I just finished the fourth book in Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, Only the Good Spy Young, and I have to say; I am speechless.
It started off a little slow for me, but it soon picked up and took me on a roller coaster of emotions. For my non-spoiler section, I will just say- if you’ve read the first two books and were unimpressed- it gets better. My favorite book of this series will always be the second, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy, because it introduces Zach and the Blackthorne Institute for Boys. The first novel, I’d Tell You I Love You, But then I’d Have to Kill You, introduces us to the Gallagher Girls and their state-of-the-art spy school. And when you’re reading a novel mainly about a large group of girls- even if there’s a love interest involved- things can get boring fast. So I was more than pleased with the second book and the group of guys they bring in.
In this fourth book that came out in 2010, Carter expands on the recent ‘Circle’ mystery and what you find out will shock you. I didn’t know what was up and what was down, and I still don’t. You’ll flip-flop sides more times than you can count in this 265 page novel, but in a good way.
I like reading a book and being surprised because it so rarely happens with me. And that’s not cockiness, I am just really good at figuring things out…
Stop here if you hate SPOILERS!!
In honor of this book, I think I’ll make a Cammie Morgan type list.
Things that I loved the most about this story:
1. I really had no clue whose side Townsend was on during the whole novel. Was he good or bad? Was he working for the CIA or was he like Rachel Morgan’s type of good (like he would never turn rogue, but he likes to protect his friends no matter what)? I hated him for most of the novel…until the end. With Mr. Solomon lying unconscious.
2. Zach- Every time he shows up, I get giddy. When she thought he had died, I thought it too. And I nearly cried. I love when he calls her “Gallagher Girl”, and now we have a clue as to why he probably started doing that.
3. Blackthorne- ASSASSINS?! I mean, I guess we were given clues that they weren’t trained quite like the girls were, but come on! Hearing that they wore yellow jumpsuits did not bode well for my imagination. I liked picturing them in suits and tuxedos.
4. The Circle of Cavan- Zach’s mom runs it? Oh. My. Goodness. Such a juicy little piece of information, and I still can’t figure out what the group is really about and I have a nagging suspicion that Zach is part of it.
5. Sublevel Two- How awesome was this scene?! I could picture it like a movie! With the lake and the puzzle and poor Liz.
6. The car Bex and Cameron take in the beginning- Whoa, this scene was also pretty neat. It had a James Bond feel to it that I loved.
7. The Ending was fantastic. The way she made it seem like the four books we had read were really just her journals that she left behind was absolutely brilliant.
Now for: The things I didn’t love so much.
1. Not enough classes. What I liked about the first two novels were the classes and the little training missions they had to do. I know that there were missions in this one, and that they actually had higher stakes, but I feel like that was one of the more fun points of the previous books. Never knowing if she was on a fake mission, or a real one.
2. There wasn’t enough casual, relax time. Bex was never Fun-Bex, and I missed that. The apple scene was hilarious, but I just wanted more of Bex being boy-crazy and ridiculous like she was in the beginning. I guess that’s what they call ‘character development’ though.
3. The book felt really short. I read it in about two hours, with enough time for me to do potty breaks and make breakfast.
4. Everything felt really sudden. Referencing the other novels yet again, they seemed more spaced out with the events. In this one, we got it all in one clean sweep and then the ending was “weeks later”.
5. The tone of the novel was really kind of depressing. It wasn’t happy or silly. And that’s a nit-pick judgment on my part because the girls are growing up and aren’t playing school anymore, so I should expect it to be more serious.
All in all, I really liked this book. It had a good cliff-hanger ending in that I want to know what she’ll be doing, and what will happen with the entire mystery involving her dad. But it wasn’t an extreme cliffy because it didn’t end with her in a life-or-death situation that most people would have to wait a year to find out what happens.
For those that haven’t read the series before, I really would recommend it. It’s a great read for twelve and up, and I was fortunate enough to grow up with the books, maturing as Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macy did. The last book is out now, so the series is complete. If you’ve finished this series, I would recommend Heist Society by Ally Carter which is about a teenaged group of thieves.
I really think this book is for every girl because it has a little bit of everything. It has romance, action, adventure, humor, spies, and really good stable friendships/parent-child-relationships. And there’s a character for everyone. Cammie feels invisible, Bex is dangerous and cocky, Liz is a bookworm, and Macy is the confident one who knows boys and how to get them.
If I had to rate this (I hate giving books a rating though. How can you sum up all of the author’s hard work and thousands of words in just a few stars?) I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
-If you have a suggestion for a book that you’d like me to read and review, or if you have something to add to this review, please leave me a comment.-
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