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Gr 7–10—Ani is a world-class superhacker. After doing a bit of snooping on some government servers, Ani's hacker colleague shares with her a mystery file that immediately causes men with guns to pursue both of them throughout London. But it is just a sound file—or is it? This same signature file seems to be at the root of a new musical subculture known as X-Core (pronounced "Cross-Core"). Its followers will continue to listen and tap to the beat even when the music is no longer playing. Investigating at an underground X-Core concert, Ani meets Joe, an American working for the British YETI (Youth Enforcement Task Initiative). Joe has been implanted with a superchip that links him to his supervisor, suppresses his otherwise uncontrollable temper, and releases pheromones to increase his believability. Ani decides to join the good guys, and the two are soon partnered in an attempt to track down and nullify the sound file. This work starts off strong but pushes too fast for a tidy conclusion. The result is the discovery of a caricature of a villain who lacks genuine motive. Forgiving this and suspending disbelief in the idea of kids as top-level spies, this is a solid choice for fans of Lamar Giles's Fake ID and Allen Zadoff's I Am the Weapon.