Title: Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3)
Author: Ally Carter
Published: February, 2013 by Hyperion Books
Pages: 328
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the son of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting-or stealing-whatever they want. No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale’s family, all bets are off when money is on the line.
When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there’s no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won’t let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother’s will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company’s fortune. Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt.
To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she’s willing to save her boyfriend’s company if it means losing the boy.

Final Thoughts:
After Uncommon Criminals fell short of the initial spark I found in the beginning of the series, I was admittedly a little worried, even hesitant, in starting Perfect Scoundrels. It started out intriguing enough, and by half way through I was settling into the whole ‘episode of the week’ vibe. But by the end my doubts had re-emerged as to whether it would be worth it for someone like me to continue with the possible fourth novel (still to be announced). Who knows?

Title: Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society #2)
Author: Ally Carter
Published: June, 2011 by Disney Hyperion
Pages: 298
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life. Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she’s simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That’s why Kat isn’t surprised when she’s asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.

There are only three problems. First, the gem hasn’t been seen in public in thirty years. Second, since the fall of the Egyptian empire and the suicide of Cleopatra, no one who holds the emerald keeps it for long, and in Kat’s world, history almost always repeats itself. But it’s the third problem that makes Kat’s crew the most nervous and that is simply… the emerald is cursed.

Kat might be in way over her head, but she’s not going down without a fight. After all she has her best friend—the gorgeous Hale—and the rest of her crew with her as they chase the Cleopatra around the globe, dodging curses, realizing that the same tricks and cons her family has used for centuries are useless this time.

Which means, this time, Katarina Bishop is making up her own rules.

Final Thoughts:
This is actually the first sequel I’ve read in years—perhaps ever (is The Odyssey considered the sequel to The Iliad?). It hadn’t been that long since I read Heist Society, and so I was happy to find the second book in the series, Uncommon Criminals, available at the local council library. I still felt the residual itch to jump back into the world of Kat Bishop and her teen-criminal wonder crew, and though it did seem to have a tiny fleck of “sequel-syndrome”, it was still a pleasant read.