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Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Kat's got a new job with an intriguing new client-- Marcus. Hazel Hale has died and left the control of Hale Industries to Hale with her lawyer as the trustee. It doesn't pass the smell test to Marcus, so he hires Kat to find the real will. But whomever changed the will knows the truth about Hale and Kat and isn't afraid to use it against them. Kat's a little too close to this one. She's conning a conner, and the consequences are personal.

Guys, you know how much I love Ally Carter. Lots of action, lots of twists, lots of romantic tension and great supporting characters. This third installment in the Heist Society series does not disappoint.

I liked how the con was a change of pace, and how much more of the family got involved. I liked Kat's complicated feelings when she notices how her uncles are aging and what a central role she and her gang are starting to take. I like that she's not really at peace with it, even at the end of the book. I also really like the examination of the fact that Hale is part of Kat's world, but he's not. There's a whole side to him that she doesn't know and she isn't sure she likes it. I really appreciate and enjoy the way Carter can have her characters grapple with some big issues, and not always find solutions to them, without it taking away from the action and adventure.

There's a reason she's one of my favorites and this book just further solidifies that.

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Heist Society Ally Carter

Every time Kat thinks she gets out, they pull her back in. Her family's business isn't the mob, but art thievery. She thought she had pulled the perfect con, getting into an elite boarding school and out of the life. But then her friend Hale frames her for the perfect prank and gets her kicked out, because they need her for one last job.

A major art collection has been stolen and the owner wants it back. The only suspect is Kat's father and the owner won't stop at anything to get it back. Only problem is that Kat's father was doing a different job when the collection was stolen-- he didn't do it. The only way to keep her father alive is to find out who did steal the art and steal it back. But, it's a lot easier to walk out on your family than it is to walk back into it. Kat needs a crew, but who will listen to her now?

Fans of Carter's Gallagher Girl series will recognize and enjoy her blend of adventure, highly unlikely elite skills, and sexual tension. Kat's ragtag team of teen thieves hopscotch around Europe as they try to unravel the mystery of who really did steal the paintings and how they're going to get them back. It's a fun adventure and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Uncommon Criminals.

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Katarina Bishop is known as The Girl Who Robbed the Henley to criminals worldwide. Ever since her infamous heist, Kat has not only been living the life -- she's been living it alone, restoring priceless pieces confiscated by the Nazis during WWII to their rightful owners. Kat is the most talented teen con in the world and perfectly capable of running these jobs solo, yet everyone in her life sees this as an act of betrayal. So when Kat agrees to recover a cursed gem that hasn't seen the light of day in over thirty years, her old crew is more than ready to do what no con has done before: steal the Cleopatra Emerald. But Kat isn't the only thief hunting the Cleopatra, and none of the usual rules apply -- because the thief they're up against wrote the book on every con they know.

In Uncommon Criminals, Ally Carter once again brings the nonstop action and mind-blowing ingenuity that made Heist Society such a stellar read. Kat's crew is up to its usual antics, with the Bagshaw brothers wreaking havoc grenade-launcher style, Gabrielle turning heads and Simon doing something snazzy with a computer. Carter makes the life of a teenage con look glamorous, while still walking the fine line of moral acceptability with her heroine's Robin Hood-like ways. Kat isn't in it for the money. She reclaims artifacts stolen from their rightful owners (many taken by the Nazis during WWII) and sends them on their way home. It's a hard line to walk, and the novel takes a fascinating look at both the dangers and the delights of vigilantism.

Uncommon Criminals still features the snappy repartee and outrageous antics that make every page laugh-out-loud funny. However, the relationship between Kat and Hale has grown angsty. The young lovebirds dance around each other tantalizingly, but never grant readers a final moment of gratification. Their hot-and-cold tension costs them the spark they possessed in book one, and that, combined with a major mistake, makes Kat self-conscious in a way that doesn't mesh with the girl we know and love. Kat from Heist Society was a fierce and self-reliant leader, whereas this novel forces her to question her own sufficiency and skills. While those are both valid coming-of-age questions, they seem to detract from Kat's signature swagger.

The adventures in this installment are even more incredible than the first, with the teens accomplishing cons that have eluded even the best thief in the world. Unfortunately, the tricks in this story were almost too unbelievable, and never allowed readers to see clearly the carefully placed puzzle pieces that pulled the con together --- requiring a major suspension of disbelief that lessened some of the fun. Part of the intrigue of Heist Society was the teens' ability to pull off a major con because of their very youth -- it was believable even though it was incredible, coming together with a final flourish and neat bow. Uncommon Criminals lacks the plausibility that allowed readers to live vicariously through Kat and her crew.

Nonetheless, Carter's style is perfectly suited to this tale of a cursed emerald and a timeless love. The tone of the novel flows like a recounted legend, and is peppered with the spectacular history of both the Cleopatra Emerald and the Bishop family. Carter has quite a few surprises up her sleeve, and readers will find themselves shocked time and time again as even the most preposterous impossibility becomes r

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Oscars get a social media push (including a new Facebook page and an iPhone app. Also Warner Bros. wins bidding war for rights to Ally Carter's teen caper Heist Society Plus another peek at Tim Burtons's "Alice in Wonderland") (Ad Age, reg.... Read the rest of this post

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