SIMONE LAFRAY AND THE RED WOLVES OF LONDON

In this middle-grade sequel, a young French spy goes undercover at an elite English boarding school.

Twelve-year-old Simone LaFray is a junior operative for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Having helped to apprehend “The Whisper”—an international conflict broker and son of the renowned criminal hacker “The Maestro”—Simone is ready for her next case. This takes her to London, where junior agent Claire Pilfrey has been kidnapped from a wealthy boarding school. Claire’s last report suggests that she’d obtained the OmniKey—an invention of The Maestro’s that allows access to any computer network—and hidden it “somewhere safe” on campus. Simone embarks on an undercover mission at the school, taking her best friend, The V, with her. But solving the case won’t be easy. Simone, who prefers to go unnoticed and keep her own company, will have to mingle with Claire’s classmates (“Who were Claire’s friends? Who were her enemies?”). Furthermore, London has fallen prey to a gang of vigilante art protesters, and Simone discovers that “La Volpe Rossa” (The Red Fox), the villain from her first adventure, was, until recently, the school’s art teacher. Can Simone untangle the entwined threads of mystery, find the OmniKey, and rescue Claire? O’Farrell writes in the first person, past tense, affording insight into the intellectual maturity and self-aware social unease that underlie Simone’s preternatural competence. The London setting is a bit tourist generic and not as evocative as the Paris of Simone’s first case. Nonetheless, the prose skips along nicely and the story surges forward. The author has an ear for dialogue and a knack for dropping clues—some that lead readers toward possible solutions, others that deepen the intrigue. Simone is a likable viewpoint character. Her observational and analytical skills are impressive yet she refreshingly reflects her age and can be knocked off-kilter by everyday issues. Unfortunately, the book is far from self-contained. O’Farrell drops in returning characters (Madame Fontaine, The V) without introduction and only late in the story confirms such basic information as Simone’s age and that a girl named Mia is her sister. The ending is also more a teaser for the next installment than a denouement in its own right. Regardless, fans of the first volume are sure to approve.

A breezy adventure that lives in the moment; tremendous fun.