REVIEW: Spies, Lies, and Alibis by Natalie Walters
Dear Natalie Walters,
Cybil Langford is working as a spy/informant for a private secret organisation, trying to get information about her employer, Earl Edmond. Bennett Bradley works for the FBI and is undercover as “Craig Miller” a shady financial expert who helps criminals move and launder money. He is after Lorenzo Ramirez, who the FBI know (but can’t prove in Court) is responsible for the death of a fellow agent. Ben and his team hope that by nailing Ramirez on RICO charges they will be able to obtain some justice for the dead agent’s family.
Ramirez is involved in a mysterious business deal with Edmond, and Cybil and Ben therefore cross paths. The problem is Ben and Cybil grew up together and, when they were teenagers, there were strong romantic feelings between them which never quite came out into the open. And, Ben’s chosen alias is the name of Cybil’s high school ex-boyfriend. In any event, Cybil knows who Ben is from the start and this severely jeopardises the FBI operation.
Neither can tell the other what they’re really doing so each is suspicious that their former friend and crush has turned to the dark side.
When they were teens, Ben and Cybil were to meet by a tree on her uncle’s farm where, both hoped they would confess their feelings and perhaps share their first kiss. Before the meeting however, Cybil overheard Ben saying something to her cousin, Rex (Ben’s best friend), which caused her to ditch their scheduled rendezvous and leave the farm. She still carries hurt and, when they first bump into each other, Cybil is determined not to fall for Ben’s charm again. (That doesn’t really last long but she does try.)
Ben, for his part, has always carried a torch for Cybil and he quickly falls in love with her all over again. Perhaps a bit too quickly. In the end, I had to take on trust that they had fallen in love as teens and a short reacquaintance brought those feelings roaring to life. Missing from the story was any real developing romance between young Ben and Cybil. There was really only one scene which indicated Ben had deep feelings for Cybil at the time – one or two brief scenes more would have been helpful.
The present-day pair have clear chemistry however, so it was only a bit too fast for me, not unbelievable.
“Stop raising your brows like that,” she snaps.
I lift them higher.“Like what?”
“Like that.” She scowls at me, cheeks flushed.
“You’re mad at my eyebrows?
“Only because you know how to use them.”
“Use them?”
She lets out a dramatic sigh and steps back, swatting the air between us like she’s trying to shoo away a swarm of bees—or maybe just the crackling chemistry we’re pretending not to notice. “You’re insufferable,” she mutters.“Of course you don’t get it. I raise my eyebrows and look like I’m being electrocuted. You do it and it’s all . . . smoldering.”
As the business deal between Edmond and Ramirez moves closer to fruition, both Ben and Cybil try and obtain information for their respective bosses and Ben is provided with the opportunity to save Cybil’s bacon more than once. On the other side of the ledger, Cybil spikes Ben’s plans multiple times.
I was a little unsure about the depiction of ADHD in the book. I don’t have loads of experience with it but someone in my family has the attention deficit kind so I’m aware of it slightly more than in the general sense. In the book, Cybil’s mother has what must be a severe case and this leads to her losing money and running up debts, all of which Cybil covers. This leave Cybil deeply in debt and was the impetus for her to join the private spy organisation. I don’t know for sure that it can’t happen the way the book portrays but I’d think it’s far from the norm.
Some of the plot didn’t quite hold together for me, some of which would be too spoilery to say much more about. Suffice to say I had some questions about how things shook out at the end. The biggest thing though was that most of the humour came, unfortunately, from Cybil looking incompetent or being embarrassed (eg, riding an electric bike into a fruit and vegetable stand, getting stuck on a ledge). For Cybil to have been embedded with Edmond for as long as she had been and to succeed in her other assignments, she’d have to be more competent than she was often made out to be in the book. That said, the last part did give Cybil an opportunity to shine which helped a bit. I did wish the pair were portrayed as more equally skilled; that could have been super fun.
Spies, Lies, and Alibis is an entertaining enough read, with an easy flow to the writing, some fun set pieces and likeable protagonists, but be prepared to hand wave a few plot holes and for Cybil to be the brunt of many of the jokes.
Grade: B
Regards,
Kaetrin
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