Review: You Don't Know Jack by MC Lee

Jack Carlisle isn’t who he says he is. Jack is an agent of an organization known as The Center who has been assigned to infiltrate a small Maine high school in order to befriend track star Leo McCormack. Getting close to Leo was the easy part.

You Don’t Know Jack is the first in a series of novels by MC Lee. The premise of the book is simple: Two or more agents – working together – extricate a target. It is hinted that some of the targets are killed and that some disappear never to be seen again.

Jack has been at The Center since his parents died in a car crash when he was three. He has a support team including his guardian, whose name has not been given; his handler, Sean; his trainer, Evan; the man playing the part of his uncle, Matt; and the thorn in his side, Instructor Colson. They’re there to provide the information he needs before and during each mission.

I almost set this book aside, unfinished. It’s not a bad book, not even a boring book. It was just . . . ordinary, I guess. I kept reading, thinking I was missing something. And then, a couple chapters from the end, everything changed and I was glad I kept reading.

To be fair, You Don’t Know Jack is more of an introductory setup for the rest of the series. I’ve already started reading the second book, If You Knew Jack, and it picks up right after the events of You Don’t Know Jack. We still don’t know much about The Center or if what Jack’s been told over the years is true.

Readers who enjoy Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series will find a lot to like here as well.

Rating: 4 Stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harmony Ink Press (through NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.