I read Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. It's the first book in a series of stories about a fourteen year old MI6 agent. (My kids begged me to read it.) I thought it was very engaging and had a good twist on the spy genre. You could definitely see the James Bond influence in the gadgetry, including a tube of zit cream that's safe for hands but eats through metal.
The plot is that Alex Rider, the 14 year old hero, has just lost his uncle. It was supposedly in a car accident, but Alex doesn't think that's right, so he starts snooping around. After almost getting crushed to death by a car compactor in a junk yard, MI6 comes clean and tells him his uncle was a spy. Then they add, “Help us out on this case we have, or we'll put you in an orphanage and deport your only friend.” Then they send him to the British equivalent of the Marines for one week of training before thrusting him into the middle of a dangerous covert op. Alex is then almost run over by four wheelers, drowned, killed by a giant jellyfish, and takes his first leap from a plane. In the grand finale, he shoots the Prime Minister during a press conference (but only in the hand).
All in all, I'd say this is one of the best spy books I've read, and I'm working my way through the series.