Blaine's Reviews > Liar & Spy

Life is a million different dots making one gigantic picture. And maybe the big picture is nice, maybe it’s amazing, but if you’re standing with your face pressed up against a bunch of black dots, it’s really hard to tell.
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Mom. She always says to look at the big picture. How all of the little things don't matter in the long run…. I know that Mom is right about the big picture. But Dad is right too: Life is really just a bunch of nows, one after the other. The dots matter.

I absolutely loved Rebecca Stead’s Newbery Award-winning novel When You Reach Me. So when I needed to read a middle-grade novel for a reading challenge this year, I decided to read Liar & Spy.

When his father loses his job, seventh grader Georges and his family moves into a new Brooklyn apartment. There, Georges meets Safer, a homeschooled 12-year-old who runs a spy club with his younger sister, Candy. They are determined to uncover the secrets of Mr. X, the man always dressed in black who lives in the apartment above Georges. Georges is being bullied in school, and becomes friends with Safer, but when Safer begins to take their spying too far, Georges is unsure what to do.

There are some nice lessons here about friendship and bullying. But—and please know I’m fully aware that it’s completely ridiculous to be an adult criticizing a book written for a middle-grade audience—Liar & Spy was pretty slow, the surprises weren’t very surprising, and the story ends rather oddly. It’s an ok kids’ book, but not a special one. When You Reach Me was so good that I went into this book with real expectations, and was left a bit disappointed.