Two Lies and a Spy by Kat Carlton (review)

Kari Andrews gets a text during art class, an innocuous sounding message from her parents that signals her to collect her young brother Charlie from school and rendezvous at an established meeting place. Her parents don’t show, but two goons from their espionage agency do, and they attempt to kidnap the siblings. Kari’s martial arts skill takes the thugs down, but the kids are now on the run, worried sick about what might have befallen their parents, and dependent on the assistance of several classmates from Kari’s tony D.C. prep school to crack the case. The cardboard ensemble cast comprises the predictable vamp, hacker, fighter, and pair of rival hunks, plus one truly adorable little savant brother who calms himself with online research when things get tense. And they do get tense, as the team is lured into a maximum-security detention facility, and the Andrews parents prove to be not what they seem. Double-entendre-laced flirtation, devoid of finesse, makes the teen relationships sound steamier than they actually are, but it does add a dash of spice to the action fare. By tale’s end, the Andrews family is in shambles, Kari and Charlie are off to train with a youth division of Interpol, and Kari’s love life is up in the air—a sure recipe for a sequel.