I read Scorpia, the fifth Alex Rider second. Which is *by far* the most interesting and complex of them (if you didn't get that far: Alex switches sides, a 40-yr-old women flirts with him and seduces him to evol, and Alex has an identity crisis). So I was so damn excited for a YA series which took a twisty premise and acknowledged it was twisty, but, um, I think my brain works different to Horowitz.

I shall heavily rec CHERUB to my little sister. Not that she's like your kid brother, but she could do with some intelligent spy novels since her Alex Rider obsession passed into Twilight. I think I even ripped the first audiobook for her a year or so back. I shall make sure it gets onto my iPod.