World Book Day has been and gone for another year but you don’t have to stop reading yet. All this week, I will be posting about some of the books that have appeared on my desk for review that you should check out. This time around, I’m reviewing Undercover Thief by H.T. King.
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The Story
Pamela Torres is an exceptional girl. After her parents disappeared when she was nine, she had to be exceptional just to stay alive. But Pam has come a long way from huddling beneath shop windows for shelter and stealing food from supermarkets. Now, at age fourteen, she has a home, a steady cash-flow and a loving family – who just happen to be one of the most notorious bands of young thieves in the London Underground.
When her parents suddenly return, Pam’s comfortable world of crime is turned upside down. They steal her away from her home and chosen family to enrol her into the Victoria Institute: an American boarding school for spies in training. Desperate to get back to the world she knows and loves, Pam does not take to The Victoria Institute – or to her parents, government spies themselves. Everyone seems determined to uncover the secrets of her past. But what would they do with the truth of her unlawful identity? With everything on the line that just leaves on burning question. How do you keep a secret in a school full of spies?
Thoughts on the Story
My son is starting to move up in the reading world so this was a fantastic book for him. He really liked that it was a girl who was the star and was getting to do “all the cool stuff”. There is a lot of dialogue in places and there were times that he found it hard to keep track of who was speaking, which lead to a few pages being reread, but he enjoyed the back and forth between the characters. The chapters are also a good length, great for those readers who like to breeze through a couple of chapters in a day and boast about it!
Thoughts on the Author
HT King works in aerospace engineering and has always had a love of both writing and science. She believes that it is important to inspire confidence in girls to have adventures of their own. HT King lives in Marlow. If you want to see what she is up to, you can check her out on Twitter.
Overall
Undercover Thief is a good introduction to the larger series (and I do believe the next one is available for pre-order now) but works well as a stand-alone book too. Although it is geared towards the teenage girl reader, boys might like it too if they enjoy spy novels. You might want to pop this on the “Christmas gift for the teenage reader” in your life.