Fabulous Fiction Firsts #814

Mon, 08/08/2022 - 5:22pm by muffy

Alias Emma * * *  (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) by Ava Glass (the pseudonym for a best-selling novelist, the first in a planned series) is an “adrenaline-fueled tour of clandestine London.” (Library Journal) 

In the last two weeks, 4 Russian scientists defected to the UK have been assassinated, with the efficiency and audacity, hallmark of the Russian military spy agency GRU. Now, Emma Makespeace, a newly-minted MI6 secret agent, has been assigned to protect their next target - Michael Primalov, a London pediatric oncologist and son of high-valued Russian dissidents. Trying to convince Michael that his life is in danger and to accept her protection is no easy task. He is finally convinced when they are attacked on the London street. 

But something is wrong. When Emma’s request to bring Michael in is denied and a cryptic message left by her trusted mentor instructs her to “go dark” since London's famous Ring of Steel has been hacked by the Russian government, the pair must cross the city without being seen by the hundreds of thousands of CCTV cameras. To reach safety, Emma leads Michael through alleys, sewer tunnels, and back channels that don't appear in any guide book. 

In this breakneck, race-against-the-clock thriller, readers might want to ask, at some point….Should Michael trust Emma? For nothing about Emma Makepeace is real. Not even her name.

“Intense, cinematic action propels this terrific old-fashioned thriller neatly brought up to date. Glass is off to an impressive start.” (Publishers Weekly)

According to Spyscape  "Alias Emma (2022) is already in pre-production at The Ink Factory, the London studio that produced the John le Carré series The Little Drummer Girl and The Night Manager."

* * * =  3 starred reviews