Look Into My Eyes by British author Lauren Child, MBE (
Wikipedia) is the 1st in her Ruby Redfort series of defictionalized YA undercover agent mystery adventures starring the eponymous code-breaking teen genius (with real worldbuilding cryptographic help provided by mathematician Marcus du Sautoy (OBE,
Wikipedia)), which previously existed in the author's earlier award-nominated Clarice Bean tween novels (
Wikipedia) as the titular character's favourite series of books, this installment the obligatory origin story which leads her to a life of action-filled evil-foiling secret spy missions, free courtesy of publisher HarperCollins' namesmushed HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks imprint.
This is the featured Free Book of the Week in the iTunes UK, Australia, and New Zealand stores.
Currently free, probably just until next Monday @
Amazon UK &
AU,
iTunes UK &
AU &
NZ &
Kobo (available to the UK & AU & NZ, and also Ireland when I spot-check iTunes, but not any of the other usual EU stores which sometimes get the UK freebies, though YMMV). Price-drop-check linkage for
B&N UK, where this will probably get matched eventually.
Unlikely to cross the pond in any direction, as this exists in a slightly different edition in North America and is decidedly unfree in the other countries around the world that I spot-checked.
If you happen to like this one and wish to read more, it looks like the 2nd-in-series,
Take Your Last Breath, is currently promotionally discounted to roughly half-price compared to the rest of the series in various outlets.
Description
Hey, buster! Normal life is a total yawn. Break out of boredom with Ruby Redfort, the super-awesome new creation from multi-million-copy bestseller Lauren Child…
Want to know more? Of course you do, bozo.
Here’s the low-down on Ruby Redfort: she’s a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, and a gadget-laden special agent who just happens to be a thirteen-year-old girl. She and her slick sidekick butler, Hitch, foil crimes and get into loads of scrapes with evil villains, but they’re always ice-cool in a crisis.
In this first book, we go right back to Ruby’s beginnings as an agent. When an anonymous caller sets Ruby a challenge, it’s not long before she finds her way into the HQ of the most secret of secret agencies – SPECTRUM. They need her help to crack a code but her desk job soon spirals into an all-out action adventure, as Ruby uncovers the dastardly plans of the formidable Fool’s Gold Gang…