Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society, #2)

by Ally Carter

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 for this heist. This time, Kat's going to have to make up her own rules...

• ISBN10: 1423147952
• ISBN13: 9781423147954
• Publish Date: 21 June 2011
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

So, this is a really clever heist. And moderately engaging book. I still feel like Hale is an underdeveloped character. 

But my main thing is that all the characters act like they're in their twenties. And I get it’s YA (young YA for sure) so the characters are going to be teens. But then they should act like teens. Kat is nothing like a fifteen year old. And it’s like Carter knows that because she keeps telling us that Kat is fifteen because clearly we’ve forgotten it as she and Hale jet around the world. And her relationship with Hale (even with his lack of development) is way too emotionally mature. 

So one way or another you have to suspend a whole lot of disbelief. Either buy into the story that a fifteen year old acts like this. Or ignore it every time it says Kay is fifteen and read it like she’s 22. I prefer the latter.  

[readingwithwrin]

"Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie."



I loved getting back into this world and how fun it is. Carter has once again done an amazing job of writing not only a funny story, but a nice little mystery/thievery as well.
This book starts a few months after the Henley Kat is drunk on the high from successful heists that she has been doing alone. Meaning her family isn't very happy with her and when she gets an offer to try to steal back the Cleopatra Emerald she jumps on the chance to help another family get back something that appears to be rightfully theirs.
But when they don't turn out to be who they said they were Kat's world goes into chaos and she has to turn to her family while also keeping it a secret from certain people in the family as well.
With having to ask her family for help comes the very complicated relationship she has with Hale. For once in a story I don't mind the romance aspect because of how their relationship is and until about halfway through the book Kat still doesn't realize that Hale likes her and would do almost anything for her and to keep her safe. But when she finally does take action it all goes somewhat wrong and makes things slightly awkward between them. But now back to the heist and getting the Cleopatra back, but when the identity of the person who actually hired Kat is found out it was a surprise and showed a lot of Kat's family's past and why certain people were very particular when it comes to doing certain types of heists.
I really did love how Kat handled the situation and found a way to outsmart someone who appeared to now every heist that they could have possibly done.
With the majority of the same characters from the first book in the series you really start getting a feel for the family dynamic and how it all works.
I can't wait to read the third book in the series to see what they get up to next.


See more reviews like this on my blog!

[Chelsea]

Quick Thoughts:

1. Not really sure what happened in the end. I'm still confused.
2. Kat and Hale were really well developed. We got to really see into their minds and why they make certain decisions.
3. I love the heists. They're fun and adventurous and always make you think.
4. The rest if the characters weren't very well developed. I can't even remember their names.
5. I liked the added family aspect in this book. It was in the first one but this book really emphasized on it.

[nitzan_schwarz]

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MY BLOG; AFTERWORDS

So, if you read my review of Heist Society, you probably didn't expect me to pick up book two. I didn't think I'd do that, either. But then, while looking through my local bookstore, I found a hardcover copy of Uncommon Criminals and I just... thought it was so damned pretty. #Shallow

I was hoping Uncommon Criminals might actually live to the potential of the awesome idea behind these books, but while it was a better read than the first, it was by no mean anything incredible.

Maybe Carter's writing is just not for me - a lot of people praise this book as an exciting and fast story. To me, the book was the complete opposite - it was a fast read, sure, but the content of the book felt slow and somewhat anticlimactic.

I did like Kat a whole lot more in this book. While she's always been likable, she's also been a flat character. In this installment, she's added more depth and felt a lot more rounded. She still lacked a past, but it wasn't as intolerable as in Heist Society.

Alongside Kat, Hale and Gabrielle get an upgrade in the depth department as well. Unfortunately, Simon and the brothers are left as the one dimensional decoration they were in Heist Society which sucks because I really like these characters. Far more than I like Gabrielle.

As for the romance - it was still such a small, undeveloped and unsatisfying part of the plot, but I am proud to say I'm Team Hale, and luckily (if I'm reading things correctly) he's also endgame, so yay for me! Though, I don't think my curiosity in that aspect is enough to make me read on with this series.

One thing that really bothered me and drove me nuts were the heists themselves. Lots of parts were just left out and made no sense at all! Like, the Interpol. For god's sake, how did they make all these things explode? Or the doves and the casino. Maybe those are actually robot doves and that's why they did exactly what they wanted them to.

I felt like Carter thought of all those interesting ideas for the heists, but had no idea how to explain them... so she didn't, believing the reader would just suck it up despite it. It may not bother everyone, but to me this was a major issue.

Maybe book three will be better. Maybe not. I'll probably never find out.

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Old Version
To read this review and more pop by my blog Drugs Called Books

(This only looks like a long review cause I'm a space freak...)

If you would've asked me two weeks ago if I thought I was going to read this book anytime soon, I would've told you no. Heist Society did not impress me, and was a bit of a disappointment to me.

But then the most unbelievable thing happened; I found the book in my bookstore. Don't laugh, that's a truly unimaginable occurrence. Our bookstores are small and porely stocked when it comes to books in English, and I've never once seen the first book in the series. But there it was, sitting there, staring at me, looking all... pretty.

I truly love that cover. I don't know what it is about it that makes me love it, but I do.

And if that's not enough, it was in hardcover. Not the massive and heavy hardcovers we know, like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows or Bitterblue (which I have), but a hardcover just the right size. The kind of hardcover that makes you happy looking at it, that promises protection to the book's precious pages when you stuff it into your backpack to read in school.

Combine the cover and the hardcover and you have me, buying the book, hoping against all hope that this one in the series will be phenomenal.

Let me tell you something first; Heist Society was not a bad book. It was a light, fast read. But for me it was also a flat read. Perhaps it was the state of mind I was in at the time, but I never enjoyed it as others did.

But still, I bought this one. Because I love the idea of these books; young thieves, a female thief as a leader. The way it's handled is the part I'm less fond of.

This was a better read for me than the first. The main characters got more rounded, the plot more interesting. It wasn’t an amazing read, but it was nice.

Still, I’ve got a feeling Mrs. Carter’s writing is just not for me. I mean, I’ve read a lot of reviews saying how exciting and fast this book is. It’s a fast read. It’s not a fast story. Does that make any sense? It only took me a day to read this book, but the content of the book felt slow and somewhat anticlimactic. None of the parts felt truly “exciting” . I think it’s just an issue with me and Mrs. Carter’s writing.

Don’t get me wrong, her writing is by no means bad. It’s good. It just doesn’t generate the desired response from me. It doesn’t excite me, and left me feeling things moved rather slowly.

It saddens me that I don’t get as in love with it as others have, but that’s just life, I guess.

I did like Kat a whole lot more this book. She was always likable, but she felt flat to me on the first book. Here she had more depth. I still felt she lacked a past, but I could overlook it.

I’m totally Team Hale. I don’t even know why Nick is there, but I was glad [he never really stood as a love interest]. I mean, Hale and Kat are made for one another :]

And despite that… The relationship between Hale and Kat drove me crazy. I read this book mostly to know if they get together and when. It took a lot of time for that to happen, and I felt really unsatisfied. They acted just like friends for the most of the book, and I could not figure out if they were or weren’t an item by the end. Which might force me to read the next book.

The characters more developed in this book are Kat, Hale and Gabrielle.
Simon, Nick and the brothers are still pretty one dimensional, which is kind of sad because I really like Simon and the brothers. I think they're better than Gabrielle or Uncle Eddie, anyway.
I’m kinda wondering if something can happen between Simon and Gabrielle?

One thing that really bothered me were the heists themselves. Lots of parts were just left out, and made no sense.

For example, the theft of the stone was just simply too easy. But okay, never mind that. The Interpol. For god’s sake, how did they made all those stuff explode? Wouldn’t you have to already be in the building to do it? It made no sense!

Or the doves at the casino. How the heck did they manage to make them all fly into the casino? They did not release them in the casino, so how did they direct them.

I felt like Mrs. Carter thought of all those interesting ideas for the heist, but had no idea how to explain them; so she didn’t, trusting the reader would just make something up. That would not bother everyone; but it bothered me. A lot.

Anyway, I liked Uncommon Criminals better than Heist Society. It’s not amazing, but it was nice.

3 stars.

[notajammiedodger]

Uncommon Criminals is the sequel to Heist Society. I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the first one. I read them straight after each other and they both flowed together really well. It feels sad to have finished them both and having to be leaving behind Kat's world for the time being. Again this one was a really fun read, for me mystery and teenage thieves was something really fun to read about, this book had lots of suspenseful moments that had me a little worried for the Kat and her crew. The Heist Society books were very entertaining read and I would definitely recommend them, I am hoping that there will be more books in the series. I would love to read them :)

This review is also on my blog The Confessions of a Book Nerd :)