Europa by James Ponti

This seventh installment in the terrific City Spies series finds our family of young secret agents (and their adult handlers) getting used to their new living quarters in London. Now that Le Fantome, the head of the terrorist group known as UMBRA, is in an English prison, the kids are focusing on their academics, both in regular schoolwork and in the on-going business of espionage.

But right as they’re finishing up their first lesson in spycraft history and techniques with the high-ranking agent they call Tru, they learn of a mysterious series of messages originating from Le Fantome himself. MI5 is on high alert, but the kids swiftly realize that the supervillain’s coded threats involve the city of Paris rather than anything within British borders. As covert agents under the umbrella of MI6, this means that the kids get to go on the ground in France, to the city that their eldest agent and de facto leader calls home.

Alas, things go sideways in what the City Spies soon learn is only the opening salvo in Le Fantome’s wicked plans. But of even greater concern to the kids and to the adults on their team is the fact that Le Fantome’s coded instructions keep referring to the former MI6 agent they all know as Clementine, who had gone deep cover to eventually rise to the position of one of his most trusted lieutenants in UMBRA. It’s taken years to bring her back in from the cold — years in which her loyalty had been severely doubted — and she’s in hiding now as a civilian. Le Fantome’s messages, however, hint that she’s anything but. The City Spies are torn as to her loyalties, even as they race to decrypt and stop UMBRA’s latest plans at sowing terror throughout Europe.

I was impressed at how long it took me to get the actual reference of the title, but just as with every other James Ponti book I’ve had the pleasure of reading to date, I very much enjoyed following along and solving the puzzles with the characters. The riddles are all carefully constructed, then explained in a way that feels very organic instead of teach-y, which is just one of the things I love about this series. The semi-gratuitous crack against Tottenham certainly didn’t hurt either, lol.

I also really appreciated the examination of the kids’ emotions as they grow up and start facing increased responsibilities and the pressures of adulthood. It was nice to see Sydney continue to come to terms with her impulsiveness, even as Paris stepped further into his leadership role and Brooklyn faced up to the trauma of her recent past. It was also great to see Kat’s neurodivergence acknowledged. Mr Ponti takes so much care with this series to flesh out his characters, making them all people you can really root for, with the dossiers at the end really helping newer readers catch up, too. I was really excited for the way this novel ended, and can’t wait to read what happens in the next one!

Europa by James Ponti was published today February 20 2026 by Aladdin and is available from all good booksellers, including