The Trap by Ava Glass is a gripping and fast-paced thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The protagonist finds herself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and the way Glass weaves together twists and turns makes it a compelling read.

Glass does an excellent job of capturing the high-stakes world of espionage and danger, with meticulous attention to detail.

Overall, The Trap is a solid and enjoyable read, perfect for fans of fast-paced thrillers with a touch of espionage. It’s a book that will keep you hooked from start to finish, and I’m excited to see what Ava Glass has in store next!

In this 3rd installment of the Emma Makepeace series, Emma is sent to Scotland, as they have intelligence that the Russians may be planning an assassination attack on members of the G7 due to meet in Edinburgh. She is assigned a cop, Kate Mackenzie, to accompany her, to help her navigate the city.
As Emma is used as a pawn in the plan to stop the assassination attempt, Emma must get close to Nick Orlov. She must find out if he is compromised by the Russians.
This is a high stakes tale and is another worthy entry in this series. Emma is a flawed character and I loved how her humanity and flaws are presented in these novels.

In The Trap, British intelligence has received credible information that an as-yet unidentified world leader has been targeted for assassination at the upcoming G-7 meeting in Scotland. With time running short, and clues in short supply, Emma agrees to be the bait to get close to the one lead they do have. Her role in this investigation, coupled with events from her past cases, have her questioning her career choice.

I am a big fan of this series and this latest book does not disappoint in excitement, suspense, and action. However, the emotional toll the work is taking on Emma, while understandable, contrast with her enthusiasm and unwavering commitment in the earlier books. I hope Emma gets her swagger back in the next book.

This is the 3rd installment of the Alias: Emma series. While the book offers enough information to stand alone, it is more enjoyable if you have read the first two books.

Emma is quite the character!! This was a fast paced thriller that hooked me in the beginning. The writing is sharp and vivid, painting a suspenseful and engaging narrative.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read Alias Emma and I was so excited to get this book as an ARC. It had all of the same suspense, mystery, action and storytelling aspects. It was descriptive, in depth and I couldn't put it down. Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and author Ava Glass for this gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

A good old fashioned spy novel. I haven't read any of the series but had no problem being dropped into this world. The plot was tight, the story moved at a rapid pace and you barely have time to think 'really? Nah!" Before you're moved along. The condensed timeline was necessary for the sake of the story, although it made some parts seem...more outlandish. Anyway, enjoyed it and would def look for more of the series.

I have really enjoyed Ava Glass' Emma Makepeace series of books. I thought The Trap was a bit more thrilling than The Traitor but nothing can hold a candle yet to Alias Emma. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advance copy.

Monday, 7 October: Emma Makepeace, a British spy whose reputation precedes her, is faced with her greatest challenge yet. She has one week to prevent the Russians from assassinating one of the leaders of the Group of Seven, who are about to meet in Edinburgh. A refresher; the G7 is “an informal grouping of Western democratic nations. Its members are the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.” For an organization with “no leader, and no legal standing,” it’s “incredibly powerful.”

A successful meeting is the goal of the British PM but in a troubling development, the security boffins have learned that an assassination attempt is being planned. Chaos in Edinburgh because of changed traffic patterns is one thing but violence at the G7? Unthinkable.

Emma is to meet her boss, Charles Ripley, at the Vernon Institute, which is a façade for an off-the-books agency. Its mission is to hunt Russian spies. Ripley meets her outside his office: “Change of plans.”

“There’s a meeting. Secure location, high level. I want you there.”



“About Balakin?” Emma asked.



“Yes.” Ripley pulled a black cigarette case from his pocket. “It’s the timing, you see. It’s worrying people. It’s worrying me.” He lit a Dunhill with a worn gold lighter and took a long drag. “And then there was that knife attack last week.”



Emma’s eyebrows rose. The day before, a lone man with a knife had attacked a group of tourists in front of Westminster Abbey. One person had died and three had been hospitalized.

Vladimir Balakin is an extremely high-ranking FSB official (FSB = Federal Security Service of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs) who has arrived in London to meet with the Russian ambassador. There can be no good reason for that. “You don’t think there’s a connection, do you?” Emma asks. Ripley doesn’t answer straightforwardly: “It was random, as far as MI5 can tell.” He continued, “But the killer was Russian, you see. As were the victims.” It makes sense to Emma now, because in her rarified life, there are no coincidences: “If something looked like a plot, it was a plot.”

Emma’s meeting is James Bond level. Ripley introduces her to “C” aka Giles Templeton-Ward, the head of MI6.

C glanced at Emma with inquiry, and Ripley said, “This is Emma Makepeace. The one I told you about.”



“Ah, of course.” In C’s cold gaze Emma saw that he already knew everything about her. He knew about her Russian parents, the languages she spoke, her time in the army, and everything she’d done right and wrong in her three years at the Agency. He would have a list of all her weaknesses.



“Good to have you.”

So, a tad dismissive but C and the prime minister’s team are under enormous pressure from “The Cousins,” (intelligence code for the Americans) to prevent a G7 attack. They suspect Balakin is in the UK “with instructions for how to carry out that attack.” Their notion of what the attack will be is vague, but Ripley knows Balakin’s MO: “he’ll be looking for the personal touch. A targeted assassination. That’s his style.”

Ripley’s team goes to Edinburgh where Emma watches Balakin: “There’d been something in his confident swagger as he left the plane that bothered her.” Did he want to be seen—were the Russians that “cocky?” Emma tracks Balakin and his henchman to a house in an Edinburgh suburb that belongs to Nick Orlov, a Russian ex-pat, now an oil executive (and British citizen). It’s vital Emma gets inside the house. Since Emma is completely reliant on her GPS for getting around an increasingly shut-down Edinburgh, Ripley teams Emma up with a copper who knows the city inside out. Kate Mackenzie aka Mack is the perfect choice, intelligent, honest, and maybe a little disgruntled with Edinburgh’s police bureaucracy.

The fastest way to get into Orlov’s house is for Emma to play the honeytrap card. This definition is spot-on: “Honey trapping is an investigative practice involving the use of romantic or sexual relationships for interpersonal, political, or monetary purposes.” The good guys have less than a week to prevent disaster. What else could break open the Russian plot and prevent an assassination? Ripley’s instructions are crystal clear. Nick is having dinner at the Balmoral Hotel—Emma’s told to “Get close to him. Find out all you can.” And by close Ripley means as close as she can. Emma lays the trap at the Balmoral after Martha, MI5’s best disguise specialist, tricks her and Mackenzie out. Lights. Camera. Action. Hit the bar.

Both Emma and Mackenzie looked as if they belonged here.



Emma wore an effortlessly chic form-fitting dress of caramel silk which contrasted perfectly with Mackenzie’s dark blazer. To anyone passing they would have looked like a pair of well-heeled friends on a night out. Or perhaps sisters; Martha had made Mackenzie’s hair the same shade as Emma’s.

Emma cleverly ambushes Nick outside the bathroom—she drops her phone, they clang heads. When he stiffly hands her back her phone, she stops. Looks. “Wait. Aren’t you Nick Orlov.” They talk and exchange numbers, and Nick tells her he’d like to see her again. Game on.

Nick invites her to dinner. Before she goes in, Emma and Mackenzie talk over what the evening might entail—Emma points out what she’s already done to investigate Orlov: she knows his house, checked out his girlfriend, and read his speeches. She tells Mackenzie, “There are some wives who don’t know their husbands as well as I know Nick Orlov.” Mackenzie isn’t convinced.

“I couldn’t do it,” she said, after a while. “It’s too much to ask. It would make me feel like a prostitute. Turn right. I’m on the next intersection.”



Emma flinched. She’d never been part of a honeytrap before and the idea of doing it made her feel a little queasy. But there was a lot at stake and she’d seen his interest kindle in that brief encounter at the Balmoral. It would be malpractice not to exploit his weakness to find out what the Russians were planning.

While there, she inserts cutting-edge spy cameras and recording devices. Orlov asks her on a second date and tells her to bring her passport. Arrivederci Roma! Fasten your seatbelt because it’s breakneck action all the way. Ava Glass rachets up the tension like nobody’s business: it all started with her debut thriller, Alias Emma. Brava!

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This latest installment of another Emma Makepeace is just as good as the first 2 I’ve read. Emma works as an intelligence officer in the UK and has an interesting back-story that I won’t ruin by divulging. In this episode, she’s up against the evil Russians to try and stop a catastrophe at the G7 Summit in Edinburgh. I’m totally hooked on this protagonist and this series, so will let other reviewers reveal what they will of this particular Emma installment. I will just recommend it to readers who enjoy strong female characters who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty or use their smarts.

This installment in the “Alias Emma” spy series is another fast-moving, well-done thriller. Everyone and everything to do with the “Agency” is secret. Fake names, identifications, backgrounds and cover stores are the norm for those hunting Russian spies. “Bait” should be Emma’s middle name as she is now and always on the front lines taking chances, trying to get the bad guys before they get her, her team and many innocents.

Glass has written another tightly constructed spy story with current political over and undertones and a look at the unspeakable, which may by an all too real possibility. Interesting that Glass quietly inserts the notion that those charged with protecting us “knew terrible things happen when politics got in the way of intelligence.” Whenever someone needs to save face, appears in charge and will take any measures to redeem a reputation I never doubt the potential for mayhem and chaos in theory and practice. Another well plotted cliffhanger that I had trouble putting down.

Thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for a copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of The Trap by Ava Glass in exchange for an honest review. Note: I received this book as an early copy but it’s out now so you can get it!

James Paterson blurbed this book, saying that its protagonist Emma Makepeace is the new James Bond, and he’s not wrong. Emma - not her real name - is a British secret intelligence officer and for the third book in this series, she’s fighting Russian bad guys, this time to head off an attack on the G7 conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. I finished the second half of the book in one sitting, nearly breathless to find out if she and her team could succeed, and live to tell the tale.

With scenes written so vividly I could see them as a movie in my mind, this is Ava Glass’ best Emma volume yet. Four solid stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emma Makepeace is in Edinburgh with just days to stop a plot by the Russians to assassinate someone at the global G7 summit. It will take all her wits and abilities to get out of this one alive. What is she willing to sacrifice to achieve mission success?

I devoured this one. Ava Glass got me hooked from book 1 and they're getting better and better. The intrigue is big in scope but feels very personal as we follow 'Emma' from one harrowing experience to another and see her deal with the pressures and disappointments of living as a spy. In this one in particular, we get to see her still struggling with the revelations of the second book and get the chance to deal with things left open from the first one. I loved that we get as much time to explore the character as we do the fascinating mission.

It's a very well-rounded plot that crams a lot into it without ever feeling like things are rushed or forgotten. Anything that Glass brings into it is there for a reason and will eventually pay off. It shows some excellent planning and has me excited to see what new missions we might get to see in the future.

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

In this 3rd book in the series featuring Emma Makepeace, a British undercover spy, Emma heads to Scotland. Security for the G7 conference in Edinburgh is threatened and Emma’s team is looking for the Russians involved. For the firs5 time, Emma must work with a partner, local police officer Kate Mackinzie. Two strong women working together and it’s a great adventure.

Fast paced thriller but be sure to read Alias Emma first. Love having a strong female character. This one will keep you up at night. Thanks to net galley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A fast-paced, adrenaline spy thriller, that somehow also slows down just enough for the characters to show some vulnerability and make some emotional connections with each other. Plus gadgets.

This title is the third in the series but is an excellent stand alone a Glass weaves just enough backstory into it for new readers. Just make sure you have the first and second titles on your shelves as readers will want to read all the Alias Emma books after this.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I've read the other 2 books in this series, and this one was just as good as the others. It definitely references the first two, so I'd start there if you were interested in this one. I always finish the books in this series in less than 24 hours, they're written to be read easily and keep you excited.

An enjoyable book! Even though this is part of a series, it worked fine as a standalone book.

In this spy novel, British MI6 officers are trying to avert catastrophe at a meeting of world leaders in Edinburgh. Emma Makepeace is sent to try to find out what the Russians are up to and what they plan to do to upset this meeting and wreak havoc on the rest of the world. This was a good description of how such agencies work and how they use tech and other tools to track down bad actors. I would have liked to have learned more of the characters' backstories, but I assume they were in other books in the series. Overall, this was an interesting read and kept my attention.

Emma Makepeace is my new favorite spy! “Trap” has Emma following the trail of a terrorist trying to blow up the G7 summit. If you like old school spy stories with Russians, Brits, car chases and smart dialogue, you’ll enjoy this book. Can’t wait for the next installment!

Emma Makepeace is headed to Edinburgh for the global G7 Summit. Her team is tipped off about a high-profile assassination the Russians are planning. Emma must set a trap and use herself as bait. How far will she go to catch the killer? This is a great series. I need to go back and read book 1 and 2 of this series. This novel is a spy thriller filled with politics about a G7 meeting in Scotland. If you like political spy novels then you will love this book. This series is worth your time, so pick up these books and read them soon. You won't regret it! Highly recommended!

Immersive. Suspenseful, In this 3rd book of a splendid spy series, Emma Makepeace goes undercover trying t0 interrupt a Russian plot to disrupt the G7 summit in Edinburgh. Along the way, she befriends a local policewoman and also faces doubts about her career built of lies. Like a chameleon, or superhero, Emma switches costumes and personas to achieve her mission.

This series does an excellent job juxtaposing the interior world of a complex woman spy with external, international geo-political forces. I was hooked as well by Emma's brief chance encounter with a former lover (from Book 1) who is now rebuilding his life hidden under witness protection.

Seriously cannot wait for book 4, or the film version of this series.