Along Came a Spyder-Apeksha Rao

Book: Along Came a Spyder
Author: Apeksha Rao
Publisher: Treeshade Books

Have you ever wanted to be a spy?

Along Came a Spyder by Apeksha Rao is the story of Samira Joshi, a teenager who aspires to be a spy, and that is something that flows in her blood. With a great-grandmother who liked to stick her nose in everybody’s business, a grandmother who loved to track down errant husbands & missing servants to parents who are elite intelligence agents for the RAW, but for some reason, they continuously nag her to pursue the profession of being a doctor. When an unplanned encounter at a coffee house leads to some sleuthing by Samira, she discovers something that might change her life. The question is, can she get what she always wanted?

Apeksha has crafted an interesting spy thriller that engages you from the very first page and keeps you hooked as the story moves ahead. The plot is simple yet intriguing as we uncover the various adventures that Samira takes up in her quest of being a spy. Apeksha brings out another idea of children choosing their careers and how motivation can drive a teenager to become so brave as to face their worst fears. The author also explores the idea of teenage rivalry and friendship through Tina and how their journey evolves through the story. A Young-Adult book, the Spyders are an interesting start to a probable series and I would love to see more of the Spyders in the future with more adventures. The climax was a bit expected and I would have loved to see a twist though. There are many instances in the story that would actually make you gape in awe at the research that must have gone into the book. Wordplay in the title and many places in the book is quite commendable.

The characters in the story are well defined with credible back stories and settings. I loved how the backstory of the Joshis unravels and adds volume to the story. The entire concept of the Spyders and their different members, each with a completely different personality add a lot of credibility to Apeksha as a storyteller. With interesting nuances in the characters such as Col. Baldev Singh and his secretary, I would definitely like to know more about them and their stories as they come along.

The book scores a 3.88/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.