The Traitor

(Alias Emma #2)

eBook, 336 pages

Published Sept. 19, 2023 by Bantam.

ISBN:
9780593496831
3 stars (1 review)

British spy Emma Makepeace goes undercover on a Russian oligarch’s superyacht, where she’s one wrong move away from a watery grave, in this electrifying thriller from the author of Alias Emma.

An MI6 operative is found dead, locked in a suitcase inside his own apartment. Despite an exhaustive search, no fingerprints are found at the scene. Emma Makepeace and her handler, Ripley, know an assassination when they see one, and such an obvious murder can mean only one thing: Someone is sending a message.

As she digs into his past, Emma discovers that the unfortunate spy had been investigating two Russian oligarchs based in London. He’d become obsessed with the idea that the two were spies, aided by a third man—whose identity he had yet to uncover. When he shared his findings within MI6 in the weeks before he died, the response came back fast and clear: Drop the investigation …

1 edition

The 1st Emma Makepeace book was better

3 stars

The first Emma Makepeace book was a race to safety across a night time London landscape. This one is a more standard over-the-top spy thriller. Emma is sent undercover to serve drinks on the yacht of a Russian oligarch suspected of selling weapons. She's to find out who the oligarchs partners are and what they are up to.

A mostly fun book, but I did grow a little tired of Emma Makepeace ignoring the Agency's many directives to get out or not engage, lest she put herself in too much danger. "But I'm the only one who can find out!" so she sneaks in the hotel where the oligarch is going to meet. Or she goes to an oligaarch party after some of them might recognize her. You can plot an agent going against the book once or twice, but after that it starts to feel like lazy writing.

Subjects

  • American literature

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