“Max Segredo, tossed out by yet another foster family, has finally come to 
the end of the line. After being wrongly accused of setting a fire, he is sent to the Merry Sunshine Orphanage — on his thirteenth birthday, no less.
But what kind of group home offers classes in surveillance techniques, lock picking, and mixed martial arts? When the staff announces a “field trip” that involves breaking and entering, Max knows this is no ordinary orphanage.
Yet Max has something more important on his mind. Someone has slipped him a message stating that his father is still alive. Max is eager to find Simon Segredo, even though it might mean betraying everyone at Merry Sunshine. Because when it comes to family, blood is what counts. Right?”
Let’s just get right down to it; I liked a lot of things about this book: the spy’s in training, the well-paced action, the ethnic diversity of the characters. It’s a fun read, and Hale definitely paints a colorful adventure that I’m sure many kids will love. Although pyromania is not my personal idea of fun, I enjoyed reading about Max’s affinity for the way a burning house “gives off a cheery light, the crackling flames casting sunset yellows and cherry reds onto the manicured trees and tidy homes nearby.” Who knew fire could be so beautiful?
What I didn’t like? Perhaps it’s the deluge of action-packed middle grade ARC’s I have on my desk, but something about the story felt too familiar and the lead spy felt a tad stereotypical. That doesn’t take away from Bruce’s animated story-telling, or the fact that fans of his previous work will undoubtedly love this new adventure, but as an avid reader of MG, I’m ready for a story outside of the jam-packed action or fantasy realm where I can really enter into the interior world of a really great character. Just sayin’.
Overall, the book is a fun escape into the world of kid spies.
Novel Novice 
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