A deep and disturbing story.

"The Enigma Girl" opens with MI5 operative Slim Parsons working on an archaeological dig, having been placed on gardening leave following her previous less-than-successful assignment. Working undercover, with her cover blown, she spent months slowly crossing Europe to get home, avoiding both her enemies and her bosses.

But suddenly she is recalled, having remained on leave longer than she ought, is debriefed and immediately given a nice simple assignment - to infiltrate a news website that's causing concern in Whitehall, having published information that can only have been leaked by an insider. It seems to be staffed by people descended from wartime codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Slim's job is to find out where the information comes from.

But soon Slim is immersed in a dark and complex plot, and a story which unfolds slowly as it deals not just with her assignment but also her personal life. There are quite a few threads to keep track of, and more than a few characters, but as we get deeper into the plot, it's clear Slim has more at stake than she thought. For those interested in Bletchley Park and the work of Alan Turing are in for a treat.

At almost 500 pages, this is a long book, and it could have lost a hundred and still been a fine read. There are several sections where nothing much happens and the prose gets stodgy. Fans of Porter's previous books might find this one a little different, but it's definitely worth reading. Slim is a new and dynamic characters, who we could do with seeing more of. Recommended.

Slim Parsons , a specialist undercover MI5 intelligence officer working in the shadows, fouls her assignment . Lucky to escape with her life, she makes her way back to England using covert routes. When she finally reports home and summoned to MI5 Century House, she is clinging by her finger tips to her job. Slim is assigned a new role as a reporter, to a small news group that just uses news on the internet. They have reported information about government that is highly confidential . Slims task is to infiltrate the group and ascertain as to who is leaking government information.

The Enigma Girl moves in a breathless pace that is dizzying in its extreme . Twists and turns on every page has the reader spell bound.
Move over James Bond , Slim Parsons is here.

3.5* The Enigma Girl - Henry Porter

Slim has dropped off the grid and away from her former employers MI5 since an undercover mission went wrong. Brought back into the fold, she is asked to undertake another deep undercover mission to understand how an online news site is printing material thought to be held secretly at the heart of Government. As Slim struggles with family issues and the pressure leads to her being increasingly cavalier with her own safety, potential corruption at the heart of Government is bubbling to the surface.

This is an enjoyable book but comes with caveats. Like others, it took some time to get into and, even once I was in, there were still periods when the plot and prose dragged. The author says in the acknowledgements that his editor advised him to reduce the words - I suspect it would be a sharper book for the reader if he had gone a lot further with his edits.

The characters, esp Slim, are fun but there are a lot of people and issues to get to grips with, given the number of plotlines. Some are also a stretch on the imagination, such as the nurse looking after Slim's mother and Slim's friend Bridie. As part of the editing, I suspect some of the side-issues could be removed, which would help the pacing of the plot. I also felt that the initial promise of links to Bletchley Park didn't get the spotlight that it might have.

Overall an enjoyable read but it has taken me longer than usual to get to the end.

I’ve enjoyed previous books by the author and was looking forward to The Enigma Girl featuring MI5 agent Slim Parsons.
Henry Porter writes an engaging and well paced page turner. The plotting is straight forward without the twists and turns of some spy thrillers and at times Slim’s actions are unbelievable. Overall however this was an enjoyable addition to the genre.
3.5 stars.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC

Henry Porter has already shown that he can write an excellent spy thriller and I enjoyed his Paul Samson series very much.

he has found another winner in Slim Parsons, a heroine for the times who follows her instincts rather than authority and finds her way through a complex situation featuring an oligarch seeking revenge and a rogue website publishing information that the government would far rather says buried.

The writing is terse and tense and the story flows. Slim is a complex character with a troubled past and I look forward to seeing her character develop in subsequent books in what promises to be yet another winner from an excellent author who really knows his stuff.

Wow really great book!

Her last deep cover job for MI5 ended with a life-and-death struggle on a private jet that caused her to go on the run from both the deadly target and her angry bosses in the Security Service. They say that violence comes too easily to her; that she's bordering on delinquent and unsuitable for the roll of an MI5 operative. Yet she is recalled and asked to infiltrate a news website that's causing alarm in the highest circles. Linesman turns out to be anything but simple. Her personal loss, her previous deep cover role, and a threat to MI5 itself from her original target come together in a three-way collision. And all the while she is watched by someone even deeper in the shadows than she is.

I read this in record time, it was a hard book to put down. It grabbed my attention from the first page. This is my first read by Henry Porter and it won’t be my last. I’m really keen to explore more from this author. The main character in this book is very likeable and the storyline was fast faced and suspenseful. I highly recommend this book, I would certainly buy and gift this to friends or family.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC of The Enigma Girl.