Benjamin White

Spy High - Series Two #3

by A.J. Butcher

It's two years after Bond Team graduated and a lot has changed for Ben Stanton. He's turned his back on his wealthy family and devotes his time away from missions to charitable work in deprived countries. One such personal quests leads Ben to the border region of Wallachia - home to his old nemesis Vlad Tepesch. Tepesch has begun a campaign of ethnic cleansing that could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe - and that's just for starters. Ben must confront Tepesch and foil his schemes. And it's unlikely he will live to tell the tale ... Look out for: EDWARD RED ANGEL BLUE CALISTA GREEN JAKE BLACK AGENT ORANGE

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Espionage

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Andrew James Butcher is the English author of the futuristic teen spy series, Spy High. A.J., who taught English at both Poole Grammar School and Parkstone Grammar School, in Poole, Dorset, and currently teaches at Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth, Dorset took a sabbatical from his teaching career to write Spy High Series Two. He says he has been influenced by Charles Dickens and George Orwell, but that Stan Lee, creator of many of Marvel Comics' super-heroes, is his biggest inspirational figure.

The series is published by Atom Books in the UK and Commonwealth and Little, Brown and Co. in the US. The first series has also been translated into many other languages.

Reviews

[John Nordin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been working my way through the SpyHigh series and while not planning on reviewing all of them, thought it was time for a second review. The premise: gifted teens are admitted to a secret school and learn the art of being a very high tech spy. Each book is about one mission taking on the "I'm going to rule the world" type. It's sci-fi. Series one was six books about a team of spies, series two about each member of the team individually (this is the third in that series).

The books are aimed at high schoolers to be sure but there is an element of grown-up reality I like: not everything works out for the heroes, relationships flounder for very realistic reasons and those who die are not just anonymous good-guys or the evil masterminds. The writing is straightforward, moves along briskly and is mostly free of clunkers.

This was a particularly good outing in the series: realistic global politics, nicely drawn secondary characters and a ending that, yes, was moving. Yes you could read each one out of order but the impact will be much greater if you've followed the characters from the beginning.

[Maïka Larochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK! It is full of action and the plot is great AND THE END OMG. The only downside is that the characters are a bit flat and the book is really cliche at some times. BUT READ IT PLEASE.