Spy Runner

Starred review from January 15, 2019
It's 1953, and Jake just knows that the new boarder is a Communist spy.The 12-year-old fan of Commie-fighting comics hero Spy Runner has no trouble finding plausible evidence, either, from the unkempt stranger's comment that his parents were Russian to mysterious phone calls in the night and a scary interview with a pair of heavies who claim to be FBI agents. But suspicion proves (then, as now) contagious, and suddenly Jake's own best friend is shunning him, he's ostracized at school, and a black car is following him around Tucson. On top of all that comes the emotionally shattering discovery that his mom, solitary since his dad was declared MIA in World War II, has let the stranger into her room. At this point, having set readers up for a salutary but hardly unique tale about prejudice, misplaced suspicion, and the McCarthy era, Yelchin briskly proceeds to pull the rug out from under them by pitching his confused, impulsive protagonist into an escalating whirl of chases, crashes, threats, assaults, abductions, blazing gunplay, spies, and counterspies--along with revelations that hardly anyone, even Jake's mom, is what they seem. The author includes a number of his own blurred, processed, black-and-white photos that effectively underscore both the time's fearful climate and the vertiginous quality of Jake's experience. The book assumes a white default.An imagined adventure turned nightmarishly real leads to exciting, life-changing results. (Historical adventure. 10-13)

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January 1, 2019
Grades 4-7 There aren't many noir thrillers out there for middle-graders, but Newbery Honor Book winner Yelchin (Breaking Stalin's Nose, 2011) has turned out a humdinger. It's 1953, the Cold War's in full swing, and kids are being inculcated with anti-Communist sentiments on the news, at school, and even in their comic books. Like his classmates, 12-year-old Jake McCauley is dedicated to American values, but he also has a secret mission: to find his father, who went MIA during WWII. Jake's two causes become bewilderingly intertwined when his mom rents their spare room to a Russian man named Shubin. Convinced Shubin is a Communist spy, Jake decides to expose the man for what he is. Yelchin builds tension into every chapter as Jake dodges suspicious characters, discovers top-secret documents, tangles with danger, and starts questioning what he's been taught. Grainy black-and-white photos, as might be taken with a spy camera, pepper the text, further enhancing the story's mysterious atmosphere. The action never stops, and readers will be gripped as the narrative thunders to a satisfying conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)