Lee didn’t expect the Program to leave him out of the spy game for long. But with his grandparents coming for a visit, the last thing he needs is another mission. Too bad no one ever bothers to ask him.
With the appearance of unexpected people from his past and present, Lee’s safety is threatened. In a desperate attempt to keep his double life a secret, Lee must choose between his family and millions of people he’s never met.
Will Lee be able to thwart Predator’s plan for the fall of the Western world? Or will evil finally prevail? Find out in this exciting fifth book in the AKA Simon Lee series.
P.D. Atkerson is a homeschooled writer, living in Montana, who may or may not be a secret agent. She spends almost as much time in the worlds she creates as she does the real one. When she’s not reporting the stories of her agents, she’s learning different languages, or traveling to different worlds through the portals of books. She has a black belt in sarcasm and a master’s degree in useless facts.
Wooowww, I love this series so much, and this book was NOT a disappointment!!!! I loved the dynamic of Lee living with his extended family, who didn't know who he really was. I thought it was funny when they grounded him, and he had to look up what that was! 🤣 There were a lot of crazy plot twists in this book, some I suspected, and others I totally did not see coming! Jimmy/Lever is like, the worst ever. It's maddening. And the father/son relationship between Lee and Winfield is like, the BEST ever. I love them, and I hope they can spend more time together in the next book!! ❤️ Speaking of the next book, this one had a totally uncalled for cliffhanger, so I gotta go read it. 😁
Welp, there's no rest for Lee, even when he has family coming over. Yeah, people really need to start asking him. It's go go go time, guys!! This book was so good!!! Lee and Winfield split, and things get hairy. Really fast. And P. D. seriously has a problem with cliffhangers. I really glad I had Rebel Mind next to me, or I might have thrown something. And the surprise characters were the BEST!!!!! Not to spoil anything, but Lee fans-don't miss this book.
Okay, so I’ve given up on writing coherent reviews for the Simon Lee series.
*coughs*
Um, the plot. Talk about crazily intense. Like, really. CAN WE JUST TAKE DOWN DEADLOCK PLEASE?! Lee doesn’t seem any closer to getting rid of them. On the contrary. I have no clue how on earth he’s gonna win. AND THAT ENDINGGGGGG! My heart! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO LEE?! And who is SHE?! And have we forgotten Winfield over here?! And the plot twist—!!!
I loved Lee’s arc. I know I say this every time, but it’s SO true. He actually acted more like a normal teen than ever before. And Winfield was amazing… and I ended up really liking Watcher. I loved that Lee finally told his family all that he could of the truth. I enjoyed the amazing humour, as always.
In fact, I was completely hooked to this book and read it in about an hour. And then I was basically in the throes of a book hangover.
I just can’t express how much I love this series. :D
Content: a few euphemisms.
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Lee snorted. ‘Great, now I’m Cinderella,’ he grumbled, pacing his room as he glared at his closet. ‘Sneaking out to a stupid ball, and I have nothing to wear.’ Buying a suit hadn’t been one of their top priorities since he came back, and the one he had definitely wasn’t going to fit him anymore.”
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for my honest review. A positive review was not required. These are my honest thoughts & opinions.*
Unlike the previous few books that show the depth of the father/son relationship by Lee and his father working together, this one reveals new depths to their relationship as they are forced to be apart for a time. Furthermore, we see pieces of Lee's relationship with other family members - or lack of relationship with them.
What a story! It seemed much harder for Lee to deal with everything being thrown at him when he had relatives to babysit. Keeping secrets is never easy . . .
Meanwhile, we see the identity of a key character FINALLY revealed. That's something I've been waiting for for the last few books, and I was actually a little surprised by how slow the reveal was in coming, since I've known for a while who said character was. Now I can't wait until Lee figures it out . . . [or has he . . . ?]
An awful cliffhanger once again wraps up this book - but it wasn't too much of a surprise to me. I expected a certain character to do something unexpected, and when said character did - well, I'm properly horrified but sadly not at all surprised. Said character was hiding something or another all along . . .
I still don't have any idea what most of the villains were actually up to during this book. Some of their actions seemed random, but I hope to have the "a-ha" moment when it finally comes together in the last book.
I really enjoy reading about the adventures of a boy with unusually trained and honed skills. Perhaps it's not entirely realistic, but the way it's written feels so. The extent to which Lee must have practiced all these things from a young age is admirable. It feels and reads like actual trained skills, not like superpowers or any such thing, and I greatly appreciate that. He's quite a character!
I've been following the AKA Simon Lee series since the beginning, and it continues to be one of the more unique spy series, but not lacking in the excitement or the intrigue by any measure.
With the explosive secrets revealed in the last book (not to mention the shocking cliff-hanger), this installment started off kicking. However, this turn of events has Simon and his father parting ways for now- him to stay with his adoptive grandparents, and Winfield to take care of some business from his past.
The more we learn about our heroes' backstories, the more evil the villains show themselves to be as we gradually learn their faces and true intent. The climax escalates the tale to new heights as a character I've been waiting to meet for a very long time is revealed, and the final battle takes place at the White House.
I recommend this entire series to everyone. Get started and lose yourself in the epic adventure!
I received a copy from the author, but I was not required to write a favorable review.
I've enjoyed each of the books in the AKA Simon Lee series, however, I didn't think I could like any of them more than I already did, but this one is the best yet!
I really cannot wait to get my hands on Rebel Mind!
I don’t think I have ever physically thrown the device I was reading on…until this book.
Where to begin…
I changed my mind already…this is my new favorite. Call me weird, but I love seeing Lee struggling with emotions and other struggles too. It’s nice to know he’s semi-normal. But oh! the plot… I really didn’t think the situation could get any more crazy. I was very wrong. As the plot continues to unfold and we learn more and more about Lee’s work, we see so many more questions being answered and even more questions being formed. And his relationship with his dad made my heart melt. I really loved this book.
A couple things to keep in mind - There were a few instances of uses of replacement words that I do not approve of. Since everyone has different standards on this, I would simply caution the reader or the parents of the reader to be careful. - This book thrives on sarcasm. This sarcasm was well done and not over-the-top in my opinion, but depending on how you respond to sarcasm, I would say to just watch for negative side effects from it.
I wish I could say more, but I have to stop before I spoil something. But I can say this… be ready for the two MAJOR plot twists at the end!!
*I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.
OMG are you literally trying to kill me?!?!????? This is WAY WORSE THAN OF THE STARS!!!! IM ABOUT TK DIE HERE YALL!!!! *tries to take a breath* I’m reading THE OTHER BOOK NOW!!
This is, perhaps, one of the best in the series. I loved seeing Lee at home trying to be normal around his family, but secretly keeping DL and Predator at bay all the time. And I liked seeing him actually do normal things, like playing games with his family or reading - and being Lee, doing them completely differently to anyone else, and thoroughly confusing his family... Even though he and his dad are now separated, I actually really liked the switching POVs and the way Lee kept trying to tell himself he wasn't missing his dad even though he was obviously miserable without him around! I also liked properly seeing the inside of Lee's house and the things he and his dad have done to it... And also finding out all sorts of little things about their 'ordinary' life at home. You have to wonder if either of them EVER do anything like normal people would? The twists in this are just... brilliant. When one of them - possibly the biggest in the whole series - suddenly hit me, it literally took my breath away! I still can't believe how I missed it before... And the ending, of course - it has got to be worst cliffhanger yet! Winnie Winfield kept me on the edge of my seat from first to last as the tension rockets in preparation for the last book...
Note: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Recommended Reading Order for the Simon Lee Universe books (SLU): Note: This is the order I've put together after reading and rereading almost all of these books, sometimes at once. While there are different opinions on which series should be read first, this is the order I personally feel is best for a first-time reader. It is NOT the chronological order - and I strongly recommend that a first-time reader does NOT read these books in chronological order. That's great for rereads, but the most will be got out of the SLU books by reading them loosely in the following order Phantom Thief Nicholas Bishop Gregory's Epilogue (blog short) Christmas Hostage Guardian Eagle Murphy Lawson Ghost Hunter Most Wanted Winnie Winfield Not Enough Rebel Mind Talking Turkey (blog short) Killian Young Domestic Conflict (Seize the Fight) They Call Her Ella Deadlock First Christmas (blog short) Exploit Choices License Training Guilt My Name is Anastasia Night Crier (blog short) Only For a Moment (blog short) Christmas Bear (blog short) Everything Sick Leave (blog short) Water Boy (blog short) Школьник (blog short) Bank Robber (Classified Files) Blinded (blog short) Room Escapee (Classified Files) Dare (blog short) Wrong Number (blog short) Minor Detail Unwanted Services Off the Rails Smoke Screen Lost Time Web of Lies