Alias Emma: A Novel (Unabridged)
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $19.99
Publisher Description
“A thrilling read . . . I could not have loved it more.”—LISA JEWELL
“Emma Makepeace is a worthy heir to the James Bond mantle.”—JAMES PATTERSON
In this “high-octane spy thriller in the Ian Fleming mold” (CrimeReads), a British spy has twelve hours to deliver her asset across London after Russia hacks the city’s security cameras. Can she make it without being spotted . . . or killed?
Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award • One of the Best Books of the Year: PopSugar, CrimeReads, Library Journal
Nothing about Emma Makepeace is real. Not even her name.
A newly minted secret agent, Emma's barely graduated from basic training when she gets the call for her first major assignment. Eager to serve her country and prove her worth, she dives in headfirst.
Emma must covertly travel across one of the world’s most watched cities to bring the reluctant—and handsome—son of Russian dissidents into protective custody, so long as the assassins from the Motherland don’t find him first. With London’s famous Ring of Steel hacked by the Russian government, the two must cross the city without being seen by the hundreds of thousands of CCTV cameras that document every inch of the city’s streets, alleys, and gutters.
Buses, subways, cars, and trains are out of the question. Traveling on foot, and operating without phones or bank cards that could reveal their location or identity, they have twelve hours to make it to safety. This will take all of Emma’s skills of disguise and subterfuge. But when Emma’s handler goes dark, there’s no one left to trust. And just one wrong move will get them both killed.
Customer Reviews
A cracking thriller perfectly performed!
The vocal performance of Sophie Colquhoun absolutely magnificent. All the accent work is both respectful and dead-on. Each voice comes alive in its own way. It’s rare that an audiobook performance is so painstakingly professional.
The story itself quickly becomes a gripping thriller, with plenty of wrenching twists, hairpin turns, and MacGyver-y solutions to unescapable dilemmas.
This is intercut with an origin story for the protagonist - in a way that will make sense to cinephiles, but in a literary work, I found myself wanting these jump-cuts woven into the story, rather than merely calculated to up the suspense.
The other thing to be aware of is that Ava Glass is also CJ Daugherty, the author of the Night School series of young adult romantic thrillers. The new alias establishes a distinct voice, but Glass’s world is occasionally haunted by youth-lit tropes - for example, she name-drops a barrage of real-life fashion brands towards the end, and every so often a point gets hammered home that likely could have been left to subtext.
I heard about this book in a segment on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live program, where Glass/Daugherty opened up about her real-life work for the British Home Office. Her early encounter with a probable spy was the praxis for her Emma character.
However, The Chase/Alias Emma does not lose itself in the sordid bleakness of Smiley, nor are we quite in the fantastic kingdom of Bond. At its best, this book’s heart beats with the urgency of now - real people living real lives, in a real city, and in real danger.