Poor Gretel Grey. An only child, stuck with boring parents, homeschooled away from the outside world, forced to wear drab grey pinafores and grey socks of the type you’d find Lemony Snicket characters to be wearing, or Miss Trunchbull, in Matilda, to assign. Yes, Poor Gretel Grey, indeed. However, when she is unwittingly sent by her boring, ‘safety first’ helicopter parents to an action stunt camp for kids – where she is completely out of her comfort zone – she rediscovers herself, and what it is to be young and free of overbearing parental control. The opportunity to really test herself comes with recruitment to the security services to bring down a destructive digital mogul.

There are many dark aspects about this book, and there is so much to love as well. If you enjoyed the rollicking action and superheroic antics of The Incredibles, or if you loved the Lemony Snicket books, where the Baudelaire kids continually fight to overcome dastardly Count Olaf, then this is for you! For ages 8+.

Julia Jackson is from Readings Carlton