Dark Divide by Sonja Stone (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Dark Divide by Sonja Stone
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-8234-3836-5 $18.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-8234-3896-9 $17.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12
In this sequel to 2016’s Desert Dark, Nadia is still a junior at Desert Mountain Academy, a prestigious high school in Arizona specializing in covert CIA black-ops training. This semester proves to be more of the same betrayal and espionage as Nadia and her friends all deal with personal secrets that are also matters of national security. A spy drama set in essentially a fancy prep school, the narrative shifts among the POVs of its teen characters to explore anxieties and crushes as faithfully as international relations and treason. Still, this is largely the story of Nadia and double agent Damon, so other plot threads too often progress clumsily and unevenly. Also, it’s difficult to swallow how every major CIA mission of the last few decades appears not only to connect but also relate directly to these teens and their nearly incestuous families. If readers can suspend their disbelief a bit and embrace some melodrama, gripping action and constant twists and turns could make for an enjoyable second outing of this continuing series.
