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.