ARC Review: Going Rogue by Robin Benway

Going Rogue
Author: Robin Benway
Publication: Walker Childrens (January 14, 2014)

Description: Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver. Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux. Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo. Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations. But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names. Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.

My Thoughts: Maggie Silver is a retired seventeen-year-old spy living in New York with her parents and going to high school. She has a boyfriend named Jesse who started out as her mark and a best friend named Roux who is the quintessential poor little rich girl. Things should be settling down after the adventures in ALSO KNOW AS and they are getting quieter but Maggie is bored. She misses the adrenaline that working as a spy gave her.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Maggie is pulled out of her brief retirement when the Collective accuses her parents of stealing some evidence - gold Double Eagle coins - from a long ago case. Maggie has to use her skills as a safecracker to find the evidence to prove her parents' innocence. Worst of all, she is on her own, she can't tell her parents what she is doing.

Maggie wants to protect her boyfriend Jesse and her friend Roux but keeping them out makes them think that she doesn't care about them. So Maggie also has to deal with hurt feeling and damaged relationships.

I loved Roux even while I felt so sorry for the neglected child who put on a tough exterior to hide her very fragile heart. I have hopes that her new relationship will be good for her. And I really love the relationship between Maggie and Jesse.

This episode didn't have the laugh-out-loud humor of the first book but was a very engaging story with wonderful characters. I highly recommend it.

Favorite Quote:

It's always bizarre when you realize that your parents don't have a clear solution to the problem, that they're just as confused as you are. It makes them too real, to human, flawed just like you.

I got this eARC from Walker via NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.