City Spies by James Ponti

Reviewed by Maya

Have you ever been a spy or wanted to be a spy? Has the world ever depended on you to make it right? Has the world's strongest villain ever chased you down because you have something that he wants?
City Spies by James Ponti is about a foster kid named Sara Martinez who is in juvenile detention for hacking into her foster parent’s accounts. And in court, her lawyer isn’t helping her at all. Suddenly, another person comes in and claims he’s her lawyer. Well, turns out the second lawyer that came in isn’t actually a lawyer. Soon after, Sara is moving across the world, going to be a spy. But when the spies learn that there is a huge world science convention coming up, and the biggest evil person in the world has stolen a virus without an antidote and might use it then, how will she save the world now?
The first reason I liked this book is because of the way the spies can solve problems. For instance, one of the teenagers, Kat, came up with this really good plan to get into a building without forcing in. And I could follow each step that she took. They each have special talents, and they are all unique. When they solve a really hard problem, I am always amazed at how they did it.
Another excellent trait that the book has is the background stories of all of the other teenage spies that she worked with. Another spy, Sydney, was a troublemaker at the Wallangarra School for Girls before she got recruited. The backgrounds are all so descriptive, and they felt so real. All of them are super different, too. How it fit in with the rest of the story was brilliant.
I would rate this book 9.5/10. It was super captivating, and I was on the edge of my seat when I read it. I would recommend this to people who like lots of adventure. I hope you go to your local library and check it out. It is the first book of a series, and the second book just came out. I hope you like it as much as I did! 

Simon and Schuster, 400 pages