A fun, short story in the Fox and O'Hare series. ( )

The Shell Game: A Fox and O'Hare Short Story is a great story. Once again the thief is handsome, suave, and has everything in place. The new FBI agent is messy with a terrible desire to catch the thief. The shell game is played with trucks instead of cards. Very clever and delightful to read. Four stars were awarded to this book. ( )

**So sorry to see the private feature deactivated; this is my first journal entry since that happened,**

**With the absence of the "private" feature removed, be advised this is less a review and more of a reading journal entry, a memory-jogger. As such, it will be worthless to anyone but me.**

synopsis of the series:
him - good-looking 007-type only he's a very good-looking (a given) conman; suave, sophisticated and smooth
her - equally as good-looking FBI agent; somewhat disheveled; great body in spite of her diet of trash; infinity for oreos
typical: spark between them; he teases her; she lacks charisma and charm which he has in spades
common theme: is she's assigned to track him down and arrest him; her home office is LA but she travels to try to catch him; he's usually a step or 2 ahead, but to add interest, she catches up to him at least once (early in the heist)

Wholly derivative on so many copy books (e.g. Nelson DeMille's John Corey), but that's okay (to a point) b/c those are good books. This is also narrated by Scott Brick, as those were. He's a good narrator, so he's a check in the plus column. This very short book was fine, but I can see the series getting crude, probably gory and maybe pornographic. But, for now, 5*s.

synopsis of this book:
fun little book; this one had him stealing a red diamond from a low-level museum in SF. she actually caught him which is why this little book was really an intro for the first full-length book, the heist.

the title "shell game" refers to the 4 armored vehicles and literal smoke screen nick fox and team use to confuse kate o'hare during a high speed chase. she wasn't fooled, having shot out the twilight of the vehicle he was driving. the diamond ended up being a CZ substitute she'd replaced for the real one. this may lead to an interesting twist in the next book b/c it could lead to a dismissal of the case since the whole heist was about a fake - no harm done. ( )

Great series! I picture the O'Hare character being played by Sandra Bullock like in Miss Congeniality. ( )

My first Kate and Nick story. I can’t wait to see them in a novel.

From this short story prequel, Kate is a brand-new FBI agent, eager to work her first field case. Nick is a polished and experienced thief, seeking cover for his next heist.

A quick, easy read that explains the origins of other novels in this series. ( )