I’ve always been a fan of mystery/spy books, and Also Known As did not disappoint! In the spirit of Heist Society, Robin Benway has crafted an intricate spy syndicate and threaded it into a fantastic story. The characters all have complex back stories and the spy logic and lingo are watertight. The plotline was a little more focused on Maggie’s social life than I was expecting, but the plot was still engaging. Moving along with a more emotional line than action, I thought that Maggie’s character was well-rounded. I found this book to be relatable and heartwarming. The end was a little anti-climactic, but it didn’t detract from the overall story. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good spy story, and to teens who love a relatable book and clean cut teen romance.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Bloomsbury USA

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  40 religious exclamations; 25 mild obscenities; 1 religious profanity; 7 derogatory names, 32 scatological words; 16 anatomical terms; and 2 offensive hand gestures.

Violence/Gore:  Mischief, trickery; stories of past violence; implied occurrence of violence; non-life threatening injuries.

Sex/Nudity: Lots of flirting, hand holding, and kissing; reference to teenagers having had sex.

Mature Subject Matter:

Divorce, crime and illegal activities, underage drinking, death.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Teenagers drinking at a party; an underage character gets severely drunk; mentions of people doing drugs or taking un-prescribed pills.