In this sequel to the romantic spy-thriller Two Lies and a Spy, Kari must race the clock on a mission to save her little brother.
Kari Andrews thought life was going to get easier. She was wrong. Following the events of Two Lies and a Spy, she and her brother, Charlie, are left to cope with the aftermath while also adapting to a new school—in another country. And then Charlie disappears.
With her brother’s life hanging in the balance, Kari, Evan, Rita, Kale, and some new friends from Generation Interpol (G.I.) are on a race around Europe at the bidding of a voice on a phone. The voice tells them that they need to jailbreak a thief—a flirtatious, hot thief—steal something from a high-security bio lab, and deliver the goods during what’s sure to be a double-cross exchange. Can they succeed before Charlie pays the ultimate price?
I enjoyed this one so much more than the first. Not once was I bored reading this and I honestly never wanted to stop reading. I've always enjoyed spy books like this one as it really reminds me of Ally Carters books and I loved those ones.
While some of the plot might be unrealistic I still enjoyed it. I don't really care about stuff like how Kari didn't break throughout this all because it had a good plot line.
I loved meeting up with all of Kari's friends again. Can I just say that I absolutely love Rita. I think she's my favourite of the series. I also enjoyed getting to know new characters.
That being said I can't wait for the third book and to see how this series ends.
The good: One of the more interesting things to me about this series is that Kari doesn't really want to be a spy. There were a number of times when I got frustrated with her (because dammit, if I had her opportunities, I'd be trying a whole lot harder to learn languages and so on), but then I'd remember that...well, her end game isn't the CIA. There's also a level of violence that—well, hmm, I probably shouldn't be condoning violence in YA. And I'm not... It's just that a lot of action books and movies are sanitised in a way that bugs me: car chases where all the innocent pedestrians dive tidily to safety, YA heroines about to be tortured when the heroes rush in to save them. Here, though, not everybody gets out of the way: We literally run over a pedestrian's foot. I wince as the guy screams in agony (107). Kari doesn't escape serious pain (and doesn't just take it with a sneer) when she and her crew are captured. No, I'm not condoning violence in YA, but at the same time there's a positive tradeoff.
The bad: Umm. Well. The European setting is completely wasted. Other than Kari complaining about not speaking French (which would be more believable if she didn't magically understand everything said ever) and a bunch of slut-shaming of the hot French girl (the guys, meanwhile, are basically just tools all round), there was no reason to place this in France/Germany. Sounds cooler than the States, I suppose? But it ups the 'ridiculous' factor to have Kari fly in her American friends to help her solve her brother's kidnapping. Their inclusion made more sense in the first book, when they did a lot of dumb stuff and acted like idiotic teenagers and thought they were getting away with a lot more than they actually were. It makes less sense when they keep doing dumb stuff, etc., and get away with a lot more.
Also, the hair on the guy on the cover (top right). What even is that? He does look a little less constipated than he did on the first cover, though.
The absolutely appalling: Who on earth came up with the French in this book? Did nobody edit it? We have je ne c'est pas not once but twice (pages 134 and 178) and then q'est ce c'est (188), which is just...no. I docked a full star for the French. Excuse me, the 'French'. (The former should be je ne sais pas—same pronunciation but means 'I don't know' instead of...erm...'I don't it isn't'? Or 'I do it isn't'? Or something like that?—and the latter qu'est-ce que c'est, or 'what is it', instead of...something that just isn't anything.) Those aren't Kari's lines, either; they're spoken by someone who's supposed to speak (be!) French. Really, how hard is it to go to freetranslation.com?
The only reason I read this after the disaster of the first book was that I had it through ILL and felt somewhat obligated to at least look at it. Also, the writing might have improved?????
Unfortunately, that was not the case. At all. If anything, it got worse.
Kari and Charlie are now living in Paris with Evan and his guardian, Rebecca Morrow, a highly placed Interpol agent. They all attend the Generation Interpol after school hours and get their special training. When we catch up with Kari, she is being given a beat-down by Evan.
Before the day is over, she has lost her little brother and is being blackmailed into breaking a thief out of a German prison in order to get him back.
Her reactions are completely melodramatic and her constant histrionics every time the bad guys contact her get tiresome. She becomes so utterly overwrought that Evan sedates her at one point. Her lack of rationality and logic in this situation belies her ability to handle the situation, which she demands to be in charge of since it is her brother being held. This stubborn narrow-minded need to control the situation and write herself as the competent, strong one is constantly undermining their mission and placing her brother in further danger.
This does not even begin to cover her relationship woes. Her long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Luke Carson is obviously doomed. He manages to have a one-night stand with a girl before the story's end while they are broken-up and then has the gall to be offended that she does not want to get back together just because he flew to see her after she was tortured. Seriously? First decent decision Kari has made.
The tension between her and Evan since book one has pointed to his being her intended romantic interest, but just to keep things interesting the lecherous thief Gustav is also attracted to Kari. There is a truly cringe-inducing scene where Kari attempts to "flirt" with Gustav. Ugh. *shudders*
I find Kari's resilience under torture quite unbelievable. Also, both she and Charlie should be more shook up by the whole situation.
I liked how they ended up playing her parents as being potentially forced into their traitorous life and that Kari is determined to find out the truth, but I will not be around to find out how that goes. I'm out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Kari Andrews has enough problems with her parents’ betrayal and turn to the enemy. But when her younger brother Charlie is kidnapped, she’s beside herself with worry. Forced to spring a thief from prison and raid a cosmetic company, Kari will do anything to ensure her brother’s safety. Her friends join the team and soon it’s a race against time before Charlie is seriously hurt. But who is really the target here, she and Charlie or someone else close to them both? Exciting and fast-paced, this tension-packed story will drive you forward to find out what happens.
Wow. I had to stop frequently during those intense moments. Kari is a seriously awesome woman! And an amazing big sister. Charlie is a lucky boy to have her. It was agonizing to read the torture scenes and the phone calls with the kidnappers. It was a very humanizing story. It was heartwarming to see the love and loyalty between not only Kari and Charlie, but between her and her friends. Evan is seriously annoying but a true friend. Not impressed with Luke. Kari deserves better. Glad that's over. He seemed better in the first book. Can't wait to see what happens next.
I loved this book. everything about it screams suspense and romance. can Keri have some sort of romance between her and Evan??? or how about Luke the boy she has been crushing on for as long as she can remember???
What I have found with Kat Carlton's books everything happens really fast. And some people might like that but it was a bit too fast for me. For me everything went bang, bang, bang. Thats why I'm giving this book 3 anda half stars
I.... don't know what exactlhy to make of this. It was good. I mean, I didn't hate it, or get extremely fustrated with the romance stuff like the last book. I'm sure everyone could see where this was going after the first ch. I think what irked me was that pathetic excuse. I mean, it works, and it's real, but it's too convienent for it to actually work with the story. a) she realises she likes Evan b) she realises she still has a pesky boyfriend to get rid of c) she calls boyfriend same day and he tells her he's practically cheating on her d) perfect excuse to break up I mean, come on? The story was good, in terms of the whole kidnapping brother and such. Great motivation, and links in with the story well. I was hoping to see more of the whole 'academy' thing, but i'm not complaining to much cos that bitch was really getting annoying. The school wasn't really as I expected it to be so... The adventure was nice, I liked how the whole team was back together. Storywise, just in general, it was pretty good. The characters weren't bad either. The romance was a little jerky in the way that it was all too convienent and didn't really have that realistic flow to it :( Besides that, it as bad. Oh, the story of the whole adventure thing also seemed a little jerky, though I can't seem to come up with a proper example atm. The thief was pretty awesome. Weird, downright ick at times, but in general, he added that extra bout of humour [and jealousy].
It was lacking flow and a generalised wow factor for me, but besides that it was quite nice :)
Truth be told, I skim read through this novel. While there is some witty narrative and banter, it's a bit sparse. And the plot just isn't there. I wasn't uber impressed with Two Lies and a Spy, but I'm a sucker for a teenage spy novel, so I wanted to get the series a second chance.
Again, the plot - her brother getting kidnapped by terrorists this time, instead of her parents going missing - is put on the back-burner in favor of teenage drama of the male persuasion. After finding out the truth about her parents at the end of the last novel, Kari and her brother move to France with Evan to join G.I. to be trained after school as spies. Stuck in France, her just budding relationship with her boyfriend she spent the entire first novel crushing on starts to fall apart, and she finds herself spending more and more time with Evan, the guy she claims she hates.
While all the original characters from the first novel make appearances, there just isn't much to write home about. It isn't bad, per se, but there's nothing special about it, and it certainly didn't suck my attention in with pulse pounding drama, espionage, and intrigue.
I read this book before reading the first book in the series. My library vendor sent me only the second in the series, which it so frustrating when they do this. However, I really enjoyed this book. Fun mystery, great characters, and a little romance thrown in as well. I had to go straight and order the second one from Amazon to read and for my library. Fans of HIVE, Alex Rider and the Cherub series will enjoy this one.
This one was really good...almost worth all that waiting :P Evan my love is just too adorable <3 but now since he & Kari have finally gotten together...it means that they will be fighting through the entire book #3...its a fact mark my words :I & there wont be much to look forward to for the next book
This was in the young adult section of my library, but I wouldn’t recommend it to teens. Throughout the book, there was just enough sexual references to make me not recommend it, but the violence at the end was more rated R than PG 13
3,6 von 5 Sternen Das ist wieder eines dieser Bücher, die so schwer für mich zu bewerten sind. Teile der Geschichte, vor allem das Zwischenmenschliche und die Freundschaften, haben mir richtig gut gefallen. Andere Dinge fand ich wieder eher etwas langweilig, weil es halt so unrealistisch war. Hier wird eine Gruppe Jugendlicher angeheuert, um ein paar richtig schwierige Verbrechen zu begehen. Aber selbst das würde ich nicht allzu sehr stören. Was mir aber gar nicht gefiel war der ständige Hass auf die Eltern und das von der Autorin, aber das Verhalten der Eltern so beschrieben wurde, dass man weiß dass mehr dahinter steckt. So was finde ich emotional eher belastend, aber das liegt wohl auch daran, dass ich nicht zur jugendlichen Zielgruppe gehöre. Auch die Folterszenen im Buch fand ich zu extrem, wenn man sie in Relation zu den doch recht unrealstischen Agenten-, Einbruch- und Kriminalitätspart sieht. Das ganze hatte im ersten Band eine deutlich ausgewogenere Mischung. Trotzdem hat es mich irgendwie die meiste Zeit doch wieder sehr gepackt und angesprochen. Allein um nun endlich zu erfahren was mit den Eltern los ist, will ich auch den nächsten Band lesen. Die Frage ist nur ob und wenn ja, wann dieser erscheint.
Loved the first one, so I decided to read this one. The only problem was that the writing is kind of immature for such a mature book. It sort of sounds like a 10 year old wrote it, and the end was pretty obvious. The storyline was intriguing, but I knew what was happening since the beginning. The first book was so much better, but I look forward to reading the upcoming third book whenever it comes out! I’d recommend this series to anyone who loves adventure/thriller writing!
2.5 stars rounded up Still starring the same cast as book one, but I fid not find this one as engaging or as charming. The good news is it is a fast read. Still a fun YA spy novel (which was never going to be super realistic anyway - but this one even less so than book one) set in Europe. Fun languages and locales. Also, the ending scenes are suspenseful and dramatic. I still love Evan, but Kari was annoying in this book for me.
Loved this sequel! Really hoping there is a third book as well!
Such bad ass characters, loved how the story line intertwined with the previous book as well! You can't help but ship the main characters the entire time too 🥰
Fast past, easy to read, had it done within 4 hours. Perfect Friday night book date!
I started reading this book without realizing it was the second in a series. It definitely has to be read in order to make sense. There is a lot of violence and swearing but the storyline is great. I loved it. I am really looking forward to reading the next one when it comes out.