Alias Emma

Starred review from June 6, 2022
In the pseudonymous Glass’s superb debut, a series launch, British intelligence agent Emma Makepeace undertakes her first truly important assignment from her boss, Charles Ripley. Spies for the Russian military have been killing former Russian scientists now living in the U.K. Ripley wants Emma to protect Michael Primalov, the son of Russian physicists who spied for England. Michael acquiesces to Emma’s help after a close call with two assassins. When Emma phones her boss for help, Ripley is suspiciously unavailable; she and Michael are on the run from the Russians—and maybe someone from within the Secret Service. As they cross London in an effort to reach the safety of MI6, they have to avoid the city’s ubiquitous security cameras, electronic surveillance, and roving teams of Russians. Along the way, Glass (the Harper McClain mysteries as Christi Daugherty) smoothly works in Emma’s backstory, which includes her selection and training for the Service and the highly personal reasons that made becoming a spy “everything she’d dreamed of.” Intense, cinematic action propels this terrific old-fashioned thriller neatly brought up to date. Glass is off to an impressive start. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (U.K.).