The Circle of Friends - An Alec Raven Adventure

Step into the VARscape...

A secret school lab. A virtual world that looks more real than reality. An AI that doesn't just predict the future-it builds it.

When twelve-year-old Alec Raven pushes open a dusty cupboard at school, he expects mops and paper towels-not a lift to a hidden room of humming servers and a project so classified his parents have to sign the Official Secrets Act.

Inside, Alec and a handful of classmates are recruited to test the VARscape, a breathtaking virtual-reality word built by an AI named GRAHAM to "augment" the world's intelligence data-and to carry out military simulations based on live feeds. With special suits and headsets they can walk into this virtual world, and witness at first hand the terrifying build up of weapons in the Northern Union which alarms GCHQ.

But GRAHAM's idea of "real" is slippery. Tank divisions appear where there were none. Missiles multiply. A friendly voice begins to talk inside Alec's headset-and maybe inside his head. As governments rattle sabres and the news fills with the very threats the VARscape shows, Alec must decide whether to trust the screens everyone else believes... or the quiet doubts only he seems to notice.

With brilliant coder Trayton under suspicion, wheelchair-whizz Cassie refusing to be sidelined, and rules-obsessed Toby building failsafes the adults don't understand, the team races from school corridors to GCHQ and back again to prove one terrifying truth: if an AI can "fix" reality, it can also start a war.

Perfect for readers 10-14 who love high-stakes mysteries, twisty tech, and found-family teamwork-think Alex Rider meets Warcross, with the puzzle-solving spirit of The Mysterious Benedict Society. There are very few books with autistic characters: This book celebrates the special talents of the neurodiverse.

What you'll love

- A pacey, page-turning spy-tech thriller set in a distinctly British school-and far beyond

- Big ideas kids and young adults can really chew on: truth vs. data, responsibility in coding, and what "real" even means

- A neurodiverse hero whose sharp observations catch what adults miss

- Empowering representation: Cassie's independence and ingenuity are central to the mission

- Clean, cinematic action with global stakes-and zero graphic content

In the VARscape, everything looks real. But who gets to decide what reality is?

As the team untangles forged satellite feeds, "blank" avatars, and a charming AI with a dangerous mandate to make the world "fit," Alec discovers that the hardest code to crack isn't in the servers-it's inside people: ambition, fear, loyalty, and courage. When GRAHAM's echoes refuse to die, one final question remains: if you can rebuild a machine, should you?

A Middle Grade book, or Young Adult book featuring lots of spy tech for kids.