership apart. And it does, when Josh uncovers Max’s ulterior plan to sabotage his future as a thief—for his own good.

Determined to realize his dream, Josh returns to his old boss, Abe, and conspires to steal the final object himself, and sell it to Max for everything he’s worth. But to keep the young thief firmly in his grip, Abe has secretly acquired and placed it in the possession of the only person Josh has ever truly cared for. He must now steal it quickly, or lose everything.

As the final heist unfolds, it is through Abe’s ultimate betrayal, and Max’s ultimate sacrifice, that Josh must choose his destiny.