Thursday, March 29, 2007

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter


Cammie Morgan goes to the elite Gallagher Girl where she studies 14 languages, covert operations, and how to kill people twice your size. But don't let the trappings of her elite school fool you: she's a typical sophomore girl with a crush on a townie boy and an endearing awkwardness. And even with the high tech trappings of spy gadgets and espionage tricks, the most dangerous mission is putting your heart on the line.

At times clever and other times silly, Carter has created a concept that she hopes to make into a profitable commercial enterprise. Combining spy novel cliche with high school cliche, this novel never really rises above either genre. Yes, I laughed the first couple of times Cammie and her friends did something James Bond and then immediately topped it off with a Gilmore Girls moment, but the joke wears thin and the conclusion got pretty muddy. It's a concept that may improve with the sequels, but we'll need to work on the story and come up with better jokes.

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