Two Lies and a Spy

Gr 7 Up—Kari Andrews's motto is, "when all else fails, resort to violence." This is sort of odd coming from a 16-year-old prep-school student living in the DC area, but then her parents are both spies working for the Agency, which readers can presume to mean the CIA. She is also proficient at judo and takes care of her seven-year-old genius brother, Charlie, as one of her missions in life. The plot is totally preposterous. Kari gets a message from her parents to grab Charlie and hide until they can reach her. With her high school friends at her side, she does some spying of her own when her parents fail to show up at the three designated safe spots. The teens break into Langley when they find out that Kari's mother is in custody there. It seems that the Agency believes her parents are double agents working for the Russians. Kari doesn't stop until she busts her mother out of captivity and can begin looking for her father. There is a twist at the end that keeps readers engaged. Though the premise is far-fetched, the book is an easy, fun read that would be an additional purchase for libraries looking for espionage fluff.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA