BLOG TOUR: The Trap - Ava Glass

How far would you go to catch a killer?

This is the question UK agent Emma Makepeace must ask herself when she is sent to Edinburgh for the upcoming global G7 Summit.

The Russians are in town and Emma and her team know a high-profile assassination is being planned.

But who is their target?

There is only one way to find out. Emma must set a trap using herself as bait.

As the most powerful leaders in the world arrive and the city becomes gridlocked, Emma knows the clock is ticking.

 

What did I think?

I was so excited to read the new Alias Emma novel and I was not disappointed.  I just couldn't read it fast enough and the super-fast pacing left me breathless.  They don't call Ava Glass the Queen of Spy Fiction for no reason.

Although The Trap is book three in the series, you can read it as a standalone but you will definitely want to read the earlier books, if you haven't done so already.  Emma Makepeace has a new undercover assignment.  This time it's based in Edinburgh as intelligence discover an assassination plot planned for the G7 Summit.

It's a race against the clock to discover their identity and stop the assassin so Emma teams up with local law enforcement officer Kate Mackenzie.  I loved the connection Emma and Kate have so I don't think it's the last us readers have heard of Kate Mackenzie (yay!).

Blisteringly fast paced, sharp and addictive, it's impossible to put The Trap down once you pick it up.  Ava Glass is firmly cemented in place as one of my favourite authors and I highly recommend this book.

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: The Traitor - Ava Glass

LONDON. EARLY MORNING.

A body is found in a padlocked suitcase.

Investigator Emma Makepeace knows it's murder. And it's personal.

She quickly establishes that the dead man had been shadowing two oligarchs suspected of procuring illegal weapons in the UK. And it seems likely that an insider working deep within the British government is helping them.

To find out who the traitor is, Emma goes deep undercover on a superyacht owned by one of the oligarchs.

But the glamorous veneer of the rich hides dark secrets. Out at sea, Emma is both hunter and prey, and no one can protect her.

Never has the turquoise sea and golden sands of the Riviera seemed so dangerous.

As the hunt intensifies, Emma knows that she is in mortal danger. And that she needs to find the traitor before they find her . . .

 

What did I think?

Wow!  Ava Glass stole my breath; I'm sure I forgot to breath when I was reading The Traitor.  It is completely awesome!  It's Ava Glass' second book featuring intelligence agency operative Emma Makepeace but you can read it as a standalone as I haven't read The Chase but I definitely want to now.

Emma is a very strong and well-developed main character.  With Russian heritage, she is the perfect spy to place on a Russian yacht but, with no mobile phone coverage, the risks are very high.  It's a risk that Emma is more than willing to take though.  Yikes!  I'm glad I don't bite my nails or I'd have bitten them down to the quick.  

I absolutely loved this book and with a traitor in their midst I suspected almost everyone, even those people that Emma trusts.  I'm really not surprised that film rights have already been acquired as it is an outstanding spy novel.

Incredibly fast-paced and filled with danger, The Traitor is a breathtaking novel that drew me in from the start and continued at break-neck speed until the very end.  I think the book cover must have been coated in superglue as I simply couldn't put it down and my poor eyes were worn out at the speed I was demanding them to read.

Very highly recommended and an absolute must-read.  Just don't forget to breathe when you read it!

I received an ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Amazon

About the author:

The Traitor is the highly anticipated follow up to Ava Glass’ 2022 debut spy thriller The Chase.

The Chase is currently shortlisted for Best Spy Novel at the 2023 Crime Writer Awards alongside established names including Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and Linwood Barclay. No small feat for a debut novelist.

Film rights to The Chase and The Traitor have been acquired by Ink Factory, producers of The Night Manager, who are currently working on a pilot in conjunction with Sky Atlantic, now in the final stages of editing. Next step will be casting!  

Ava Glass is a former civil servant with the highest security clearance bar one.  She has seen just enough of the inner workings of espionage to ensure that she will always be fascinated by spies.

Prior to working at the home office, Ava Glass worked as a crime reporter, covering multiple homicides, making her writing both fresh and dangerously believable.

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The Guardian of Lies - Kate Furnivall

1953, the South of France. The fragile peace between the West and Soviet Russia hangs on a knife edge. And one family has been torn apart by secrets and conflicting allegiances.

Eloïse Caussade is a courageous young Frenchwoman, raised on a bull farm near Arles in the Camargue. She idolises her older brother, André, and when he leaves to become an Intelligence Officer working for the CIA in Paris to help protect France, she soon follows him. Having exchanged the strict confines of her father's farm for a life of freedom in Paris, her world comes alive. 

But everything changes when André is injured - a direct result of Eloise's actions. Unable to work, André returns to his father’s farm, but Eloïse’s sense of guilt and responsibility for his injuries sets her on the trail of the person who attempted to kill him.

Eloïse finds her hometown in a state of unrest and conflict. Those who are angry at the construction of the American airbase nearby, with its lethal nuclear armaments, confront those who support it, and anger flares into violence, stirred up by Soviet agents. Throughout all this unrest, Eloïse is still relentlessly hunting down the man who betrayed her brother and his country, and she is learning to look at those she loves and at herself with different eyes. She no longer knows who she can trust. Who is working for Soviet Intelligence and who is not? And what side do her own family lie on?

What did I think?

I discovered Kate Furnivall through TBC on Facebook so joining that group is the best thing I ever did as I absolutely adore her books.  As a keen reader of historical fiction, I know how difficult it can be to bring an era to life but Kate Furnivall does this impeccably.  What an amazing talent to be able to transport the reader to miscellaneous locations and time periods; whether it's early 20th Century Egypt in Shadows on the Nile, war torn Italy in The Liberation or post-war France in The Guardian of Lies I feel as if I'm travelling the world through Kate Furnivall's wonderful books.

In The Guardian of Lies we launch straight into the action with Eloïse acting as a getaway driver for her brother André.  With a car chase that would rival James Bond, I had my heart in my mouth and was left breathless as the action unfolds.  The pacing doesn't give up there, even when Eloïse and André return to their father's farm in Arles; in fact it felt more dangerous in the idyllic countryside of The Camargue with civil unrest over an American airbase being built on their farmland.  With such a great opportunity to spy on the American airforce, Eloïse can't tell which side her family, friends and neighbours are on.  The question on my lips throughout the whole book was: who can she trust?

Oh my word, this is another outstanding novel by Kate Furnivall.  I almost managed to read it in one sitting, if only I didn't have to eat and sleep!  I really couldn't put it down and it's unusual for this to happen to me when reading historical fiction as sometimes it's quite fact-heavy and dry so I need to take regular breaks.  Kate Furnivall's writing is so multi-faceted that it awakens the senses as you see, hear and smell every sight, sound and action along with the characters.

I was a little concerned that the story might be confusing, as is often the case with Russian espionage, but I needn't have worried as the story is easy to follow and we aren't overrun with characters.  This proves yet again that Kate Furnivall is an exceptional storyteller.  I think of Kate Furnivall is a literary knitter; she spins such a good yarn.

The Guardian of Lies is an exceptional novel by one of the finest historical fiction authors I've ever come across; so grab your passport and pick up a copy to be transported to post-war France from the comfort of your armchair.  A highly recommended read and one I shall definitely be recommending for a long time to come.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

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Need to Know - Karen Cleveland

You get to work. Make a coffee. Turn on your computer.

Your task: break into a Russian criminal's laptop and find proof that he's concealing five deep-cover agents - seemingly normal people living in plain sight.

You’re in. Five faces stare back at you.

One of them is your husband.

What did I think?

What a scorching debut!  I read this via The Pigeonhole so read this in 10 staves over 10 days but I definitely think that this would have been a book I would have read in one sitting.  It was torture waiting 24 hours for the next instalment after being left on so many end of chapter cliffhangers and I even set my alarm 30 minutes early so I could read the last instalment before going to work.  It really is THAT good and I don't want to inadvertently reveal any of the plot so I'm going for a brief review.  

Need to Know is a book that constantly has you questioning 'what would I do?' as Viv cracks a Russian spy's computer and sees her husband's picture among his assets.  What would you do?  Call your boss and destroy your family or hit delete and go home to your husband, the spy?  What a moral dilemma for Viv and it's easy to say you'd do one or the other until you're actually presented with the same situation.  I didn't blame Viv at all for her actions although could see her getting deeper and deeper into a hole from which she could never climb out of.

My huge question was 'can Viv trust her husband, Matt?' and I changed my mind over and over again.  I went from yelling 'don't trust him' to thinking that their whole life couldn't be a lie...could it?  The whole book reminded me of a series of 24 with the suspense and tension building with each chapter, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Universal Studios have acquired the movie rights to Need to Know.  If it's half as good as the book, it'll be AMAZING!

Need to Know is an edge of your seat suspense filled thriller that begs a follow up and consider me on my knees begging you for a sequel, Karen Cleveland. A 100% definite 5 star read; do not miss this book!  

This is my honest and unbiased opinion of my first, but definitely not my last, Pigeonhole book.

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