Puzzles for Spies: The brand-new puzzle book from GCHQ, with a foreword from the Prince and Princess of Wales Paperback – 22 Sept. 2022

Bought this for 12 year old who is currently enjoying spy movies, detective books and solving mysteries. She loves that it is produced by GCHQ. There are different types of puzzles so it's fun. She dips in and out. She's not really done puzzles that much before so sometimes she asks for help but once you give her a hint, she's off. Keeps her busy plus she enjoyed doing them with her Granny over half term.

Not sure what to say as I bought this for a 12 year old friend. He loved it. He is a very intelligent Kid, so I guess that helped a lot. He is supposed to be letting me read it next but not seen it yet . hence 5 *

I love the idea of this. Aside from intelligence agency careers, these sort of mental skills are a brilliant trait to develop in a child. It's age appropriate, and a 7 or 8 year old could find a lot of it doable (maybe with some help) with plenty to challenge a child up to early teens.RRP says just shy of £10. For the deal of £6 it's well worth it.

From the reviews I formed the impression this book had content suitable for younger children aged 7-8 but clearly those reviewers' children vastly outsmart my knuckle-scraping child as she quickly lost interest. I will try her with it again in a year or so, probably after trying some simpler material first so she can work her way her up to it.

My eldest grandson gets bored because he often finds things too easyThis offers a good selection of codes and puzzles, some he needs help with and some he can sit quietly and do on his ownBrilliant

Bought for granddaughter who really like it . Plenty of varied puzzles etc.

I had seen articles promoting this book heavily so was really pleased to get a copy. However, I wasn;t sure what age the book was aimed at as the puzzles and information were a really mixed bag. Some puzzles were just really simple mazes or 3 string style ones where you follow the twisting string to see which rope belongs to the original item or person. Things a 4 year old (or even younger) could easily solve. Other puzzles required strong spelling, and vocabulary skills or maths skills more suitable for a year5 or 6 school child. Each section had a history page, recalling the life of a famous code cracker or originator of a puzzle with dates and facts which an older junior school child might find interesting. It is very uneven in contet and tone. I think there are much better puzzle books out there. This book is a "con", being able to follow a really simple maze is not the stuff of spies or likely to earn you praise from GCHQ and children will know this. I think that older primary kids will think it is a book for younger children ( given the early simple mazes) and younger children will become frustrated at not being able to do or understand the more difficult verbal and non verbal reasoning tests.I can see that a lot of children will find this in their stocking this Christmas, bought by relatives who think the book will be educational.

If you like puzzles you should enjoy this book