Author: Robin Benway
Genre: Young Adult, mystery
Published on: January 14, 2014 by Walker Childrens
Being permanently based in a local New York City high school as an undercover operative has its moments, good and bad, for 16-year-old safecracker Maggie Silver.
Pros: More quality time with her former mark-turned-boyfriend Jesse Oliver and insanely cool best friend, Roux.
Getting to spend quality time with her semi-retired and international spy honorary uncle, Angelo.
Cons: High school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.
But when Maggie's parents are falsely accused of stealing priceless gold coins, Maggie uses her safecracking skills to try and clear their names.
Too bad it only serves to put her and everyone she loves in danger. Maggie and her "new team" flee to Paris where they must come up with a plan to defeat their former allies.
A new mission begins in Going Rogue. This is the sequel to Also Known As, and takes place a short time afterward. The main character is Maggie Silver, 16-year-old self-proclaimed international spy. She lives with her parents, who are also spies. In the previous book, Maggie handled her first-ever solo mission. It involved blending in at a private high school to get close to a certain student, Jesse Oliver. He and Maggie ended up falling for each other. Maggie also found a best friend in Roux, Jesse’s bubbly childhood friend. Maggie revealed her secret to both of them, and they proved instrumental in solving her case.
Maggie had thought completing the mission meant her family would be relocated to handle a new one. To her delight, the Collective (their secret spy organization) allowed the Silvers to stay in Manhattan. They recognized that the recent mission took a toll on them. The Silvers are now on a sort of break. Maggie is still attending the private school with Roux and Jesse. The latter’s relationship with Maggie is going really well. Maggie’s eager to meet Jesse’s mother for the first time. She isn’t around much because she left Jesse’s father a while ago. Ms. Oliver isn’t the kind of mom who abandons their kid, though; she wants to be in Jesse’s life more often.
I liked Roux from the first scene she appeared in. She’s a rich outcast who lives by herself in an expensive penthouse next to Central Park. Roux claims her parents are always on a trip abroad, so she rarely ever sees them. And after falling from grace at the private school, Roux became even more lonely. She wasn’t truly happy until she met Maggie. Roux got even more thrilled when she found out Maggie was a spy. She thinks it’s super cool. Roux is sometimes overly exuberant, which I think is her way to counter the monotony she has to face when she’s alone. One of my favorite Roux scenes in this book is when she totally reenacts the Jurassic Park “See? Nobody cares!” meme with Maggie. It was hilarious.
This book’s mission is different from the one in Also Known As. The Silvers discover that the Collective think they’ve stolen an extremely valuable set of coins. Angelo, the Silvers’ best friend and Maggie’s sort-of uncle, goes around investigating what’s going on. He’s also a veteran member of the Collective. Angelo’s help could prove crucial this time. It appears that the mission will be significantly more dangerous. This really worries Maggie, and it impacts her relationship with Jesse and Roux. She fears nothing more than putting them in danger. This causes Maggie to unintentionally make both of them mad. Roux takes it a little worse; she is sensitive to being abandoned.
Just when it seems Maggie may have saved the day, something bad happens. Everyone’s caught up in the situation, including Roux and Jesse. Angelo has no choice but to put his pre-arranged plan into motion. Yes, the Silvers go rogue, as the book’s title says. Maggie goes away with Jesse and Roux. They eventually get to a safe house only Angelo knows about. There, some important new characters are introduced. They’re all members of the Collective, and about Maggie’s age. One of them becomes Roux’s romantic interest from the get-go. It was a real coup de foudre. I like Roux, and it was great to see her get her own Jesse Oliver. Speaking of him, Jesse reveals a cool talent even he didn’t know he had. It was a bit out of left field, but I took it in stride.
I seriously enjoyed reading the first book, but I think Going Rogue topped it. This sequel increases the stakes, introduces really likable new characters, and brings a new setting. France is one of my favorite countries, so I like when stories take place there. Maggie Silver was an entertaining protagonist too, and a good role model. While she doesn’t change much over these two books, that’s okay. Characters don’t have to go through drastic changes to be great. Roux and the others were also memorable characters. The ending is also satisfactory, but kind of ambiguous. While every major plot thread is resolved, there seems to be room for more. I would really welcome another Maggie Silver adventure.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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