Review: Out of Sight Out of Time

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
(Gallagher Girls #5)
By Ally Carter 

Published: March 13, 2012 by Hyperion
Read from:  May 08 to 11, 2012
Number of pages: 294
Source:HS Library
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Summary: The last thing Cammie Morgan remembers is leaving the Gallagher Academy to protect her friends and family from the Circle of Cavan--an ancient terrorist organization that has been hunting her for over a year. But when Cammie wakes up in an alpine convent and discovers months have passed, she must face the fact that her memory is now a black hole. The only traces left of Cammie’s summer vacation are the bruises on her body and the dirt under her nails, and all she wants is to go home.

Once she returns to school, however, Cammie realizes that even the Gallagher Academy now holds more questions than answers. Cammie, her friends, and mysterious spy-guy Zach must face their most difficult challenge yet as they travel to the other side of the world, hoping to piece together the clues that Cammie left behind. It’s a race against time. The Circle is hot on their trail and willing stop at nothing to prevent Cammie from remembering what she did last summer.

A Note About The Author

Working in a bookstore had a lot of perks. One of my favorites was getting to work the special events and meet some pretty cool authors.  I found several books because I got a chance to meet and spend some serious time with the people who wrote them. One of those authors was Ally Carter.  She gets all the credit for convincing me to read her series.

 If you read a lot of YA like me (and if you are a follower of this blog, you most likely do) I'm sure you have noticed that most YA novels are written for older teens.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but when you have a younger teen or pre-teen who is an advanced reader it can be hard finding something that is age appropriate for them that isn't too adult.  (I can't tell you the number of parents I would have ask me if the Twilight series was something their 11 year old daughter should be reading.)  So as a children's bookseller I was always looking for something to bridge the gap between intermediate readers and young adult, and it wasn't always easy. 

That night Ally Carter brought up the aforementioned issue, and reassuringly told the moms (and a few dads) present that she is well aware of who her target audience is (their daughters) and what is appropriate for them to be reading.  She said something about how there was just enough "hot shirtless boys"  *to which the girls cheered* (may not be exactly what she said this was almost 2 years ago) to make her fans happy, daughters and mothers alike but not too much for a parent to be concerned about what their daughter is reading.

It really glad to hear an author talk about writing specifically for this age group, because as I said they are often too old for the intermediate books which target ages 8-13 but still to young for most of the YA titles. So after the event I checked out a copy of the 1st Gallagher Girl book (another awesome perk of the bookstore) and was pretty much hooked after that. I started recommending the series regularly and still recommend it to the students I work with today.

The Cover

The Gallagher Girl books always have such fun covers!  I LOVE how you never truly seen Cammie's face (she is a spy after all.)  I also really like how the books all have a few things in common: The Gallagher Academy uniform with the plaid skirt, the "ransom" note lettering and of course Cammie on the cover, but are still distinctively different.  This one works really well, Cammie is literally running off the cover which goes SO well with the title. (and the story inside.)  I also really love the Gallagher Girls uniform on this cover, I think it's my 2nd favorite next to the red whit and blue one from Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover. (gg#3)  The All black uniform with the pink scarf really pops against the purple background.

The Story

First of all, the title for this one, Out of Sight, Out of Time, Great! She always put a twist on a common phrase: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (gg#2) Only the Good Spy Young (gg#4) Heist Society (hs#1), and I think it's really clever.  
Now if you made it this far into the review I'm going to assume you have read the 4 previous Gallagher Girl books so fair warning their will be minor spoilers from the previous books. 

At the end of Only the Good Spy Young, Cammie realizes it's no longer safe for her to be near the people she cares about, so she decides to run off on her own (after rejecting Zach's offer to runaway together) to discover why exactly the Circle is after her.  

After finishing book 4 I thought for sure book 5 would be about Cammie's "mission" during her summer vacation instead of a report about the fall semester. Well I was half right.  The book did focus on Cammie's summer vacation, but since Cammie can't remember the six months that immediately follow her choice to leave the Gallagher Academy the book is more about Cammie's attempt to recover her lost memory during the fall semester of her Senior year then an account of exactly what happened over the summer. Which is what makes this installment one of my favorites. Cammie has become a very strong young woman over the past 4 books and Cammie's memory loss has truly shaken her. She doesn't recognizance the girl in the mirror staring back at her anymore and she is truly worried by what this stranger may be capable of, and desperately wants to learn what transpired over the summer that changed her so much. It's Cammie's drive to find the truth at any cost fuels the story in Out of Sight, Out of Time and truly makes this book one of the strongest of the series, because it's not just the Gallagher Girls Vs the Circle, but Cammie vs her summer self.   

Final Thoughts and Recommendation:

Over all I found Out of Sight, Out of Time to be one of the best books in the Gallagher Girl series to date. Cammie's internal struggle makes the book unique within the series.  If you've read the past four Gallagher Girl books I promise, you will not be disappointed with this one!  If you have yet to start this amazing series, and seriously, it's a series about an all girls academy that is actually a top secret spy school (HOW COOL IS THAT) I highly recommend you get your hands on the first book in the series: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You ASAP! I promise you won't be disappointed.

 

My Rating: