#Prettyboy Must Die Review
7:24 PM
Title // #Prettyboy Must Die
Author // Kimberly Reid
Publication Date // February 2018
Publisher // Tor Teen
Readership // Young Adult
Genre // Contemporary
Rating // ✭✭✭☆
I received a copy of #Prettyboy Must Die from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
A CIA prodigy's cover is blown when he accidentally becomes an internet sensation in #Prettyboy Must Die, Kimberly Reid's fun, fast thriller inspired by the #Alexfromtarget story.
When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo—along with the caption, “See the Pretty Boy Run,”—Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his 6th period Chem Class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency.
Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster-kid turned CIA operative. After a massive screw-up on his first mission, he's on a pity assignment, a dozen hit lists and now, social media, apparently. As #Prettyboy, of all freaking things.
His cover’s blown, his school’s under siege, and if he screws up now, #Prettyboy will become #Deadboy faster than you can say, 'fifteen minutes of fame.' Trapped in a high school with rabid killers and rabid fans, he’ll need all his training and then some to save his job, his school and, oh yeah, his life.
#Prettyboy Must Die is an easy-to-read, uncomplicated young adult spy novel, set in a high school with all the usual suspects.
Peter Smith is an unassuming student in the last year of high school. That is, until his cover is blown when a local school girl snaps a photo of him on a late night run and posts it over social media with a snappy caption that sends the post viral. Shortly after, the high school is taken hostage by unknown hostiles and Peter’s identity is compromised and he’s forced to be who he really is - a recruit from the CIA’s early intact program, and the hostiles are after him.
There’s nothing complicated in the storytelling of this book, and it’s a lot of fun. Due to the nature of the story, we don’t spend a lot of time delving into the personal lives of the characters, and you’ve got your stereotypical few in there, along with a healthy dose of representation (which is fantastic to see). Peter/Jake is determined to succeed and become a staple figure within the CIA, if only he can fix a few mistakes he’s made along the way.
The plot is nothing to write home about, and there are a few parts that drag in the middle, but nevertheless, it has all the elements you’d want in a teen spy novel, that’s focusing more on the characters and the humour than on the thriller aspects.
While not groundbreaking, it’s definitely entertaining, and I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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