Spy – Page 2 – Sneak Peek Books

The Eureka Key

When middle school puzzle master Sam and history wiz Martina win a contest for a summer trip across the U.S., they discover they’ve been drafted into something vastly more extraordinary. Joining another kid on the trip, Theo, a descendant of George Washington himself, they must follow clues to find seven keys left behind by the Founding Fathers.

Together, the keys unlock Benjamin Franklin’s greatest invention – a secret weapon with the intention of defending the country. Each key is hidden in a unique location around the U.S., protected with puzzles, riddles, and traps. This has kept the weapon safe . . . until now! Gideon Arnold, a dangerous descendant of the infamous Benedict Arnold, is on the chase.

Readers of The Eureka Key will enjoy learning about one of America’s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, in this fast-paced story. The action begins from the very first page and never stops. To find a weapon hidden by the Founding Fathers, Sam, Martina and Theo must find clues and answer the riddles left by Benjamin Franklin. With the villain’s goons just steps behind them, the kids must focus on deciphering the clues. Similar to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, each new clue can also lead to a potentially deadly trap which makes for some very suspenseful moments. The clues are based on Franklin’s real inventions and readers will attempt to figure out the clues along with the characters.

While the action drives the plot, both Sam and Martina are well-developed but imperfect characters. Girl Scouts has taught the nerdy Martina to always be prepared, and her quirks make her very likable. At first, Sam laughs at everything Martina packs and teases her for her encyclopedic knowledge, but Sam soon realizes that without Martina he wouldn’t have survived the journey. Sam begins as a reckless troublemaker, but after the near-death journey, Sam asks himself, “So which Sam Solomon was he? The one who hacked into school computers to change his friend’s grades, or the one who did his best to save the country from treachery that went back more than two hundred years?” In the end, Sam’s character growth and maturity will please and surprise readers.

The Eureka Key will appeal to a wide range of readers. Those who love mystery, puzzles, history, and action will enjoy The Eureka Key. Even though the story has many historical facts, they are integrated into the story, and they never read like a history textbook. Some of the characters are descendants of historical figures and one character is a descendant of Benedict Arnold. While some believe Arnold was a traitor, his descendant reminds readers, “History sometimes forgets the truth.” Readers interested in learning more about Benedict Arnold should read George Washington’s Spies by Claudia Friddell. The characters, mystery, and history combine to make a highly entertaining story that will have readers reaching for the next book in the series, The Eagle’s Quill.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

A man who Sam calls “Aloha” kidnaps Sam, Martina, and Theo. Sam tries to leave clues for others to follow. “A second later, the loudest sound he’d ever heard nearly split his eardrums open. He yelped, and Martina jumped about a foot. . . Aloha was standing behind them with his gun pointed at Sam’s hat, which lay on the ground with a smoking hole through the brim.”
Several times someone points a gun at the kids to force them to comply with orders.
To find the eureka key, the kids must answer riddles. If they answer incorrectly, a deadly trap awaits them. While trying to figure out a clue, the kids make a mistake and, “The light around them seemed to flare, and Sam stumbled back, blinking madly. . . Then a scream filled the air. It came from Aloha. . .The orange flowers on Aloha’s shirt burst into red flames. He howled in pain, staggering across the plateau, as the fires took hold.”
As Aloha is flailing, “Aloha was still holding his gun; it swung toward Theo as the man twisted and wailed. Theo dodged to the side as a bullet cracked in the air, and at the same moment Aloha’s left heel vanished off the edge of the cliff. He toppled and was gone, his screams lengthening.” Aloha dies.
The villain, Flintlock, pulls a gun on the kids. When the kids open a secret door, “Theo snapped upright, driving a fistful of rocks into the man’s stomach.” Theo and Martina run, but someone has a hold on Sam. Then, “Something whizzed past Sam’s face, and then Martina’s flashlight cracked his captor right on the bridge of his nose. The hand around Sam’s arm loosened as the man howled.” The kids escape.
To escape a trap, Martina connects an electrical circuit to herself. “Martina’s body shook as if she were a puppet with a madman yanking at the strings. . . Martina dropped to the floor as if the puppeteer had tossed her away and lay there—still as death.”
The bad guys and the kids are in a room that has a lot of keys hanging from the ceiling. One of the bad guys, Jed, “grabs a key. Sam was sure he could hear electricity leaping from the key to Jed’s hand. The instant his huge fist closed around the key, he was flung across the room, so quickly he didn’t have time to cry out. He crashed to the floor and lay still.”
Sam tries to sneak away from the bad guys. Sam “took two steps toward the way out, only to have a bullet blast into the wooden floor in front of him.”
A man falls into a mine shaft. “There was a sharp, panicked yell that started loud and got softer and softer. . . until it stopped.” The man dies.
During the revolution, Benedict Arnold left one of his contacts to be hanged.
One of the villains slaps “Theo across the face. . . Theo stood as solidly as a deeply rooted tree and didn’t make a sound.”
To get Sam to comply, one of the thugs grabs Martina. “He grabbed hold of her arm, clamping his other hand over her mouth and nose. He grinned as she made a startled, choking sound.”
When Sam makes a smart-aleck remark, “the back of Arnold’s hand smacked into the side of his face.”

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Oh my God and Oh, Lord are each used as an exclamation once.
Sam thinks someone is a jerk.
A man calls someone a pinhead.
Martina calls Sam a moron.
Heck is used once.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Martina tells Sam about Benjamin Franklin. “Franklin said people should try to ‘be like Jesus and Socrates . . . Sacrificing themselves for the common good.’”

City Spies #1

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. These skills allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sara is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team. No one said saving the world was easy.

City Spies is an action-packed book that delves into the world of spies. Even though the story focuses on Sara, there are multiple interesting and well-developed characters that add depth to the story. One such character, a male spy named Mother, recruits Sara. Mother’s complicated past adds danger to the story as well as a touch of humor. Mother uses memorable sayings to help the kids remember spy skills. One is, “You don’t need any hocus-pocus. All you need to do is focus.”

The story includes many flashbacks that allow the reader to see how each person became part of the team and what their special skills are. While the characters add interest and conflict, the fast-paced plot keeps the readers guessing until the very end. The conclusion ends abruptly; the ending is logical but doesn’t wrap up all of the story’s threads. Instead, the conclusion leaves readers wondering what will happen in the next book, City Spies Golden Gate.

Anyone who loves a good spy book will enjoy City Spies because of its blend of action, mystery, and wonderfully complex characters. Even though the plot twists and turns in interesting directions, the main threads are easy to follow. Like all spy books, people die and are injured. The descriptions of death and injury are mostly told in the past tense without adding gory descriptions; however, this aspect of the story may upset younger readers. Fans of more mature mysteries such as the Theodore Boone Series by John Grisham will find City Spies an equally entertaining story.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

When Sara was put in a jail cell, other girls start bullying her. Emily stood up for Sara. “With lightning speed, she jabbed her thumbs deep into the sides of the larger girl’s rib cage, making her gasp for air and stagger backward. . . Emily reached over and carefully guided the other girl back to the bench, making sure she didn’t fall.”
On an undercover operation, Mother was betrayed by his wife. Mother’s “hands were tied behind his back, his feet were wrapped together with wire, and a rag had been forced into his mouth so he couldn’t scream for help. . . Each breath filled his lungs with smoke and brought him closer to death.” With help, Mother is able to escape.
While in boarding school, one of the students caused an explosion that destroyed a statue of the school’s founder. “The head had apparently been blown off in the explosion and now sat upside down in a nearby flower bed. There was still some residual smoke emanating from Mrs. Hobart’s neck.”
Two undercover agents are killed. “It was two days until their bodies were discovered floating in the Seine.”
Sara’s teammate Rio talks about a suspect. “. . . Carmichael was severely injured in an explosion when he tried to use dynamite to blow up a bulldozer at a logging site.” He died from his injuries.
Sara runs away from a bad guy. She tries to enter a secret passageway, but the man follows. The man “took another step, and just as he was about to reach for her, the smile disappeared and his substantial body crumbled to the floor, landing face-first with a loud thump.” Someone shot the man with a tranquilizer gun.

Drugs and Alcohol

While breaking into her old foster home, Sara worries that “Leonard is sitting in his recliner watching television and drinking beer.”

Language

Bloody is used four times. For example, when Sara tricks some of the agents, someone says, “That’s bloody brilliant.”
When a girl tries out for the school play, one of the teachers says, “Maybe if you had fewer desserts you’d be more princess and less frog.”
Someone says un-freaking-believable.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

Spy School #1

Ben Ripley’s just a normal, average middle schooler until he finds a man in a tuxedo sitting on his living room couch. Recruited by the CIA and sent to their secretive training school, Ben finally has a chance at his dream job: secret agent! Unfortunately for him, his innate math skills won’t help while he’s battling ninjas, fighting off assassins, dodging insane professors, or just trying not to die on the first day of class.

With all the crazy combat and intense classes, Ben starts to miss his normal life and regrets accepting the spy school’s invitation. After learning the CIA is using him to discover an evil mole within their organization, Ben has an opportunity to prove to everyone that he’s capable of saving the day. Joining forces with Erica Hale, the top spy in the school, the duo hunts down the nefarious double-agent under the CIA’s nose. After cracking codes, stealing secrets, and dodging bullets, Ben and Erica realize the mole is closer than they think! Will Ben and Erica stop the mole before their master plan is complete?

Spy School is a non-stop spy thrill ride. From car chases in Washington to killer ninjas in math class to fighting off an assassin with a tennis racket in his underwear, it seems Ben Ripley never gets a break at his new school. However, with the intense, heart-pounding action sequences, Gibbs manages to keep the action appropriate for young readers.

Although Ben Ripley isn’t a super spy, middle school readers will relate to his insecurities and desire to fit in. Ben moves to a new school and has trouble making friends because both bullies and teachers pick on him. The administration uses him to find a flaw in their organization, and no one thinks he can succeed. As the story progresses, readers root for Ben as he fights off bad guys, makes friends, and grows confident in his spy abilities.

Fans of espionage thrillers will enjoy Spy School with its fast-paced action, witty jokes, and plot twists. The story of friendship, self-determination, and self-belief will entertain readers as it teaches positive lessons. Readers will learn the importance of being themselves and that everyone has value. With its tame violence and mild language, the Spy School series is a good precursor for other espionage series, like The Theodore Boone series and The Gallagher Girls series. Altogether, Spy School is an engaging story for readers that will keep them on the edge of their seats with its intense action scenes and surprise ending.

Sexual Content

Ben has a crush on Erica. When they first met, Erica tackles Ben to the ground and Ben thinks to himself, “The girl sitting on my chest appeared to be a few years older than me, fourteen or fifteen, with thick dark hair and incredibly blue eyes… She even smelled incredible, an intoxicating combination of lilacs and gunpowder.” However, Erica is often cold to Ben, and there is no “romance” in the story.

Violence

When Alexander Hale and Ben arrive at Spy School, Alexander knows something is wrong. The campus was quiet when it “ought to be crawling with people right now.” Ben gets out of the car and runs as “something crackled in the distance. A tiny explosion erupted in the snow to my left. Someone was shooting at me!” Alexander shoots back as Ben reaches the dormitory door. Ben runs into the dormitory area and “something suddenly swept my feet out from under me. I landed flat on my back. A split second later someone dropped on me, sheathed entirely in black except for the eyes. Each knee pinioned one of my arms to the ground.”
During the fight, Ben meets his attacker, Erica Hale. Erica is a fellow student who hands him a taser and commands him to follow her as they head to the Nathan Hale Administration Building. As they head up the stairs, Erica notices two enemy agents, so she commands Ben to cut through the library and make it to the principal’s office. Erica attacks them and Ben runs into the library as “gunfire raked the carpet behind me and splintered the doorjamb as I lunged for safety.” Ben heads up a spiral staircase and “a bullet pinged off the banister just as I reached the third floor.”
Ben notices a black-clad man clutching a machine gun darting toward his staircase. Ben grabs a book from one of the shelves and drops it from the railing. “From below came the distinct thud of book colliding with a skull, followed by the grunt of the assassin collapsing.” As enemy agents start to surround him, Ben quickly finds the principal’s door. Ben throws himself against the locked door. Ben “flipped on my taser and jammed it into the keypad. The tiny screen flickered as I shocked the system. Then the electricity overloaded, and every light in the hall blew out, plunging me into darkness.” Ben makes it into the principal’s office where Alexander Hale, Erica, and the principal inform him he just failed the first test of Spy School. This scene takes place over 15 pages.
After talking in Professor Crandall’s Introduction to Self-Preservation class, Professor Crandall tests Ben’s knowledge with a pop quiz. Crandall opens a door by the podium and three ninjas vault through. They are clad in black from head to toe and armed to the teeth. As Ben tries to escape through the back door, “a throwing star embedded in the door. I spun to find the ninjas creeping slowly up the steps. The one in front spun a pair of razor-sharp sai knives. The other two twirled nunchucks.” As Ben runs away, he hears something whistling through the air behind him. Ben “turned to find a nunchuck quickly closing the gap between the ninja who’d thrown it and my forehead. This was followed by an absolutely incredible amount of pain.” Ben is knocked unconscious. This scene takes place over two pages.
During the school’s annual war game, Ben is chased by an attacker he recognized from Chemistry 102: Poisons and Explosives. Ben jumps down a snowy slope head first as “a paintball whistled past my ear and splattered a rock.” Ben lands on rocks below, feet first, as his attacker levels a gun. All of a sudden, “a red paintball nailed her in the helmet, splattering all over her faceguard.” Zoe, one of Ben’s friends and teammates, shoots the attacker in the head.
Then, Ben and Warren decide to attack the other team’s flag on the other side of campus. There’s only one problem, the enemy team has Bullseye Bailey, the best sniper “rumored to be able to decapitate a flea with a bullet from a mile away.” As Warren distracts Bailey, Ben becomes distracted, and Warren ends up covered in blue paint. “As this happened, something burst out of the snow on our side of the mill, away from the action. It took me a moment to realize it was a person. Someone who’d somehow dug through the snow to within mere feet of the guards without them noticing.” Erica appears from out of the snow and captures the flag before anyone realizes what has happened.
As Ben is held in the school’s security room, he watches as Alexander and a team of agents surround the enemy on campus. “Video images were now coming up faster and faster as the agents tried to track everything that was happening on the surface at once. I caught glimpses of the enemy hurtling past cameras in the woods, teams of CIA agents en route to the dormitory.” The agents attack the enemy and “a dozen nets were launched at once. Four hit their target, while two took out agents who got caught in the crossfire. The enemy went down in a heap, tangled in nets, then rolled over to find fifty agents converging on him with guns raised.” However, the enemy turned out to be Mike Brezinski, Ben’s best friend. At that moment, “an explosion blew the steel door off its hinges behind me… Sedation darts took out the agents at the monitors before they could even reach for their guns.” Another dart nailed Ben in the shoulder. This scene takes place over four pages.
Murray tries to escape the school, but Ben orders Murray to stop or he will shoot him with his M16. “Murray froze and turned around, allowing me to see he also had a gun in his hand. He aimed right back at me.” Murray opens fire and the first bullets hit a tree two feet to Ben’s right. Ben returns fire, hitting the roof of the Hale Building. “The ice on the steep peaked roof had frozen into a crust several inches thick. Both my bullets pounded into it, sparkling a network of fractures. A few small glaciers calved free and rocketed off the roof, knocking a dozen massive icicles loose from the eaves en route.” Ice flattened Murray, who is arrested. This scene takes place over two pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Ben calls Chip a jerk. Erica says, “Jerks hang you up from the flagpole by your underwear. They don’t blow up schools.”
Ass is used one time. Ben tries to break into the principal’s office by slamming himself against the door. However, “It was locked. I bounced off it and landed on my ass in the hall.”
Ben tells Erica how someone tried to coerce him into hacking the school’s mainframe. Erica says, “And thus would’ve kept his hands clean. Doing something stupid isn’t so stupid if you can get someone else to do it for you.”
In an attempt to save his own life after an assassin sneaks into his room, Ben tries to ramble on about how to break into the CIA’s mainframe. The assassin detects Ben’s lies and says, “I’m not an idiot. And I’ve run out of patience. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Chip doesn’t believe Ben took on an assassin all by himself and says, “He’s a dork. If that had been a real assassin, he’d be dead.”
During Chip and Ben’s fistfight after the war game, “dozens of students and faculty had just returned from the war game only to find us writhing about on the floor like a couple of idiots.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

by Matthew Perkey

Mac Cracks the Code

The Queen of England calls on Mac B. once again! This time, Mac must crack a secret code that has been recovered from a double agent. A series of clues leads Mac to France, to Japan where he comes face-to-face with his arch-nemesis the KGB Man, and to the world headquarters of Nintendo! Is the KGB Man secretly behind all of this? Are Mac’s video game skills good enough to face down his enemy at the Video Game World Championships?

Even though the events in Mac Cracks the Code are at times ridiculous, the story incorporates historical and language lessons into the events. The story teaches spy terminology such as cytologist, as well as portmanteau words. There are also world maps that show Mac’s travel routes, which helps readers understand where countries are in relation to each other. Readers will also be eager to try to figure out the clues to the mystery.

Mac Cracks the Case will entertain even the most reluctant readers with its fast pace and hilarious events. Short sentences, humorous illustrations, and simple vocabulary will help readers build confidence. Video games play a part in the story’s plot, which adds interest for those who like video games. Because several of the characters appear in the previous books, readers will get maximum enjoyment if they read the series in order.

In Mac Cracks the Code, Mac tells his own story with humor and puts a spotlight on the absurd. The conclusion will have readers cheering for Max and groaning when the Queen of England gives Max a gift. The Max B. Kid Spy Series continuously gives readers engaging stories that will have readers laughing out loud. Any reader who enjoys intrigue will want to add the Max B. Kid Spy Series to their reading list.

Sexual Content

None

Violence

None

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

The KGB man tells Mac, “You look like a doofus!” Mac uses the same words to describe the KGB man.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

Top Secret Smackdown

Ravens have been stolen from the Tower of London! Mac B.’s top-secret mission? Travel to Iceland and retrieve the ravens. . . or Britain is ruined!

In Iceland, Mac discovers secret submarines, hungry polar bears, mysterious blueprints, and his old archnemesis! Is the KGB man behind this birdnapping? Can Mac get the ravens to safety? It’s time for an epic, top-secret smackdown between these two secret agents!

The third installment of the Mac B. series continues the punny fun. Mac learns more about the United Kingdom’s history as well as the difference between dolphins and porpoises. Mac discovers how a simple story can become an important legend. The queen of England orders Mac to travel to Iceland and solve the mystery. Even though the majority of the story focuses on the mystery of the missing ravens, Mac’s difficulties with his mother’s boyfriend also plays a part in the story.

The queen’s outlandish behavior will make readers giggle. Readers will enjoy the conclusion because it ties all of the events together in a unique way. Top Secret Smackdown mixes humorous puns, a mysterious enemy, and wrestling to create a fun story that will entertain even the most reluctant readers. Short sentences and simple vocabulary will help readers build confidence. Large purple and orange illustrations appear on almost every page, which helps readers envision the story’s events.

Mac tells his own story with humor and puts a spotlight on the absurd. Younger readers will love the adventure, intrigue, and interesting characters. Although Top Secret Smackdown can be read as a stand-alone book, for maximum enjoyment the books should be read in order. Readers who enjoy silly, illustrated stories may also want to read Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Series by Julie Falatko.

Sexual Content

The story implies that Mac’s mother’s boyfriend stays the night when he thinks, “usually on Saturday mornings, my mom’s boyfriend, Craig, was camped out in front of the TV watching WrestleFest.”

Violence

When Mac goes to Iceland, he looks for clues, and “someone hit me on the head with something very heavy and knocked me out.” When he woke up, Mac was tied to a chair.
The president of Iceland is telling Mac a story. She acts out part of the story when “she punched me lightly on my arm. When I tried to block it, she punched me harder in the ribs.”
The KGB man ties Mac to a chair. Mac breaks out of the ropes and pretends he is a wrestler on WrestlingFest. Mac “jumped onto the KGB Man’s back. He shook me off. . . I jumped on his back again. The KGB man stood up and threw me to the floor. He tore off his shirt.” During the scuffle, Mac throws a chair, accidentally sparked TNT, and “something exploded. The camera zapped. Its wires fried. The submarine was filling with water.”
When Mac escapes the sinking submarine, “there was another blast. . .pieces of metal came flying and knocked my legs out from under me.” Mac falls into the river but is saved.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

The KGB man calls a group of people “fools.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

When Mac is afraid that he might drown, he thinks about Father Thames. “Some people say there is a river god named Father Thames who lives in the waters that run through London. They say he has lived there for a long, long time.” Mac thought he saw Father Thames, but then he realized it was a dolphin.

#Prettyboy Must Die

After his first failed mission, Peter Smith goes undercover at an exclusive school in Colorado. Peter is supposed to be keeping a low profile. When Peter goes out for a late-night run, a classmate snaps a picture of him and posts the caption “See Prettyboy run.” When the picture becomes a viral sensation, Peter knows he’s in trouble. Before the end of the day, Peter’s school is under attack as a terrorist wants revenge. This former-foster-kid turned CIA operative will have to use all of his skills and training to stay alive.

Told from Peter’s point of view, #Prettyboy Must Die starts out with action and intrigue. However, right from the start the plot is over the top and unrealistic. The action continues throughout the story, but there are too many scenes where Peter and his friends unrealistically knock out an adult, professional, or mobster.

Having the story told from Peter’s point of view did not necessarily improve the story’s appeal as he is arrogant and doesn’t believe that others can be an asset. Peter doesn’t think girls can be accomplished and smart, which is shown several times, including when he thinks the hacker cannot be a girl because she is pretty. Girls are portrayed in a negative light once again when a group of girls don’t worry about the danger they face; they just want a picture of #prettyboy.

#Prettyboy Must Die is not a serious spy book, but it is a fast-paced story that leaves the reader wondering who can be trusted. For those looking for an easy-to-read, fun story, #Prettyboy Must Die is a good choice. Even though the violence is not described in detail and is appropriate for younger readers, there is a wide range of profanity that is used often. If you loved Aly Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, you may want to leave #Prettyboy Must Die on the shelf.

Sexual Content

Katie changes her clothing in front of Peter. He thinks, “It takes me a second to realize I probably shouldn’t be staring like I’ve just seen the promised land . . . But I can’t help but comment because, you know, Katie. Half-naked. ‘Hey girl, as much as I’d like to, this probably isn’t a good time.’”
Peter thinks about a date with Katie, “. . . I remember our one date, our first kiss, and I want to kiss her again. . .” Later in the story, he asks Katie, “Are you sure you didn’t know who I was when I asked you out? Because the way you kissed me. . . I mean, after the movie, in your car—”
When Katie sees a black SUV and realizes it has come to pick her up, she kisses Peter. “. . . I damn near forget about Sveta, Rogers, and the entire universe. I hold her like it will be the last time. She kisses me again like it’s only a preview of more to come.”

Violence

The CIA raids an arms dealer’s hideout and a man is killed. “Marchuk Sr. is now on the floor three feet inside the house, knocked that far back by the shot that has to have killed him instantly.” The raid is described over four pages. During the raid, Peter is shot.
When a classroom is taken hostage, the chemistry teacher tries to tackle Bad Guy #2. The bad guy puts the teacher in a “choke hold. Before I can even process what’s happening, the bad guy is already done with Mr. Valaquez, who he lets slump to the floor, unconscious. Or worse.”
Someone kicks one of the bad guys. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where, considering all the moaning.”
A bad guy hits a school employee and Peter hears “the sound of a fist hitting bone.” Later in the story, Peter sees a teacher who is hiding, and “I throw a left hook across his face and knock him the hell out. . . I’m pissed he’s in here hiding out instead of heading back to his class. . .”
When Peter tricks a bad guy into coming into a classroom. “That’s when I land the steel baton against his pterion, the weakest point on the skull, immediately incapacitating him. Or possibly killing him.” He takes out two other bad guys in the same way.
Katie is captured and a bad guy beats her. “. . . Officer Andrews is holding Katie by one arm, or more like holding her up.” Peter is tied to a chair and when he struggles “he hauls off and lands a right cross that feels like a sledgehammer against my face.” Later, as the bad guy is talking to Peter, he hits him in the face. Katie saves the day with, “A brutal kick to his junk . . . she hooks her foot around his ankle, sweeps his legs out from under him, then straddles his back. I’m certain it’s an image I won’t soon forget—girl of my dreams on top of the guy who wants to kill me.”
When the bad guy begins to recover from “the ball-kick she (Katie) gave him and is starting to squirm . . . she grabs Marchuk’s hair and slams his face into the floor, knocking him out.”
Peter attacks a bad guy. “. . . I land my fist against the side of his head. . .and kick him in the jewels. That brings him to his knees, but I know it won’t be for long.”
Peter and Katie go after a bad guy and he threatens to shoot them, but Peter shoots first. “When the bullet hits his left knee, he goes down before he can get off a single round. I hear the sound of metal against bone. Maglite against skull.”
Someone tries to use a drone to kill Peter and Katie. “Just as Katie takes off running, I hear a car come over the ridge, followed by a loud thump. I turn back in time to see Sveta on the car’s hood, her phone flying through the air. . . The car screeches to a stop and Sveta slides off and onto the ground, moaning. For a brief moment, I regret that she’s still alive.”

Drugs and Alcohol

A character said, “My layabout son takes nothing seriously, is only concerned about spending my money on women and drink.”
Peter gives the principal tickets to the game. After the game, the principal tells Peter, “I damn near went broke on stadium beer, but that’s what I get for celebrating a little too hard.” Later in the story, he tells Peter, “I’d been sick all morning, hungover. . .”
When Peter overhears someone say bank robbers are in the school, he thinks, “the average bank robber does so on impulse and out of desperation, usually some loser meth-head needing a hit.”
Katie injects several bad guys with carfentanil, a drug that is “ten thousand times stronger than morphine, so it acts quickly, and it only takes a drop or two.”
Peter and his friend are captured, and “then the crazy chick starts singing a kid’s chant to figure out which one of us she will shoot first.” Before she can shoot them, “Katie falls through the ceiling and onto the psycho’s back.”
When a bad guy crushes a boy’s hand, Katie fires her gun, but the bullet accidently hits Peter. Peter wants to know why he isn’t dead and Katie tells him, “It doesn’t shoot bullets. It was supposed to shoot nerve gas. . .”

Language

Profanity is used often and includes: ass, asshole, damn, dickhead, fucking, goddamn, hell, and pissed off.
When a teacher sees three incapacitated bad guys, he said, “Jesus H. Christ—are those terrorists?” Then he asks Peter, “Who the hell are you?”
“Oh My God” is used as an exclamation several times. For example, a girl says, “Oh my God. I sit two rows over from him in calculus. . . How did I not notice how hot he is?”
Peter sees a classmate and thinks, “I see Carlisle’s resident douche.”
When a teacher is looking for a bug, Peter thinks, “Despite the crazy that is happening all around us, watching The Douche have a near breakdown is fucking hilarious.”

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

Not If I Save You First

When they were ten, Maddie and Logan were best friends. Maddie thought they’d be friends forever. Maddie never cared that Logan was the president’s son. But fate dealt their friendship a deadly blow. When her Secret Service Agent father almost dies trying to save the president’s son, everything changes.

After he almost dies, Maddie’s father exchanges the White House for a cabin in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. Maddie had no phone. No internet. No friends. And no Logan. When she first moved to Alaska, Maddie wrote letter after letter to Logan, but he never replied.

Six years later, Logan appears outside of her cabin and Maddie wants to kill him. Before she can take action, an assailant appears, almost killing Maddie and dragging Logan off into the wilderness. Maddie could go back for help, but the weather is treacherous and getting worse. Maddie goes after Logan, but she’s not sure if she’s going to save him or kill him.

In typical Ally Carter style, Not If I Save You First begins with suspense and leaves the reader turning pages until the very end. Maddie is a strong heroine who doesn’t need to rely on a guy—not even the Secret Service men—to save the day. She hides her strength and smarts behind a girly persona, which makes her incredibly likable. Her conflicting emotions regarding Logan add interest and suspense to an action-packed story.

Unlike her other books, Not If I Save You First contains violence that is often described in bloody, but not gory, detail. The storyline revolves around a kidnapping, which is a more realistic storyline than Carter’s previous books. Because of this, readers can put themselves in the character’s situation. The story has several plot twists that will surprise readers and the ends with an epic fight between good and evil. When readers finish Not If I Save You First, they will feel as though Maddie is a new friend.

Sexual Content

When Maddie kisses Logan, he wishes he wasn’t in handcuffs because he “couldn’t hold her, touch her, pull her close and keep her near and never, ever let her go.” He’s disappointed when he discovers that she kissed him, so she could give him the keys to the cuffs.
Logan and Maddie kiss several times. One time, “he was growing closer and closer and then her lips were on his again, warmer now. She tasted like snow and berries and it was the sweetest thing that Logan and ever known.”
When Maddie and Logan are at school, Logan kisses her, “right there in front of their school and his Secret Service detail—right in front of the world. So she kissed him back again. And again. And again.”

Violence

Russian terrorists attempt to kidnap the president’s wife. In the process, one of the terrorists shoots at the president’s son. Maddie’s father jumps between the man and the president’s son and shoots at the terrorist. The terrorist, “looked down at his chest, at the place where blood was starting to ooze from beneath his ugly tie, and he dropped to his knees. Then the floor. He didn’t move again.”
While trying to protect the president’s wife and son, Maddie’s father is shot. Even though he is hurt, he tries to go help the first lady, and “he was still dragging himself toward the box. Blood trailed behind him. . .” During the altercation, the president’s son was shot too.
A man kidnaps Logan and in the process, hurts Maddie. “And Maddie spun just in time to see the butt of a gun slicing towards her. She actually felt the rush of air just before the sharp pain echoed through her face, reverberating down to her spine.” When she tries to get up, the man kicks her, “a sharp pain slammed into her stomach.” The man then pushes her off a cliff and leaves her to die.
Logan attempts to escape, knocking the man to the ground. “The two of them rolled, kicked and tangled together. Logan managed to strike the man in the stomach, but it was like he didn’t even feel it.” Logan stops fighting when the man has him pinned down.
Logan attempts to escape again. Even though his hands were cuffed, “he slammed them into the man’s gut, pounding like a hammer with both fists. . .” The man pulls a knife and begins “cutting into the soft flesh between his pinkie finger and its neighbor. . . then he saw the bright red drop of blood that bubbled up from his too-white skin.”
Logan tries to take a satellite phone from the man. “Logan elbowed him in the ribs, but a moment later he was pinned against the ground. . . Facedown in the mud, the cold seeped up from the ground and into Logan’s bones. . .” When Logan’s face is pushed into the mud, Maddie appears and the fight stops.
To prove that he doesn’t value Maddie’s life, the man, “pulled back his hand, and hit her hard across the face. Her head snapped and Logan actually heard the blow. . . His hand was around her throat, fingers not quite squeezing, but close.”
The man shoots a ranger. “He fired. Once. Twice. And the ranger fell.”
In a plot to escape, Maddie blows up a bridge. “. . . the old ropes and wood exploded in a wave of color and fire and heat. . .”
The man recaptures Maddie and, he “jerked Maddie against him, sliding the barrel of the gun along the smooth skin of her cheek like she needed a shave.” Logan tries to help her and the two men fight, so Maddie “kicked Stefan’s shin, right where the bear trap must have caught him, because he howled in pain, dropping the gun and bringing both hands to his legs.”
Another bad guy surprises Maddie by grabbing her and “the man pulled her back against him and squeezed her tight, his own gun suddenly pressed to her temple.” Later Maddie, “dropped to the icy ground and kicked at his legs, knocking him off balance. . .” She shoots at the trees causing limbs to break and fall on the man. “. . .When the ice-covered limb landed atop him, he didn’t move again.”
The climax takes place over several chapters in which punches are thrown, people are shot, and Maddie’s father has a knife held against his throat. In order to save a life, Maddie throws a knife at a man, and, “he looked from the knife in his own hand to the blade that was stuck hilt-deep in his chest, right where his heart would have been if he had one.” The man dies.

Drugs and Alcohol

None

Language

Freaking is used twice.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

None

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You

Cammie doesn’t just feel invisible, she is trained to be invisible. After all, when a girl goes to spy school, blending into a crowd is an art as well as a talent. However, when Cammie catches the eye of a gorgeous boy—a normal, not-spy boy—being invisible isn’t an option anymore. Cammie quickly discovers that navigating the world of romance and relationships is much harder than mastering fourteen different languages and advanced encryption at school.

Cammie puts all her spy skills to the test as she tries to keep her true identity hidden from her boyfriend and her boyfriend a secret from her spy school. She knows that she will never be able to reveal that the Gallagher Academy, which most people think is a school for rich snobs, is really a school for spies. Yet for the first time in her life, Cammie is getting a glimpse of what it means to be normal.

Although Cammie and her friends are geniuses when it comes to chemical warfare and breaking CIA codes in computer class, they are completely clueless when it comes to boys. A new roommate, a new teacher, and a covert operation class lead to laugh-out-loud situations that are simultaneously filled with suspense. Through first-person narration, Carter creates a fun, sweet story and a unique setting in which to explore the well-known troubles teens have in understanding the opposite sex.

Carter successfully creates a believable world where girls can accomplish just about anything. The characters are lovable while still being grounded in reality. Additionally, the story is full of action and explores teen romance in a wholesome way that is perfect for younger readers.

Sexual Content

When talking about an attractive teacher’s tone of voice, the narrator said, “We all heard, I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and I’d be honored if you’d bear my children.”
A CIA member, “once sweet-talked a Russian dignitary into dressing in drag and carrying a beach ball full of liquid nitrogen under his shirt like a pregnant lady.”
The girls wonder if the gorgeous guy is a “honey pot” and then struggle to explain what a honey pot is.
A friend asks the narrator if she has, “been to second base yet?”
The narrator receives her first kiss, and then later kisses her boyfriend so he will stop talking.
A boy talks about mooning the girls at the Gallagher Academy.

Violence

A teacher throws a letter opener at another teacher’s head, which they stop with a book.
In a fit of anger, a student grabs a classmate’s arm, puts it behind her back, and rips out her diamond nose ring.
During a mission debriefing, a student is shown a picture of her friend’s bloody and swollen face. The teacher explains that during torture, what hurts most is, “listening to her friend scream…she will be screaming for about six hours, until she becomes so dehydrated she can’t form sounds.” After the lesson, her friend walks in unharmed.
As part of a final test in the covert class, Cammie is “kidnapped” and a fight ensues. She is locked in a room, blindfolded, and tied to a chair.
When the narrator meets a girl who she thinks might be her competition, the narrator thinks about her ability, “to kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident, you silly vapid, two bit. . .”

Drugs and Alcohol

It is mentioned that as part of an interrogation tactics class, the students are, “under the influence of sodium pentothal,” and Cammie mentions being a wiz at poison-concocting.
A student smokes a cigarette.
When her friend announces she has bad news about Cammie’s crush, the narrator wonders if the bad news is that, “he’s taking drugs that will prepare him for a sex change operation.”
A student wonders if her first covert mission is going to be, “busting up a drug cartel that’s operating out of a night club.”

Language

A class is described as, “damn hard.”
When getting assigned a mission, the narrator said it’s like getting, “a gold-freaking-star.”
A student uses the phrase, “bloody hell.”
A student calls another student a “b—” and mentions the “B word.” The B word is implied but never spoken.

Supernatural

None

Spiritual Content

Although religion isn’t discussed directly, Cammie pretends to be homeschooled for religious reasons. Cammie also wears a cross and carries a What Would Jesus Do? ink pen in her bag because it helps her cover story.
There is a conversation about how the Bible says people have free will, but a character doesn’t feel like that applies to his life because of his parents’ expectations.