If there is one thing Emma Makepeace cannot handle, it is a traitor. She can understand why people did what they did even if it didn't follow any logic, but traitors, she would tear them limb to limb. They were the reason why she was without a father now. And the potential of having someone close to her becoming a traitor was one thing she was not ready for.

This is the first time I'm seeing a spy getting burned yet continue her activities. I think it gives perspective into how hard it is to strip away all knowledge and progress made on the operation before you can hand it over to someone else. Emma might have taken things little bit too personally, but she also showed how important it was to make the next move before criminals who uncovered her identity slipped away.

Emma is a good spy and her personality is interesting. I would like to see more of her as 007 style. Maybe she could be the female 007, we all longed for.

Book Review
The Traitor
Ava Glass
reviewed by Lou Jacobs


readersremains.com | Goodreads


Move over Emma Peel from the beloved ’60s TV series The Avengers, and Eve Polastri from the more recent 2018 series Killing Eve. This is the second appearance of Emma Makepeace (real name: Alexandra) in her thrilling reprisal in this page-turning action espionage spy novel. This clever and ingenious heroine will grapple with hordes of Russian GRU spies and oligarchs living in England, along with their assassins.

Emma is part of a small intelligence unit of MI5 focused on identifying and stopping Russian spies working inside Britain. Tension between London and Moscow is at a new high. Emma was born to be a spy. Her Russian father had been a spy for Britain, sharing information he believed might prevent a nuclear war. Her mother proactively fled Russia with her while still pregnant. Her father was betrayed and executed when she was only several months old. After university, she joined the Army and was immediately placed in military intelligence, fluent in Russian, English, Polish, and German. After the service, she was snagged by MI5 by her current boss, Ripley.

She was summoned to a small flat and noted a large suitcase on the floor, slightly ajar. As she peered in, she shockingly noted the appearance of a naked man, kneeling and bent forward, with paper-white skin awkwardly stuffed inside. His face was contorted and bloated, with his tongue grotesquely protruding—the result of pain and fear. No fingerprints or DNA were found. This was obviously a targeted assassination—and perfectly executed by the Russians. Agent Stephen Garrick had stumbled upon some damning intel. He was a victim of VX (Venomous Agent X)—a chemical weapon developed during the Cold War. It disrupts the nervous system, paralyzing the muscles of respiration, resulting in a horrible death by asphyxiation. He was surveilling oligarchs Andrei Volkov and Oleg Federov, who orchestrated a massive organization with dozens of shell corporations funneling money all over the world to hide their involvement in the sale of chemical weapons and armaments out of Britain. But, most importantly, there was a third unidentified individual in the operation—probably embedded in MI5—a despicable mole.

To uncover the truth, Emma must go undercover and join the staff of Volkov’s superyacht, Eden. Currently docked off the coast of Nice, France, and about to set sail. Under the “Gold Dust” operation, Emma would become Jessica Marshall. She would be working alone on the yacht as it cruised toward Monaco. A painful death would be the result of discovery—working without backup. Tension and intrigue incrementally ratchet up as Emma discreetly searches and digs for evidence. Emma is an expert at deception, which will aid in her hair-raising forage on the yacht.

Ava Glass crafts a masterful narrative that is a cinematic gem, deftly capturing the reader’s imagination, as Emma against all odds searches for the truth. She must use disguise and subterfuge, and at times masterful hand-to-hand combat, to avoid capture by the Russians and their lackeys. A lethal cat and mouse contest plays out in the shadows of Monaco and Barcelona. The action is non-stop and explosive, ratcheting up to an exhilarating high-octane denouement. I couldn’t put this gripping novel down and finished it in one sitting.

In my mind’s eye, I pictured Diana Rigg or Uma Thurman playing Emma Makepeace—the female equivalent of James Bond. I’m on board for further travails of Emma.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Great fast-paced read. Emma Makepeace is a great action hero, being female and daughter of a refugee/MI6 source a nice twist and well-done characterization of the betrayals and how that affects the workers in espionage world. It’s not LeCarre, there’s not as much high level geopolitical or bureaucratic maneuvering. But good pure action. There are moments of high level suspense, like when Emma is hiding from a thug trying to catch her before she breaks into a safe. The Russian men are (mostly) all evil and predatory, their young trophy girlfriends dumb and shallow, so I wish there were some better more nuanced characterizations of secondary characters. But overall a fun enjoyable read.

The Traitor is a top notch spy novel it is so well written it pulls you in right from the start. I found it nearly impossible to put down and I can’t wait for more! Excellent series and I highly recommend it!

This was a fantastic sequel! It was even better than the first, and I enjoyed the first immensely.

While Alias Emma had British secret agent Emma Makepeace being hunted through the streets of London this time around, she's setting sail for Nice and Barcelona. In The Traitor, she is tasked with infiltrating the world of the Russian elite. In an attempt to solve the murder of an M6 data analyst.

This was an action-packed, fast-paced, and thrilling read filled with intrigue, danger, and spies. It was entertaining and very enjoyable. I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I loved Ava Glass’ first book, Alias Emma, so I was delighted to get a copy of her second book, The Traitors, to review. This book was perfect for me-a spy novel with a female lead. Emma is a brave, likable character who makes bold decisions throughout the book. I was rooting for her and wanted her to succeed. While you don’t have to read Alias Emma first, it helps to see her character grow over the two books if you do read it first. The pacing of The Traitors is propulsive and kept me turning the pages to see how it would end.

Emma Makepeace works for the Agency as the youngest intelligence officer. She is assigned a case that puts her on a Russian oligarchs yacht off Nice as a stewardess under an assumed name of Jessica. She is given everything she needs to maintain that identity, but the boss takes her cell. Now how is she going to communicate with her chief? There is a third person involved...an unknown Englishman who whe is tasked with discovering. Much happen and nothing goes smoothly. Read to learn who the third person is and how Emma figures everything.

Emma Makepeace is a spy for the British government in MI6 division. A place so secret most in the government do not know it even exists. She is out to bring down a group of Russian Oligarchs almost entirely on her own. Picture a female James Bond. It’s fun and adventure all mixed together. And one, that I would definitely pick up a sequel to read. Thanks to Goodreads and NetGalley for the read.

Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari and is obsessed with the corruption of his family from the outside Western world. This is her story of redefining what the world meant to her and how she came to reckon the two sides of the world.

What a fast-paced read! I was worried I might miss some of the backstory because this is the second book in the series but that wasn't the case. It starts with a murder and ramps up the tension and intrigue from there. Like the best spies in literature, Emma seems unable to stay out of danger or walk away from a mystery she hasn't solved yet. It makes for an unputdownable read!

A fun follow up to alias emma! Emma and her handler are called to investigate the death of a man on the heels of Russian spies. Of course, what transpires is a twisted tale of murder, adventure, and international suspense! A fun, fast—paced thriller and a great sequel to alias emma!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book has all the classic spy-thriller elements, including a heroine who is strong, smart and relatable. It has mystery, relationship, global travel and a look into the life of the super-rich. There is nothing not to enjoy from the first page to the last.

A page turner of a spy novel that caused me to stay up way too late. Emma Make peace is back and this time around she is undercover as a yacht worker for a Russian oligarch. The tension builds vas Emma gets closer to the evidence she needs. Great cinematic writing that carries the reader along from the first page. Although I guessed who the traitor was, it was still a fun and fantastic romp.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

The Traitor by Ava Glass is action-packed. Secret British agencies, espionage, terrorist threats, murder, and a traitor in the midst. Unexpected twists made this a page-turner.

A copy was provided for my review, but all opinions are my own.

Newly-minted spy Emma Makepeace is in for another complex and dangerous case when an MI6 agent is murdered and the only lead they have means that she has to pose as a member of the crew on a dangerous Russian oligarch's yacht. She'll be out at sea and on her own once again in a case that gets personal and pushes Emma to her limit.
An excellent follow-up to the fantastic book that was Alias Emma, it suffers only by being compared to the pulse-pounding case that was Emma's first one. The first book was a mad rush through London in just a few hours. This book is a complicated web of characters, situations, and revelations that is still good but feels a tad laggy at times. It's super enjoyable and I enjoyed seeing Glass spin a very complex web of relationships and surprises for Emma that included some deep exploration of Emma's motivation and thoughts, but I was hoping for a more edge-of-your-seat case like in the first book.
I will say that the big reveal was obvious almost from the time the character first gets introduced, but the way that Glass handles the escalation and revelation are so enjoyable that I'm perfectly willing to forgive that part.
As it's the second book, I will say that being familiar with Emma's first case will help understand how she reacts to certain characters and her situation in general, but I don't think it's necessary to have read the first one to enjoy this one. It's an excellent book and I highly recommend picking up Alias Emma, but it's not a deal breaker for enjoying this one.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine, and Bantam for the exciting read!

The Traitor is the sequel to Alias Emma, it would work as a stand alone book but it's better if you've read the first. Both are easy to read spy novels, and Emma Makepeace is a likable protagonist, kind of a female Jason Bourne without any "superpowers". I enjoyed Emma's time working on the yacht, where she seemed to be enjoying herself but was also fraught with danger. And I liked the ending. This is a good series, it's light, and I'll continue reading them.

I am really loving this series! It's straight forward and action packed- once you get into it, it's really hard to put down.

This is my first time reading one of her books. I was a little worried i wouldn't know what was going on because I didn't read the first book, but that was not the case. The book hooks the reader from the start, with very little exposition and the reader feels thrown into Emma's situation of knowing just enough to get by. As the story unfolds, clues and tidbits are revealed and the reader and Emma settle into the assignment. The book follows Emma, so the reader really doesn't get much that Emma doesn't observe or think, which holds the mystery of truth intact and fun to figure out. As the time on the yacht becomes more intense and reaches maximum thrills, Glass throws a giant twist on the story that carries the reader until the end. I did unfortunately figure out who the traitor was way before it was revealed and that's rare for me because I usually enjoy the roller coaster ride of a good thriller and never try very hard to figure things, I just happily wait for them to happen. The story was still exhilarating and just because I figured out one piece of the puzzle doesn't mean the novel lost the frenzy and unpredictability of a good spy novel.
Emma Makepeace is a wonderfully fun character to follow and root for in THE TRAITOR and I hope Ava Glass writes more books with her in it. A exciting and fun read!

great book and loved the mystery through out the book. I loved the characters and how they grew through all of their adventures. I enjoyed this book and this author and will check them out again add them to my reading pile.

I really enjoyed this second installment in the series and will definitely recommend it to everyone! loved following Emma as she went undercover, but did figure out who the bad agent was quickly. Can't wait to see where this story goes!