This book is very clever and well written, but it is clearly intended for British audiences. I think it would seem too foreign to the average American, though there are many Anglophiles here—including myself.
I used to think that I knew something about codes and ciphers, but most of the brain teasers here stumped even me, I am loathe to admit.
Therefore I doubt my public library would purchase it, at least in the current economic climate. I would still recommend it, but only for those with an above-average IQ and who relish puzzles.

So you have always dreamed of being a spy, have you? Then this is the book for you! But if you have not, then this is still the book for you if you love challenging your brain 🙂

This book is an interesting combination of historical facts of the secret service and tons of brainteasers ranging from the hard to the harder. Each chapter starts off with truly interesting stories of the British Secret Service agencies from Victorian times to now, that are linked in one way or another to the puzzles that follow.

The puzzles tease your brain in myriads of ways – codes, anagrams, patterns, maps, and more. They challenge and frustrate and inevitably are exhilarating too!

Do you want to know the relation between butterflies and the founder of Scouting, and what are those two doing in a book about espionage? Read the book to find out this and so many more almost unbelievable but true tales of daring and secret agents; and to challenge yourself with puzzles and brainteasers that will put you in league with 007!

In Summary
This is a book for that secret agent in each one of us; so go ahead and enjoy it.

Note one: having paper and a pencil (as well as an eraser) handy is the best way to proceed with this book 🙂

Note two: I am still working my way through the puzzles here, just a dent so far.. but loved the histories lessons and loving the challenge

Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the digital review copy of this book- Secret Agent Brainteasers. This is my honest review of the book.

Secret Agent Brainteasers contains over 100 puzzles in a variety of types from logic and wordplay to algebra and geometry. The chapter introductions link the puzzles to skills needed by secret agents as illustrated with true stories from the British intelligence community from Victorian times through today.

I enjoyed the chapter introductions and could see the relevance of the puzzles to actual secret agent skills. The puzzles were great fun or deeply frustrating depending on their difficulty.

There are a couple of warnings. Since many puzzle answers involve words, the use of British spelling (i.e., armour vs. armor) may confuse non-Britons. Some of the puzzles involve a map or board and so are difficult to play on a kindle or tablet. An actual physical book (remember those?) will allow for working out the answers with a pencil (and probably an eraser) more easily.

Overall, Secret Agent Brainteasers will provide many of hours of fun where you can avoid social media and the intrusive light of mobile devices. 4 stars!

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Really makes you think. These were pretty difficult for me, although it was really cool hearing about what the author actually used in their career!

Secret Agent Brainteasers by Sinclair McKay – 2 Stars
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 9781635061352

I debated whether I should even review and rate this book. Let me start that I enjoyed the historical narratives and real spy tales. However, being an avid puzzler, particularly doing extremely difficult logic problems, I encountered so many puzzles that had multiple solutions or had errors. This is an UNCORRECTED COPY I am reviewing, so maybe the fallacies I report to the publisher will be corrected.

My expectation though was to find puzzles used directly in determining spy capabilities. Instead I found puzzles that were common folk teasers and had no relevance to determining spy capabilities. If you are reading this book to evaluate yourself and boost your hopes of being a spy, intelligence employee, detective, or investigator, drop that idea. However, if you just enjoy teaser games, enjoy this book. So many of the puzzles I found are simply word manipulation challenges. Likewise, many are or similar to puzzles already published in the let-me-trick-you category.

So, how do I rate this book? It did not meet MY expectations as set by the book’s description that imagined that these puzzles could test for spy candidates. The typographic errors, such as Chapter 2 puzzle #6 where two underscores are missing before “AR/” , can be overlooked in an UNCORRECTED copy. However, when at least 10+% of the puzzles I did have at least one alternate solution, such as Chapter 1 puzzle 4 where one could use the logic that the sector with 11 and 22 in outside circle and 20 on inside should be the numbers of the combination because it’s the only sector where the three numbers increase from left to right, then it already presents only a 50-50 chance of success -- one no spy would take. I’d like to rate this 3 or 4 because these word-teasers (most not really testing one’s logic) together with the good narrative history and tales would be enjoyed by many people. However, I’m being asked what my opinion is, and that has to be based on my expectations from its description versus what I discovered. Also, I couldn’t commit myself to doing more than the approximately 30-40 puzzles because of the issues I found! Thus, I can only rate this 2-star.

Reviewer: Rich

The question of this book is “do you have the mental acuity to be a secret agent?” Light, chatty descriptions of the history of various British intelligence agencies and famous spies alternate with collections of 8-10 puzzles loosely tied to the spy skills described in the historical section.

The puzzles vary significantly in difficulty. Many (most?) of them are variations on anagrams and/or arranging words in boxes. In some the spy connection feels genuine and in others it seems like a random puzzle from any old brainteaser collection with the spy bit “tacked on.” A few of the puzzles require knowledge of British places, history, etc. that a non-Brit might have a hard time coming up with. I would recommend this, if you enjoy word and pattern recognition puzzles (and spy trivia). You should definitely go with the printed version rather than the ebook so you don’t have to re-create all the grids, diagrams, etc. on a seperate piece of paper.

I loved this book. It was fun and entertaining. I loved reading about spy history and the brainteasers where a fun challenge. I highly recommend this book.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

I love everything about this book. The introduction with it's short history. The start of every chapter with more tales of espionage. The emphasis on people over tech. The "assignments" are delightful. I think i would recommend a paper copy of the book rather than an e-reader version, but a marvelous collection in any form.

This is a neat book os spy history and trivia partnered with in-depth brain teasers. I enjoyed a lot of them but there were some I didn't know where to start with. lol
Hardcore puzzle solver will love this. Amateurs need not apply lol.

This is a relatively short book filled with logic puzzles worded as directions for spies. It includes crossword puzzles, diagram puzzles, and trivia. The puzzles in this electonic book are fun if you are the type of person who does the New York Times crossword puzzle with an ink pen, otherwise it is best read in book format.