Review: Double Crossed by Ally Carter

Double Crossed (Heist Society #2.5, Gallagher Girls #5.5)

By Ally Carter

Published: January 22, 2013

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

ebook, 89 pages

Macey McHenry—Glamorous society girl or spy-in-training?

W.W. Hale V—Heir to an American dynasty or master thief?

There are two sides to every coin. Whether these two can work together is a tossup.

Born into privilege, Macey and Hale are experts at mingling with the upper class. But even if they’ve never raised an eyebrow at the glitz, neither teenager has ever felt at home with the glamour.

When Macey and Hale meet at a society gala, the party takes a dangerous turn. Suddenly they’re at the center of a hostage situation, and it’s up to them to stop the thugs from becoming hostile. Will Macey’s spy skills and Hale’s con-man ways be enough to outsmart a ruthless gang? Or will they have to seek out the ultimate inside girl to help?

The worlds of Heist Society and the Gallagher Girls collide in Ally Carter’s fast-paced, high-stakes and tantalizing new story. Get a behind the scenes glimpse as Ally delivers an irresistible thriller that is full of her signature style and savvy twists. --Goodreads

4.5 Stars

Review

Anyone who hasn't tried out either of these series needs to run and get them now! What began as a Mr. and Mrs. Smith sort of book without the assassins and sex has become a phenomenon that cannot be stopped with con men coming into the picture. Spies and con men joining forces together has become something incredibly fascinating that I'm definitely hoping to see more of after Double Crossed.

Ally Carter's writing has drastically improved since her I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You days. Her two series that she releases books alternately (last year was Gallagher Girls #5, this year's Heist Society #3) top the list of books I'd kill to read. Her books are able to effortlessly capture the action and espionage required for the complexities of her protagonists' professions without going overboard or being unclear. Even with all of the alternating points of views of the characters with completely different thought patterns, the novella was easy to greedily flip through, like I was, without any problems. 

As mentioned before, the novella included multiple points of views. These viewpoints were easily distinguishable because of the spy vs. con man thinking that these characters have been drilled with. Seeing the two different series coming together in Double Crossed made it enjoyable to compare the two series. After some thought, I can't decide which one I love more. They both have characters I love to death, aka Zach and Hale. Unfortunately, there isn't any Zach here, but seeing a ton of Hale and Kat moments totally made up for it.

The mission/heist involved with this story manages to create a plot where both the smarts of a spy and con man is necessary to succeed, which I initially thought to be near impossible. Of course, Ally Carter has proved me wrong, as she has multiple times. It was a little disappointing to not see many of the characters from Gallagher Girls using their smarts, such as Cammie, Bex, and Liz (who I adore), but seeing Macey grown and mature with her new spy skills totally had me hooked. Hale and Kat's puzzlement over the whole "spy" and working with people siding with the law was adorable, and totally made me go into spasms for Perfect Scoundrels because it sets the whole thing of Hale in this elitist society with poor Kat on the sidelines. 

Cross-overs are usually an author's worst work. They're terribly sloppy, or favor one story over the other one(s) involved, which is incredibly annoying. As obvious as this is, Double Crossed is perfect in almost every way, except that I wanted more Gallagher Girl involvement. Hey! We have the main OTP of Heist Society, so why not some Liz, Bex or Cammie. The story has a good excuse for the reason behind the lack of our amazing quartet of spies, but I am never going to accept it (because I love the 4 spies together). Anyway, if you are a newbie who wants to try out some of Ally Carter's series, which you should totally do, maybe start out with this one to get a teaser on both Gallagher Girls and Heist Society series. 

Purchase Double Crossed for free: Amazon (Kindle)/ B&N (Nook)