Cammie Morgan is under constant surveillance, and is never ANYWHERE without being watched. After one of her most trusted allies becomes one of the most wanted men on Earth and slips through the clutches of her security detail after telling Cammie to "follow the pigeons," she returns to school and finds that many unpleasant changes have happened in the security detail there as well.
Cammie and her three best friends embark once more on an action-packed adventure, determined to find the truth, and set it free.
Okay, so I'll admit that I found the first eleven or so chapters of Only the Good Spy Young to be lacking, slow, and incredibly overstretched/lengthened to a boring extent. But after that, the pace started picking up and returning to the fast, gripping action that I've come to expect from The Gallagher Girls books.
The book is exciting and revealing, although:
a) The book has some very predictable occurances in it that happen way too slowly,
b) The book is too short(but in a good way),
and c) The characters all are blind, to a certain extent. Nobody knows enough, which is a factor in the draginness of the first eleven or so chapters. It's like Ally Carter is trying to advertise the fact that NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING!!!!! (least of all, Cammie). It gets incredibly irritating after a while.
Therefore, my favorite book in the series is still 'Don't Judge a Girl By Her Cover'.
However, the book is still good. Aside from the first eleven or so chapters, you can really sense that one long story has been condensed into a small package so that, like dehydrated food, the essence and flavor of it is all that is left(although I don't like dehydrated food-- in fact, I've never even tried it before). There is no water left to make the story bland, and the story is quickly told without any unintended confusion.
Also, another great thing about this story is that the plot is moved forward by the characters, not the other way around. There is some major character development happening that helps to keep this story moving.
And, as always, the writing was smooth, and there weren't any awkward sentences leftover from incomplete revising and editing. Quality writing was obvious throughout the story, just like I've come to expect from Ally Carter.
Also as always, the humor is not lost. Funny metaphors and witty writing went into the story, bringing all of the characters to life(to say the least).
Another great thing about the book was that all of the characters were very, very believable, despite the fact that these are SPIES we are talking about, many of which were or are being trained at The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women(or, in Mr.Solomon and Zach's case, The Blackthorne Institute for Boys). There were no Gary-Stus or Mary-Sues lurking in the corners, and every character was unique and well developed. Also, no character was a weak cripple that couldn't do anything. Each character had a place in the story, and they were all reasonable with very humane fears and strengths bringing them to life.
Also, the story is beginning to resemble that of the Harry Potter books(mostly in plot), a series that I found intriguing and yet lacking in the extremes. That is one factor that went into my disappointment at this book.
As the series progresses, the books have been showing the change in Cammie; from when she was struggling because she had fallen in love with an unexceptional boy, to now, when it isn't only her heart but also her freedom, friends, and family at stake.
