Spy School Project X : What Went Wrong

Spy School Project X : What Went Wrong 

Cover of Spy School Project X

Spy School: Project X, is the 10th installment in the Spy School series by Stuart Gibbs. The plot revolves around Murray Hill, the nemesis of the main character, Ben Ripley, who is a spy-in-training. Murray, seeking revenge against Ripley, starts to post lies about Ben on the internet under the name Agent X, who is known as a mysterious top-level agent at the CIA. Murray accuses Ben of being at the center of a conspiracy, along with a bounty of $20 million on Ben’s head to try and get him killed. And to make things worse, readers online believe these lies that Murray has spread, as crazy as they seem. Additionally, they add on to the lies, constructing even more bizarre situations. Murray only said that Ben was trying to overthrow the government, but other conspiracy theorists have blown the story out of proportion, saying things like he is an alien lizard. Ben has to try to find Murray and get him to clear his name and remove the bounty before the inevitable happens. That is, before he gets killed.

At first glance, I was hyped for this book. Besides being a diehard fan for the Spy School series, I also felt particularly interested in certain aspects of the book. For example, the cover, which has an archery target in vibrant colors behind a shadow of Ben, piqued my interest, as I’ve done archery myself. Additionally, while writing my previous blog post about Stuart Gibbs, I was looking through this website and I saw that he posted a sneak peak of the book. I read through it, and it was giving a basic summary of what the book is like. After reading that article, I was even more excited to get this new book. I was imagining the feeling of being able to borrow this new book, heading home, and just diving in on my couch, not getting up until I was done reading the whole thing. 

Well, after months of anticipation, that day finally came. The book was in my library, and I rushed to my computer, typing in the URL in Google at speeds never reached by mankind. My request was in! The next day, the book was ready for me to pick up. I rushed over to the library, running inside. I quickly checked out the book, and headed back home. I was bouncing in the car, full of excitement. When we arrived home, I ran to my couch, cannonballing into it and cracking open my Holy Grail. 

If you have read other Spy School books in the series, you get used to the first few chapters. If you haven’t, here is the gist. It starts off with Ben in spy school, explaining how he was even selected by the CIA to be a spy-in-training. It then shifts to a scene where he is told that he needs to go on another mission to defeat a bunch of bad guys, with the best spy-in-training (and Ben’s girlfriend), Erica Hale, and a few others, like Zoe Zibbell (who has a crush on Ben), and Mike Brezinski (Ben’s best friend). This time, there is no difference. I understand that there is a lot of information that Mr. Gibbs wants to pack in the story, but I think that he should try to change the introduction every once in a while. I mean, I am 100% sure that the intro in this book is almost copied and pasted verbatim from previous books. Maybe with a few differences. As I read on, my interest in the book revived, especially in the scenes where Ben is chased out of his school by assassins and how Erica is single-handedly trying to keep Ben safe. This part of the book is filled with details that describe the setting, like when they are on top of a moving train, and how Ben keeps swallowing bugs on their way to Philadelphia, or when they are being chased throughout the city, everything from a tree in a park to the crack in the Liberty Bell was mentioned. This part of the book is by far my favorite, as it brings back the nostalgia of the previous books in the series and keeps the reader on their toes.

A warning: Spoilers are ahead! If you don’t want me to spoil this story for you, then you should stop right here and back away slowly. 

            At this point in the novel, the rest of Erica’s family, who are all spies, are introduced into the story. This is the basic procedure in this series. We get the ball rolling in terms of plot, and then Erica’s whole family comes in to save the day, with each book introducing a new relative. This time around, it was Erica’s grandmother, Mary, who helped them escape Philadelphia, and locate Murray Hill. Soon after, they meet up with Cyrus (Erica’s grandfather), Catherine (her mom), Alexander (her dad), and Trixie (her sister). They find out that Murray is located in a Supermax Prison. But to everyone’s surprise except Ben’s, Murray wasn’t there. Ben had been suspecting this all along, but to his dismay, no one had listened to him until this point. They realized he had become a part of the Federal Witness Protection Program, established by the government for people who were in danger for their lives. Ben’s parents are also in this program, because they were going to be killed because of Ben. To add more fuel to the fire, Murray was next-door neighbors to Ben’s parents, who now live in Florida. They realized they had to get there ASAP. My interest as a reader was starting to fade away, because this is the exact same plot as… wait for it… EVERY SINGLE OTHER BOOK IN THE SERIES. Noticing a pattern?

            Moving on, they then steal a vintage airplane and fly to Florida. During this process, Erica messes up on one thing, and she loses complete confidence in herself. I think that this is the nail in the coffin for this book, because this moment creates a situation where the rest of the book is half about making her feel better, and I don’t want to read that. Continuing with the plot, everyone immediately heads over to the housing where Murray lives and captures him. When they find him, they realize that he is about to kill all of them with bombs rigged to blow. Then, more assassins come looking for Ben Ripley. A boat chase ensues, and eventually, they get Murray to call off the bounty. Eventually, they realize the damage had already been done, and even though there weren’t assassins coming after him, there will always be someone who thinks he is an alien lizard.

            Personally, I think that this book is a letdown. The similarity to other plotlines. The same setup in the beginning. The twists and turns that I saw coming. Everything just made me want to say, “Mr. Gibbs, I really admire your work.  But next time, could you please not disrupt the fundamentals which make your books enjoyable to read?”

            In a previous post, I pointed out that Stuart Gibbs stopped writing his Moon Base Alpha series before he had planned on it, because he realized that the series had run its course and that if he wrote more books, they would fall flat because the plot has already concluded. If he understood the concept back then, I feel like this intro should go through a similar process, where it is replaced with something even better.

            What this means for me is that, in the future, whenever I get excited about a new book coming out, I will acknowledge that the day that I finish reading it can be a very good day or a very bad day. Keeping this in mind, the levels of dopamine in my body will be lower than expected when hearing about an interesting book.

            When describing the Spy School series, I like to say that it is an example of the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” because even though every book brings something new to the table, it stays true to its origins at the same time. But this time, Mr. Gibbs has pushed it too far by messing with the recipe of the series. It’s like messing with the recipe for KFC’s fried chicken. It is perfect as is, and if you mess with it, all hell breaks loose.

-Sri