I love heist stories. I really do. But as much as I adore films like Ocean’s 11 or The Thomas Crown Affair, none of them have ever compared to the first film of this genre I ever saw: The Sting. It’s the granddaddy of them all and for good reason. Amazing writing, the greatest movie stars of all time, and a score that is evocative of the story even decades later. (Oh yeah, The Entertainer is totally my ringtone.)
As much as I loved writing the first two heist books, a part of me always wanted to try something different. Not a heist book—a con book—and that was what I set out to do with Heist Society 3, to pay homage to that classic con story.
Another thing I’d been wanting to do for a long time was explore Hale’s family—his relationship to them, their background and world, and, most of all, where Hale would be if Kat hadn’t come to steal his Monet that fateful night.
And finally I wanted to explore where Kat and the crew would be without Hale (and his money). In so many ways, Hale made my job easy. Need your heroine to fly to Paris and back in 24 hours? No problem. Have to buy a helicopter? Sure. Hale and his resources was making Kat and her crew “soft” and I wanted to see what would happen to them both professionally and personally if he was taken away.
So you put those three things together and you get PERFECT SCOUNDRELS.
(The title, by the way, is the only title I haven’t come up with personally. This was the brainchild of a brilliant editor at Disney-Hyperion and I’m exceedingly grateful to her.)
It was one of the more challenging books I’ve written lately because it was the most personal heist story yet. We weren’t stealing something. We were stealing someone. And as Kat and her crew know very well, love is the biggest con of all.
I hope you like it.
Ally