YA Book review: The Rise of Lubchenko

Evan Macalister is the 17 year-old son of an incredibly wealthy drug-company founder.  Evan discovers that his dad's business partner is planning to sell smallpox to terrorists, then kill Evan, two of his friends (his girlfriend Erika, and Ruben), and Evan's dad.  Loosely plotted (Evan has to get out of summer school, hock a bunch of antiques to raise the money to go to Europe to try and foil the plot), this book has a lot less action than anticipated.  Evan discovers he is a pawn in a much bigger game, but any larger lessons are lost on Evan and his flip, carefree attitude.  It's a sequel, but the first book is recounted in such thorough detail that you don't need to have read the first to understand the follow-up.  I do not recommend this book unless someone has read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book.  My library has a lot of copies for our book club, and unfortunately I haven't talked with a high school student yet who has liked it much. Instead, try Horowitz's Alex Rider teenage spy series.