Uncommon Criminals

Uncommon Criminals is the second book in Ally Carter’s wonderful Heist Society series. From the inside cover.~

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 always repeats itself. But it’s the third problem that makes Kat’s crew the most nervous, and that is…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 and 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.

I’m a huge fan of Ally Carter’s YA books. I love both her Gallagher Girl series and her Heist Society series. Her readers are given another winner with Uncommon Criminals. I was lucky enough to have a friend pick me up a copy of Uncommon Criminals at BEA at the end of May, so I got to read it a couple of weeks early (thanks katibabs).

I loved Uncommon Criminals. We get to spend time with some of my favorite characters (Kat, Hale, Gabrielle, Simon, and of course Uncle Eddie). As Uncommon Criminals starts out, Kat has distanced herself from her crew. They all get back together once she is asked to steal the Cleopatra emerald. Everything is very fast paced from the moment the Cleopatra emerald enters the picture. Kat and her crew must pull out all the stops to right the latest wrong. We get to see Kat at both her best and her worst while the team works to figure out their next move. Only with Kat’s entire team working together, can they pull off the greatest heist in history. We also get some pretty awesome flirting between Kat and Hale (yes I feel a bit like a cougar for the crush I have on Hale…don’t judge me, he is super cute), and Kat even makes a pretty big move.

The official release date for Uncommon Criminals is June 21, 2011. I love that I was able to read Uncommon Criminals early. Of course, that means I have a longer wait for my next Ally Carter book. Luckily, the next book in her Gallagher Girl series will be released on March 20, 2012, so I have less than a year to wait for my next fix.