The Squad: Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Bayport High School's varsity cheerleading team is composed of the most beautiful, the most athletic, the best-dressed, and the most popular girls in town. Toby Klein may be a black-belt in karate and an expert computer hacker but she has no school spirit, dresses badly, and has a tendency to beat up the guys who pick on her younger brother. She is horrified to be invited to join the cheerleading team until she learns that the girls are actually highly trained spys for the United States government Their cover is perfect - who would expect anything from a cheerleader?
What follows is lots of great clothes and accessories that double as spy gadgets, lots of girl bonding and gossip, lots of wildly improbable technology (a huge spy complex under the school). The reader really needs to suspend disbelief for Squad books (their is mention of Charlie's Angels but it reminded me even more of the Teletoon show "Spy Girls), but this looks like a fun series for those who are happy to do so.

The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
I only got about half-way through this one before handing it over to a ten- year-old who was looking for something to read. We compared notes when he got to about the same point in the book that I had reached, and it seems that our opinions were somewhat different.
First, a quick summary. 11 year old James is mathematically brilliant, but a little too quick with his fists and prone to get into trouble. When his mother, a successful fence for stolen goods, dies, James ends up in group home where he starts to run with a gang. He gets picked up by the police, but before he is charged, he is recruited by a mysterious group called Cherubs. Cherubs is a secret branch of M15 and consists of kids 11 to 17 who perform missions for this British spy agency. James undergoes a rigorous 100 day training before receiving his first assignment.
I certainly thought that The Recruit is a page turner as did my 10-year-old reviewer. However, while I thought that the training was down-right abusive, my co-reviewer thought it was all pretty cool. This is the first in a series about Cherubs. While definitely grittier than the Alex Rider spy novels, it will definitely appeal to kids who are fans of spy novels, which are currently an incredibly popular genre.
On a quick note, James Patterson has done a cross-over from adult into teen novels with his Maximum Ride series. It features a group of genetically enhanced kids who are being pursued by unknown killers. If this isn't trouble enough, they need to save the world from unspecified threat. These are real page-turners with short chapters and lots of action. While past titles in the series have been marketed to teens and tweens, apparently the next book out is going to be marketed across the board to adults, teens, and tweens. I guess the publishers want to squeeze as much out of this series as possible.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
14-year-old Alex Rider is orphaned when his uncle, a spy for the British government, is murdered. When the spy agency M16 gives him a choice between going to an orphanage or going undercover for them he reluctantly chooses the latter. His mission: infiltrate the organization of multibillionaire Herod Sayle who will be donating a state-of-the-art computer to each school-child in Great Britain. Is Sayle genuinely thanking his adoptive country through this fantastic gift or are does he have a different motive. Alex is sure that the sinister multibillionaire is up to no good but how to prove it with only a couple of days before the computers will be in the hands of children across the country? Since Stormbreaker is the first in a series, we know that Alex will prevail, but what a page-turning adventure! Armed with a fistful of cool gadgets and a blackbelt in karate Alex must battle the nefarious Sayle and his minions to save not only his own life but a whole generation of children.
The Alex Rider books don't need to be read in any particular order to enjoy them, although Stormbreaker does provide background to Alex's involvement in M16. However, given that these books don't spend much time on the library shelves just grab whichever title is available and enjoy!
Great for boys 10 to 14