Spy Kidsmeets White House Downin this fast-paced thriller with an overabundance of violence.
A terrorist threat to the president of the United States hits home for a teenager because the chief executive is her mom.
In Greenland’s (Scouts, 2019, etc.) latest YA thriller, Cuban American Sophie Washington will never forget her 17th birthday. It begins in the wee hours when her father wakes her with startling news: A domestic terrorist group has put a hit on her mother, the U.S. president. Her mom believes the action “is coming from someone on the inside.” Even kind-eyed Frank, the Secret Service agent who’s been with Sophie “forever,” can’t be trusted. Until today, Sophie’s biggest worry was how her parents would react to her plan to pierce her nose. Now, in addition to the credible threat to her mom, no one can locate her older “goofball brother,” Erik. When Sophie gets a call for help from Erik’s girlfriend, Britta, the first daughter evades her security detail and races to meet the girl at a designated spot. But no one is there when Sophie arrives. Do the terrorists have Erik and Britta as well as their other missing friend, Danforth? The three of them went to a party earlier, according to Erik’s best friend, Max. Sophie has her own posse: Zeke (who makes her heart “tumble”) and techno whiz kids Jackson and Callie. The group met in the CIA’s Teen Intelligence Program. Espionage training and plain, old badass ability help Sophie as she tries to find her brother and save her mom. The teen hacks into a senator’s computer, kidnaps an elderly woman, and straps a dagger to her thigh before sneaking into a construction site with Zeke. No one’s virginity gets lost in the propulsive novel, but a toe does, through torture. A surprising amount of cruelty, betrayal, and violence takes place, followed by an equally startling quick recovery from all of it. Attention from Zeke unrealistically seems to balance out all the truly bad stuff Sophie experiences. Toning down her take-charge abilities would boost the believability factor. But Greenland’s decision to make Sophie’s mom not immune to wrongdoing adds interest to the story as does having both the president and vice president ex-military. And the flashbacks in italics work well.
Spy Kidsmeets White House Downin this fast-paced thriller with an overabundance of violence.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-664-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A teenager confronts a stomach-churning change in living arrangements in this thought-provoking tale from Powell (Dean Duffy, 1995, etc.). Three years after Grady’s rock star mother fatally overdoses, his grandmother and her new husband are about to trade in their house for an RV; he is facing the prospect of moving into the conservative Christian household of his beloved, mentally retarded half-brother Louie. A history of radical antagonism between Grady and Louie’s domineering stepmother Vickie makes this prospect unappetizing to him; deeply resentful of Vickie’s insistent efforts to distance Louie from anything that might remind him of his biological mother, Grady loses no opportunities to get under her skin. Ushering Grady past his reluctance, as well as ample self-doubt and residual grief, is his genuine affection—which is reciprocated—for Louis, a boisterous, not entirely naive character who leads a strong, nonstereotypical supporting cast. By the end, though the skies are far from clear, Vickie and Grady are headed toward a truce, each recognizing in the other a sincere will to give it a try. Although Powell occasionally indulges in overt psychologizing, he allows readers to see for themselves what drives a set of engaging, often surprising characters. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 20, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-37748-0
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
Third in a series of books (The Tuesday Cafe, 1998, not reviewed, etc.) set in Canada, featuring 16-year-old Harper Winslow from a suburb of Edmonton. Harper is pleasantly surprised when his conventional mother says she’s sending him to a camp for young writers. The first person he meets at camp is Mickey Taylor, enthusiastic but goofy, whose twin sister, Sunny, and father are vacationing in a nearby cabin. From the first, Harper loves everything about Sunny, and their relationship continues after camp is over. The Taylors are everything Harper’s family is not: Mickey and Sunny are schooled at home, their mother is a freelance writer, and the atmosphere in their house is relaxed. The comedy in this tale comes from Harper’s attempts to conceal his lack of romantic experience from Sunny, culminating in a very funny scene in which she repeats his fabrications about mythical former girlfriends to the Winslows. Trembath’s refreshing tale wrings from a boy’s dating foibles some genuinely tender scenes; when it looks as if Sunny might go away for a year to attend art school, Harper lands with a bump and struggles with his feelings. His first-person narrative is natural-sounding and engaging, and readers will relish this story of first love from, for a change, a boy’s perspective. (Fiction. 12-16)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-55143-121-1
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
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