But there is no pointing out that she is a girl doing these things. The protagonist is also female AND extremely intelligent. What I like most about Gibbs' writing is that he understands that the people he is writing for are sophisticated and intelligent. This book can easily be compared to books by Child, Baldacci, Connelly, Brown and many other popular authors, except for the fact that this was written for a little younger crowd. This is an edge of your seat, can't put down thriller. With their lives in jeopardy at almost every turn, Charlie, her brother Dante and CIA agent Milana Moon rely on their training and Charlie's intelligence to save them. When he convinces his superior to bring his sister in on finding Einstein's greatest accomplishment, things get a little out of hand. Her older half brother is an agent for the CIA. Not just any 12 year old girl but one with an IQ just shy of Einstein's. I started reading it and couldn't put it down.Ĭharlie is a 12 year old girl. I figured that I would just read it during my breaks at work. I grabbed this ARC because of the author. But she also has her own personal morality that makes sense and spending time in her brain made me, a 33 year old lady (*jenna marbles voice*), feel smarter. Also, Charlie is the only kid character (weird!) and she's sassy and rebellious af! YES. This is a gritty kids book, it's gripping, and I could hardly put it down once I started it.

The bad guys are white supremacists motivated by their hatred of refugees and the CIA is not to be trusted because of their allegiance to a government who would take Einstein's last equation and use it for nefarious purposes (as that govt did in the past with Einstein's former work). I mean, it is definitely NOT realistic, but I think it takes its ridiculous 12=year-old-genius-recruited-by-the-CIA premise and shows a world that is still somehow based in reality. It's very much something a 12 year old (or in that range) could appreciate for it's realistic depiction of espionage and manhunts - not anything worse than a movie or video game.

I mean, maybe no cursing, no sex? No actual gore? But there's quite a lot of violence which I was surprised about! And honestly, I really liked that about it. I really liked this and was honestly hard-pressed to differentiate it between an action-packed spy book for adults. Maybe I should start reading more spy books?! There's that non-fiction one right now by Amarylis Fox hmmm.ĪNYWAY. Plus, I do surprisingly like a lot of spy stories - Alias, Harriet, Homeland (problematic guilty pleasure?), American Spy, D.E.B.S., Code Named Verity, etc. I wanted a book I could suggest to boys (and mothers of boys who obviously have internalized misogyny) that had a girl protag. I am quite surprised by how much I liked this! A middle grade spy thriller? Very off-brand for me.

Charlie and the last equation