Sekret

This book is damn near perfect. In the Cold War, the second generation of a secret sect of the KGB who have been bred to have psychic powers are in training to be the next wave of spies. Enter Yulia, the daughter of geneticists, who is being held against her will in this school of the New World Order.
Here's what really, really works: Smith sets the scene so well that this world comes to life in vibrant color. The fact that there are some people with psychic abilities doing spy work in this world is as commonplace as bread lines. She mixes real historical events with this new storyline, calling in guest stars like Khrushchev and Gagarin and letting them walk around with her characters. The enemy here is, of course, the Americans and Smith really has us convinced that they might just be worse than the regime that is currently in charge of the Soviet Union. Brilliant.

I don't want to give anything away, but Yulia is one of THE strongest female characters I have read in a long time. Not once does a man jump in and save her. Her dedication is to her family (her mother and brother) FIRST, then to her own security. Her survival skills are high, and she is smart. Not just book smart, but smart.

What dragged for me: the love triangle. I get it. I really do, but it wore on me a little. Such a little thing, really, but I'm starting to think publishers will not publish a YA manuscript unless the author jams one in somewhere, and really with everything Yulia had going on- she really needed to deal with that too?

Back to the good: Smith realizes her readers are smart too. She doesn't spend a lot of time reexplaining things, or beating us over the head with messages. She drops hints (where DID Yulia's missing sweater go?), and allows us to pull it together on our own. I think anyone who picks up a book about the Cold War and psychic spies is unlikely to be the type to have a need for simplistic explanations or long descriptions of what everyone is wearing to the ball anyway, but it was to feel the respect come through the storytelling.