Alias Emma - Action Packed Spy Thriller

Alias Emma by Ava Glass

Genre: Thriller

Published Aug 2022, 288 pages

What a fun ride this story is! It's like reading one of the movie thrillers with chase scene after chase scene. Non stop action.

THE PLOT

Set in London, the story is about new-ish spy Emma who is tasked with collecting and protecting a doctor, Michael, whose life is in danger from Russian spies. Over the course of one night, she has to keep this man alive and get him to safety while lots of Russians are out to stop them. There are running chases, car chases, shots fired, and hand to hand battles.

We learn about Emma's training and loyalty to her handler/recruiter through flashback chapters, but then we're dropped right back into the thick of action. The biggest challenge for Emma and Michael to overcome is that the CTV cameras have been hacked and the zillions of cameras around the city will show the Russians where they are - so, how to get across London and avoid the cameras that are everywhere including all transportation options?

MY THOUGHTS

This book is short and a very quick read. I appreciate that Glass didn't drag out the action with superfluous side stories or extended action scenes. The action is concise, explosive, and keeps moving. It's great writing as I found myself eagerly devouring page after page. Alias Emma is not terribly original, there's no huge twist or magic, and yet I was completely invested.

Emma is by far the most developed character - even Michael, the guy she's protecting, isn't fully 3 dimensional. But, it's an action book not a character study and I got enough sense of him and of her handler (the other 'main' character) to make it all "believable".

The book is out 8/2/22 and if you like a good action thriller, be sure to pick this one up.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseBallantine for the free early copy of this novel. The comments are entirely my own.

photo by Terrie Purkey, London's Big Ben