Spy School #4: Spy Ski School by Stuart Gibbs

My name is Ben, and I'm in Vail, Colorado, for my first official spy mission. The CIA is worried about the evil plans of a mysterious Chinese billionaire, and they want me to get information from his daughter Jessica during a ski vacation. My friend Erica thinks I'll fail, because I have feelings for Jessica. Okay, she's super cute, but I can do this despite all the huge, dangerous bodyguards around her. I was getting close to Jessica until my best friend Mike showed up. He doesn't know I'm a spy, and now she's interested in him. The bodyguards are already suspicious of me, Jessica's father hates me, and other agents have been killed trying to spy on the guy. As if things couldn't get any worse, now all of the other agents helping me are bickering with each other. What else can go wrong?

This book is the fourth one in the series. I don't think you need to read the other books to appreciate this one, but I recommend them. Ben's character is likable, as he doesn't have any super spy skills but is successful because of his intelligence and personality. The author throws a fun twist into this story through Erica's character. She's a legacy spy; her spying heritage goes all the way back to Nathan Hale in the Revolutionary War. She amazes everyone with her superior talents in... everything. Until skiing. The cool, confident, skilled student spy can't get the hang of skiing at all. She also needs to act like a normal teenage girl, which she hasn't done before. The story is an adventurous tale of a mysterious plot that could devastate the planet. There are fights and shootouts with plenty of action in the Rocky Mountains.The actual catastrophic event wasn't known until Ben figured it out at the end. He does that in all the books. The series is fun to read, and I recommend all the books.