October 6, 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Ben can never get a break! Now, Erica's grandparents and father are being held captive, and intelligence leads the group to China's Shanghai Tower, where they are supposedly held on the 116th floor, but they still don't know why the Hales were targeted. The yacht in which they have been traveling, Fishin' Impossible, will probably be confiscated, but the kids go into town, get tourists clothing from Momoko, and get into the building with groups of tourists. Jawa, Zoe, Chip, Mike, Trixie, and Svetlana are all along for the mission, but when Ben sees Erica sneak off, he follows her up a stairwell. She's not happy, especially when they are found by SkyTech's security. Erica cries and says they were just tlooking for the bathroom, and get to meet the company's CEO. She lets them go, but security discusses (in Chinese) killing both kids, so they run and escape down the side of the building using a crane! They needs to go two hours north to Junshanling, and luckily meet up with Jessica Shang, who holds no grudge about the number of her family the Spy School group has had incarcerated. She helps them get to the Great Wall, where they run afoul of some awesome older women who are spies, and manage to outwit them to find Cyril and Alexander, but not Mary. Mary apparently had information about older unexploded bombs, and SkyTech is apparently looking for these and has plans to send them in to space to knock out communication satellites so they can sell more. Since the world is still reeling from the blackout, the kids know they need to stop SkyTech. Of course, first they have to have near death adventures in the Golden Lotus Estates and nearby abandoned amusement park, and have more than their fair share of encounters with flash bombs, tank driving, and narrow escapes. It goes without saying that they narrowly manage to do whatever they need to do, but where will Ben and his friends find themselves when the school relocates? Fifteen books in the series would be a great round number.
Strengths: The best part about these books is always the vicarious traveling! I do not ever plan to travel down the outside of the Shanghai Tower, but when I'm along on Ben's mission, I can. There are always bits of humor; the names of missions are always fun, and Ben's "translation" of some of the Chinese is hysterical. I love that Erica has such good spy skills and is so driven. New to this book is Cyrus' decline. He's been a spy for a long time, and he's not as sharp or as strong as he once was. This is sad, but realistic, and I'd love to see him teaching at the new spy school, wherever that might be!
Weaknesses: There were a lot of characters. I could have done without Chip, Jawa, Trixie, Mike, and Zoe. Svetlana is always humorous, and it was interesting to bring in Jessica, but I would have liked to see a smaller crew so we could have seen more of Erica and Ben's relationship. It's seems like it's on rocky ground, but there was too much action to delve into it.
What I really think: I love this series, and they still circulate well, but I would love to see Mr. Gibbs branch out with some stand alone mystery or realistic humor titles.
Weaknesses: There were a lot of characters. I could have done without Chip, Jawa, Trixie, Mike, and Zoe. Svetlana is always humorous, and it was interesting to bring in Jessica, but I would have liked to see a smaller crew so we could have seen more of Erica and Ben's relationship. It's seems like it's on rocky ground, but there was too much action to delve into it.
What I really think: I love this series, and they still circulate well, but I would love to see Mr. Gibbs branch out with some stand alone mystery or realistic humor titles.
Still waiting for that button from Simon and Schuster congratulating me for reading all the books!
1. Spy School
2. Spy Camp
10- Spy School X
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