An uncommonly criminal-like book

Uncommon Criminals
By: Ally Carter
Reported by: Juli Helms

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 . . . 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.

-Summary from Goodreads


There comes a time when you will stumble across an author whose tale is so interwoven with action and suspense that by the end of the book, you're breathless, on your feet, and mind buzzing like a swarm of bees at how unbelievable that book was.
     It is safe to say that Ally Carter fits well into that rare, unexpectedly short list of authors. Carter's style is unique, straightforward, yet not so blunt as to making the book predictable.
     In fact, it was anything but. I found myself so caught up between one ingenious twist to the next that when the ending finally came, I sat there, dumbfounded, not believing I could have missed such an obvious solution.
     In the first book of the series, Heist Society, Kat and her crew breaks into the world's most secure (or so they thought) museum in the world to steal paintings (that did not, mind you, belong to the Henley) and return them back to their rightful owners. It was exciting, but I had felt like there were some fleshing out on the characters that could've been done--like icing on a cake.
     That's exactly what happened in Uncommon Criminals. I loved watching all of the characters develop, the stakes higher, the romance heated, etc. In fact, I loved so many things about this book that it would be impossible to list them all without boring you to death.
     So I'll just say this: Carter's narrative voice is smooth, fluid, and twisted--in a good way. The plot will surprise you tremendously and on more than one occasion. I loved how the crew found themselves back together, and the angle this book went on to further deepen the characters' bonds. 
     All in all, Uncommon Criminals is an uncommon criminal itself--a book that will steal your breath (and time) away and somehow, at the end of the day, you'll still enjoy it and wish furiously for the next heist.