Spy Camp

Ben is the main character and protagonist of the novel. Ben is a dynamic character who grows and changes over the course of the novel and the series. He begins the series as an ordinary middle-school child with no espionage skills. By the end of this novel, he has twice thwarted SPYDER, an evil intelligence organization that works against the interests of the United States and the CIA. As a character, Ben is marked by his creativity, courage and his insecurity. He often doubts himself, but works hard to improve and puts himself in danger in order to save others.

Ben was originally recruited to the CIA’s spy school as a ruse to draw out SPYDER. They pretended he’d scored very highly on secret espionage tests and claimed that his excellent math and number skills extended to expertise in code-breaking and programming. Though Ben never fully believes this, it bolsters his confidence until he discovers that he’d simply been used as bait. Together, he and Erica identify Murray Hill as the mole, stopping him from setting off an explosive that would kill several important intelligence leaders.

In Spy Camp, Ben is again singled out as special, this time by SPYDER. He wants to believe that there is something important about him, but he ultimately learns that SPYDER’s recruitment efforts are a ruse to draw out Erica and Cyrus Hale. Ben believes himself to be a mediocre spy and notes his average grades and lack of experience as weaknesses. He feels useless next to Erica and Cyrus’s extreme competence. Despite this, however, Ben is very courageous in the face of danger. In the mine, for example, he goes alone toward the mission control center after Alexander abandons him to join the others in rescuing Erica and Cyrus. He is deeply afraid of going alone, but he knows he is the only one with any hope of stopping the launch, so he walks into the situation alone and meagerly armed.

One of Ben’s strengths is that he thinks outside the box and doesn’t approach situations the way Erica, a more conventional spy, might. Ben accepts his limitations and finds another way to stop the missile: by unplugging it. These types of seemingly simplistic approaches are characteristic of Ben, who, as a very new young spy, doesn’t have the same tools as many of the other older students. While he sees himself as lesser than the others because of his limited training and skills, his natural intelligence, creativity, and willingness to endanger himself for the greater good enable him to make a difference.