I’ll be honest. This book wasn’t great. I don’t really like government-thriller-spy action stories. I knew I wouldn’t like it, too. That is why it sat in my “to read” pile so long (6 months, give or take).

Klavan writes well, considering the target audience is teenagers, and the plot development does draw you in to some extent. I found a lot of the action sequences and twists to be far-fetched and caused some significant eye rolling.

I can understand that people connect with Charlie- his unfortunate situation and heroic actions are endearing. Kudos to Klavan for creating a character that people can empathize with.

Overall, I’d give it 2.5 stars (out of 5).

(DISCLAIMER: I was given a free copy of the book to review. All opinions are honest and 100% mine. Hopefully nobody rejects my review based on the fact that the book wasn’t my favourite.)