KEEPER CHANCE AND THE DUBIOUS DOPPELGÄNGER

A secret agent who can look like anyone leads a young villain in training and his questionably evil associates on a merry chase.

It seems that Showboater—a sequin-shedding Elvis impersonator with the superpower of going unnoticed (“the more flamboyant he was, the more he disappeared”)—has vanished, along with a certain very important file. Now, the rival Evil Villains International League and the Heroic Elite Reconnaissance Organization are anxious to get him, or at least the file, back. As it turns out, they aren’t the only ones. Tongue resolutely in cheek, Evanovich pits 16-year-old E.V.I.L. trainee Keeper Chance, his technologically adept best friend, Toby, and other parties (loyal allies or otherwise) against agent-for-hire Ditto. But Ditto is frustratingly able to stay a step ahead, thanks to both his own “doppelgänging” ability and a supportive trio of teenagers who can manipulate time in various ways. The ensuing hilarious misadventures add to the pleasure of watching the antics of superheroes with evocative monikers like Chaos and Joy Sucker (though the most fearsomely powerful of all is Toby’s mom) while contemplating the curiously narrow ethical gap between the tale’s villains and heroes. Better yet, having strung readers along through nearly two episodes about the exact nature of Keeper’s own mysterious superpower, the author finally sneaks in a credible suggestion toward the end. The cast largely presents white.

Super sly, super fun.