Keeper Chance and the Dubious Doppelgänger [Evil Villains International League]
by Alex Evanovich
Middle School, High School    Simon    336 pp.
10/25    9781665960076    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781665960090    $10.99

Sixteen-year-old Keeper Chance and his best friend, Toby Boggs, are the youngest recruits to E.V.I.L., the Evil Villains International League. Each member has special talents (e.g., Toby has super tech skills, amazing hearing, and an excellent sense of smell), but Keeper doesn’t know what his are yet. In this follow-up to Keeper Chance and the Conundrum of Chaos (rev. 1/25), fellow E.V.I.L. member Showboater has disappeared with an important file, and the rival Heroic Elite Reconnaissance Organization is also trying to find him. Keeper and Toby are joined by Y, a beautiful girl with an affection for our protagonist. The long crime story is studded with scenes of bedlam and mayhem balanced by humorous dialogue, rollicking situations, and clever wordplay. Frustrating the search for Showboater is Ditto, a spy for hire whose skill is doppelgänging: everyone mistakes him for someone else, and thus no one really knows what he looks like, making it difficult to find him—and making it hard for him to know himself. Within the larger madcap hunt for Showboater, Ditto and Keeper both are on paths to discover their true selves. As with the first volume, this book is all about the sheer fun of reading.

From the November/December 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.