Raise the Union Jack for Emma Makepeace!
Third in a fast-moving British spy series featuring a woman in MI6.
The G7 meets in Scotland in a few days, and the prime minister’s office is “terrified that something is going to go wrong with the gathering.” MI6, the secret intelligence service, learns that a Russian assassin plans to murder a head of state there. But who’s the killer? Who’s the target? And what’s to be done about it? MI6 assigns Emma Makepeace to prevent disaster. Against her wishes, she’s partnered with homicide detective Kate Mackenzie. But their chemistry works. They make an effective team, with Emma (not her real name) as the leader. They start by looking into a Russian émigré named Nick Orlov, whom they see talking on his cell phone, flatly refusing to do something. He’s visibly frightened, so Emma approaches him on a ruse and begins wheedling her way into his confidence. Soon she agrees to his dinner invitation, and—well, she’s never seduced anyone before, but it may be necessary to set a honey trap in service of king and country. Bond—James Bond—wouldn’t have thought twice, of course, that martini-drinking alley cat. Speaking of whom, not since 007 has there been such a worthy spy as Emma Makepeace. She’s tough and smart and has a particular talent for faking emotion. “Being able to cry on cue is a vastly under-rated skill,” she notes, and she uses it when she’s in a tight spot with Orlov. The latter’s enemies are setting him up, luring him into their own trap. She wants to get him out of it, both because it’s her job and because she’s come to like the guy. And she has other quirks: “Some people meditate to deal with stress. Emma picked locks.” Fans of Ian Fleming’s work are sure to enjoy Emma Makepeace. No, she isn’t a Bond clone, although they could be cousins. Near the culmination of a bloody fight with a mortal enemy, she declares, “His Majesty says hello.” How very British.
Raise the Union Jack for Emma Makepeace!Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593972212
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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