An untrained civilian is roped into performing a dangerous mission for the CIA. Or is it the Feds? Am I describing “I Spy” with Eddie Murphy? Oh, wait. I’m thinking of “Central Intelligence” with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. Perhaps it’s “Bad Company” with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. (There’s a pairing made in cinematic hell. Who came up with it?) Then again, this could be “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” with Nick Fu*****************in’ Cage!
It doesn’t matter. If you’ve seen movies like that, then you get the premise of this novel. Winter Young (an improbable name that’s just MADE for film) is a burnt-out singer who secretly longs to do something meaningful with his life. So he gets recruited by a secret agency to retrieve vital information from an illegal trafficker.
There’s little of comedic element here. Instead, we get a miniature psychological drama as agent Sauda plays with his emotions like a fiddle to get him to agree to her outlandish plan. It is an outlandish plan, too. You simply can’t believe that trained professionals would entangle an ordinary civilian in dangerous espionage. It’s the stuff of low comedy, with the promise of fistfights, glamorous dames, car chases, gunplay and improbably loud explosions.
But such is the premise of this novel and I have to admit that I am intrigued. Winter has a tragic backstory, a well-conveyed restlessness and a yearning to do more that is ably conveyed in Marie Lu’s prose. She avoids showing Winter doing his stage act. Perhaps she doesn’t want to detract from his melancholy. In any case, it does allow the reader to focus on Winter’s inner landscape rather than his stage persona.
If you’re interested in this type of novel—a YA spy thriller—then you might want to give this a try.
It doesn’t matter. If you’ve seen movies like that, then you get the premise of this novel. Winter Young (an improbable name that’s just MADE for film) is a burnt-out singer who secretly longs to do something meaningful with his life. So he gets recruited by a secret agency to retrieve vital information from an illegal trafficker.
There’s little of comedic element here. Instead, we get a miniature psychological drama as agent Sauda plays with his emotions like a fiddle to get him to agree to her outlandish plan. It is an outlandish plan, too. You simply can’t believe that trained professionals would entangle an ordinary civilian in dangerous espionage. It’s the stuff of low comedy, with the promise of fistfights, glamorous dames, car chases, gunplay and improbably loud explosions.
But such is the premise of this novel and I have to admit that I am intrigued. Winter has a tragic backstory, a well-conveyed restlessness and a yearning to do more that is ably conveyed in Marie Lu’s prose. She avoids showing Winter doing his stage act. Perhaps she doesn’t want to detract from his melancholy. In any case, it does allow the reader to focus on Winter’s inner landscape rather than his stage persona.
If you’re interested in this type of novel—a YA spy thriller—then you might want to give this a try.