Review -- Model Spy by Shannon Greenland

Title: Model Spy
Author: Shannon Greenland
Series: The Specialists (1)
Publisher: Speak
Release Date: 10 May 2007
Date Read: December 2012
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Model Spy is a fun, quick, light read. Kelly James is a computer genius and when hot, irresistible David asks her to uncover some top-secret government information, she has no trouble getting it. But it looks like she didn't cover her tracks good enough because a few later, she gets arrested. Instead of receiving a juvenile detention sentence, she gets thrown into a secret government spy agency that trains teens to go undercover.

Kelly is an ultimate geek and for that, I like her. But I wish she hacked the government's system for the thrill of being able to do it, not because of a guy. Ugh. It's always a guy. But I guess, it doesn't fit her personality. Still. And for someone who has 191 IQ points, she was a bit slow. She hasn't mastered the science of deduction yet. The love interest is, of course, David and I guess the romance is going to develop in the duration of the whole series because there really wasn't much in this one. Just enough to tease.

Kelly spends her time learning spy skills along with other teenagers, the other members of her team. I wish Greenland spent more time building up their personalities because each one was distinct and different. They just ended up being flat characters that filled up the space. I would have liked to see more of their lessons and interactions between Kelly's team grow into a nice camaraderie.

Soon enough, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model and the skills she's learned are put to test. The mission itself wasn't that difficult and it didn't really have the suspense, tension and really good action that I want from spy novels.

I'm interested enough in reading the next couple of books. I never could resist teen espionage. Hopefully, there's a complicated plot hidden behind the scenes to blow up everything, like how the Gallagher Girls turned out. I want Greenland to focus on her character development as well because this has a really good potential to be up there with Alex Rider, CHERUB and Gallagher Girls series. Fingers crossed.