Alias Emma

Emma Makepeace grew up hearing stories of her father, who was killed for passing Russian secrets to the British government, and became a spy to follow in his footsteps. Alias Emma, Ava Glass's twisty, dynamic debut thriller, follows Emma as she crisscrosses London on her first major assignment: evading the city's state-of-the-art surveillance network to bring the son of Russian dissidents to safety. Glass traces her characters' progress across London over one excruciatingly long night, while exploring the reasons this assignment is personal for Emma.

Michael Primalov, the target, is reluctant to leave his life behind: he's a handsome doctor with a strong sense of duty to his patients. But as the two navigate London's back streets and alleyways, they learn to trust each other, while realizing--especially after Emma's longtime boss disappears--that they can't trust anyone else. As the clock ticks, Emma must call upon every bit of her training, grit and ingenuity to get them both to MI6 alive.

Glass (a pseudonym for Christi Daugherty, who writes thrillers for teens and adults) takes readers deep into the shadow side of London, as her characters do their best to blend in or disappear altogether. There's plenty of spycraft and a few James Bond-esque moments, but much of the journey is just plain endurance and hard work. Flashbacks give insight into Emma's colleagues and her character, and the denouement wraps up this case while leaving plenty of material for future installments. Cinematic and complex, Alias Emma is a fun thrill ride and an incisive look into one woman's motivations for pursuing a dangerous career. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

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