by Greg Logsted
ages: 11+

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Review copy provided by the publisher for the Cybils (2010, I think?)

Every kid, at some point in their lives, has imagined what it would be like to be a spy. Or the kid of a spy. Right?

Well, Cody Saron knows first-hand. The son of a CIA operative, he’s traveled the world, is home-schooled in not just the usual subjects, is fluent in five languages. He’s comfortable and happy traveling with his father. Then one of his father’s jobs goes bad, and he ships Cody to live with his Aunt Jenny, in rural Connecticut. To go to regular school. To assimilate.

Which turns out to be the most difficult assignment of his life.

He has to deal with teachers (predictably obnoxious and clueless, especially the male gym teacher), bullies (again, predictable: perhaps there’s a reason everyone goes in for picking on the new kid?), girls (*sigh*) and (most interestingly) the Army vet next door, Andy, who was involved in military intelligence in Iraq before losing an arm in battle and being sent home. The best parts of the book are when Cody’s in operative mode: there’s someone sneaking through the woods at night, and he teams up with Andy to figure out what’s going on. It makes for a bang-crash ending, that feels quite rushed, but is exciting nonetheless.

That said, the dialogue felt a bit wooden, and the situations Cody found himself in once getting to Connecticut, were not at all innovative. And the ending was just too out of nowhere.

But, the spy stuff? That was cool. Just not enough to make the book memorable.