Stuart Gibbs

A spy school tale, where 12-year-old Ben Ripley is invited to a CIA training academy. Things are not what they seem, and he is soon involved in continuous danger, in the company of a girl who is far ahead of him in spying skills.

It has a lot of action and twists, although we do not get much chance to enjoy everyday life at the spy school and bonding with other students. Everything it's fast-paced. The writing is quite good, and Gibbs have a tongue-in-cheek way of telling the story, in first person from Ben's point of view, that is occasionally rather funny. I also liked how Ben is always out of his depth, although he is not at all stupid.

I enjoyed the humor, and you could argue that it's a good thing that a story with such an outlandish premise doesn't take itself too seriously, but perhaps that's something that didn't work so well for me. It's just a matter of taste, but that kind of thing lowers the stakes for me, and makes it seem more unrealistic. An example of a series with a similar premise that nevertheless manages to seem relatively realistic and serious is the CHERUB series by Robert Muchamore, which I recommend.

Nevertheless, this is a quick, entertaining, well-written story.… (more)

Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley loves playing spy games on the CIA's website, convinced that one day he'll be recruited, though his parents and even his best friend Mike think it's a waste of time. However, one day, Alexander Hale sweeps in and whisks Ben off to the Academy of Espionage (a.k.a. Spy School), where he's immediately thrown into danger. A bit bumbling and unsure who to trust, he's taken under the wing of brilliant third-year and legacy student Erica Hale, who's much smarter than her golden-boy dad. A number of characters employ the "hide in plain sight and pretend to be something else," including an apparently doddering old professor and the secret mole, who's a double agent posing as a careless slacker. I did not read the original text but the graphic novel adaptation is zippy, clever, quick, and high-stakes - very appealing and fun!… (more)