Flawless by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell Union Square Press, HK$200
As rare as the most flawless diamond is the perfect heist, planned and plotted for every eventuality. The world's hugest haul, at the Antwerp Diamond Centre in Belgium in 2003, must rank near the top on that scale - if only for its audacity.
Except that the robbery wasn't quite executed flawlessly, despite years of painstaking research, as this account shows.
In Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History, Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell have carefully pieced together the gripping events that led to the theft of an estimated US$500 million in diamonds, cash and other valuables.
The robbers bypassed two police stations, armed patrols, video cameras and vehicle barriers - and that was even before they'd set foot inside the building. Astoundingly, the Antwerp Diamond Centre was supposed to be one of the most secure buildings in the world as it housed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of diamonds.
Interwoven with the lead-up to the robbery is the history of the diamond business. Cecil Rhodes, it turns out, came to dominate the trade by establishing a monopoly on water pumps.