When secret agent Emma Makepeace is assigned the dangerous task of bringing Michael Primalov to safety from the Russian mafia who has been chasing him, she is pretty thrilled. She has not only been waiting for a huge task like this, she has been looking for the chance to take down the Russians that killed her dad.

This was my first spy/espionage novel. I enjoyed the bits about her past and family and what led her to this career. The action packed scenes were well written, they are just not my typical style of writing so it was more difficult to keep up. The author's writing style was interesting and I love seeing a female as the lead!

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Emma Makepeace is pulled off a rather dull job to escort pediatrician Michael to protective custody. But by the time she convinces him that his life really is in danger and he must abandon his oncology patients, her boss has disappeared and London’s security cameras have been compromised.

Their only option is to traverse London on foot under cover of darkness. With no backup and no idea how many Russian spies are on their trail, Emma has 12 hours to get to safety.

This fast-paced thriller grabs the reader from the very first page and refuses to let go. Emma and Michael are such likable characters that not knowing what their future holds is heartbreaking. Not my typical genre, but I’m seriously rethinking that fact. #AliasEmma #NetGalley

In a thriller that will keep you reading late into the night, Ava Glass introduces Emma Makepeace, whose greatest desire was to some day become a spy. Her parents were from Russia, where her father spied for the British. Before his discovery, he was able to get his pregnant wife out of Russia. He was never seen again. After college and serving with military intelligence, where she impressed her superiors, she was hired by British Intelligence. Now she has received her first major assignment to bring Dr. Michael Primalov to safety.

A GRU assassination team has murdered four scientists who defected from Russia. They all had ties to Elena Primalov, Russia’s top nuclear scientist who now works for England. She and her husband have been moved to safety, but their son refuses to give up his medical practice and join them. On Emma’s first approach to Michael she notes that he is already being followed. After he finally realizes the danger that he is in, another complication arises. Emma calls for a pickup and is told that she is on her own. Her director is unavailable and his second in command refuses assistance. Her only choice is to travel across London while it is still dark out and reach MI6 headquarters. London. Is a city covered with CCTV cameras and the system has been hacked. Emma and Michael must go dark, using only cash and no phones, taxis, subways, busses or cars. There are several encounters with the Russians but Emma is not about to fail.

Glass alternates present events with scenes from Emma’s past. Her family background, military service, training and previous undercover assignment paint a picture of an agent who is capable of handling any situation. Ripley, her director, is the one person that she trusts. Even when he is unavailable he still manages to find ways to help her. She is resourceful and determined and this assignment will keep you on the edge of your seat as she and. Michael race through the night to find safety. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for providing this book for my review.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Ava Glass for an ARC of this book!**

"But every man everywhere, no matter how much you train him, underestimates a smiling young woman."

Emma Makepeace counts on this bit of information. As a spy with a faux surname, she has been waiting for a Big Important assignment, and she finally has one: deliver doctor (and Russian target) Michael Primalov safely to MI6 before the Russians nab him. Eager to spread her wings, Emma takes the battle against the clock head on, racing through the city and attempting to keep stubborn Michael by her side until he reaches the desired locale. Of course, this would be far less dangerous if the Russians hadn't hacked into the city's CC TV...and therefore had an inside look at each move this pair makes. When the bell tolls...will it have tolled its last for Michael...AND Emma?!

Coming off of a CIA-heavy thriller, I figured this would be enough of a change of pace to hold my interest. After all, Alias Emma is a Spy Novel...and doesn't try to be anything else! As much as I wanted to hear the twangy James Bond guitar riffs in my head (and honestly tried to force it at times!), I can't say that I fully connected with this story. Emma was a likable enough character (although not the hippie her chosen secret surname would imply, so that was a bummer) but her scenes with Michael, which make up most of the narrative and plot, were just...not that interesting.

There was running. Lots and lots of running. In fact, I bet these two put in more miles than Forrest...and in one day, no less!

However...I don't personally find running and car chases and jumping off of bridges etc. etc. to be that interesting. The parts of the book I DID connect to were all set in Emma's past, and the backstory of how and when and most importantly WHY she became a spy. I honestly found this far more interesting than the main plot itself, and found myself oddly looking forward to these passages (?) which is such a strange thing to say about an action novel driven by, well, action.

Not sure if this was a 'wrong mood' sort of read, or just too close to an action movie for me. I have to admit, 90% of action moves I watch, I either end up falling asleep or zoning out completely...UNLESS they have interesting backstory. I could absolutely see Emma as an interesting heroine for a series, but since this one walked through the majority of her younger life, I can't say that I'd feel compelled to read more.

Though there's nothing necessarily wrong with this zippy little spy book and its protagonist, the dizzying cover alone probably should have been a warning to me personally that the one and only female spy for me is and will forevermore be ~11 years old, has a red notebook...and is named Harriet.

3.5 stars

British secret agent Emma Makepeace has 12 hours to get Michael, the son of a former Russian spy, to agency headquarters. But first, she has to convince Michael that he's in danger. Then they must evade the omnipresent CCTV cameras all over London and the Russian spies looking for Michael. Oh, and this is her first solo assignment. Can Emma bring Michael in safely?

This modern spin on a traditional spy thriller is well done. I loved Emma Makepeace. Aside from being intelligent, resourceful, and fearless, she doesn't fit any stereotype. Whatever comes her way, this all-around bada$$ will handle it. As Emma and Michael race across London, her backstory is revealed, and her very personal motivation emerges, adding more depth to this thriller.

The fast-paced story is filled with just the right amount of peril and action to keep you on the edge of your seat. It will keep you turning the pages until the end. Set aside some time so you can read this book in one sitting!

The ending of the book felt like the setup for a series. If so, count me in! I need more of Emma Makepeace in my reading life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballentine for a digital copy of Alias Emma. All thoughts and opinions in this voluntary review are my own.

Alias Emma is a wonderful debut novel from Ava Glass.

"Emma Makepeace is on her first mission for the Agency. No big deal - take an innocent man to MI6 across London by sunrise before the Russian assassination team gets to him. CCTV has been hacked so she must avoid the cameras. Buses, cars or taxis are out of the question. Her handler has gone dark and the streets are crawling with Russian agents trying to track them down. Emma must use all of her training and wits to get them to safety."

Once this book gets past the setup at the beginning, the action never stops. Emma is a great character and has an interesting backstory. Glass does a nice job getting into Emma's head when the situation seems out of control.
You get to visit parts of London that are little known (like The Fleet)

There are familiar characters but they don't feel like stereotypes. Glass has put a fresh spin on them. This was a fast-paced read - I read it in a day. I like an author that makes me want to keep turning pages.

I hope we get more stories with Emma. Great story from Ava Glass.

4.5 stars rounded down - Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseBallantine for the free early copy of this novel. The comments are entirely my own.

What a fun ride that story was! It's like reading one of the movie thrillers with chase scene after chase scene. Non stop action.

Set in London, the story is about new-ish spy Emma who is tasked with collecting and protecting a doctor whose life is in danger from Russian spies. Over the course of one night, she has to keep this man alive and get him to safety while lots of Russians are out to stop them. We learn about Emma's training and loyalty to her handler/recruiter through flashbacks, but then we're dropped right back into the thick of action. The biggest challenge to overcome is that the CTV cameras have been hacked and the zillions of cameras around the city will show the Russians where they are - so, how to get across London and avoid the cameras that are everywhere including all transportation options?

Great writing as I found myself eagerly devouring page after page. It's not terribly original, there's no huge twist or magic, and yet I was completely invested. Emma is by far the most developed character - even Michael, the guy she's protecting isn't fully 3 dimensional. But, it's an action book not a character study and I got enough sense of him and of her handler to make it all "believable".

The book is out 8/2/22 and if you like a good action thriller, be sure to pick this one up.
Review on my blog, Bookshelf Journeys, 8/3/22

In the mood for a fast moving spy thriller with a resourceful young female protagonist, then Alias Emma is for you. Curl up on the sofa, get some popcorn and enjoy. Emma Makepeace, not her real name, is a newly recruited agent for a clandestine agency, "The Agency."

Her mission - bring Michael Primalov in to MI6 by sunrise.

The obstacles - the Russians also want him, and they have hacked into all the CCTV cameras in London. This creates quite the dilemma, Emma must move around in the dark and avoid all cameras. She is left on her own unable to contact her organization for help, they have " gone dark."

The author does a good job of providing the reader with Emma's backstory, her prior career in the army, her father being a Russian spy, her recruitment by Charles Ripley to "The Agency."

Fun and fast moving this is a good start to the series. I am looking forward to Emma's next assignment.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Ballantine Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful debut book by Ava Glass - 5 stars!

Emma Makepeace is a spy, working for The Agency, on her first big mission. She must track down and convince an innocent doctor, wanted by the Russian government, to come with her to MI6 to safety. Michael, a doctor, doesn't want to go with her or believe he's threatened. But convincing him is just the first hard task. She must somehow bring him in while avoiding all the CCTV cameras in London because they've been hacked and the Russians chasing them.

This book is apparently the first in a series starring bad-ass Emma. I loved her character and was rooting for her as I raced through this book. This was a perfectly executed spy thriller that kept me intrigued as Emma and Michael raced through London, using only her skills and wit. In between, you'll learn about Emma's past and why she's so driven to right the wrongs in the world. It was all such fun too - I can't wait to read more. Move over, James Bond!

“A wise man once told me that every day can be revenge if you do it right…”

Thank you, NetGalley, Ava Glass, and Bantam books for the opportunity to read this book! it will release on August 2nd!!

ALIAS EMMA
Move over James Bond, here comes Emma Makepeace. Alias Emma by Ava Glass introduces MI6 agent, Emma Makepeace. She is undercover monitoring an environmental group that is being funded by the Russians when she is suddenly taken out of her assignment. A Russian physicist’s family is being threatened by the Russians. So Emma must contact Michael Primalov and get him to a safe house. However, Michael does not want to uproot his life as a pediatric doctor, but when the foreign assassins stop at nothing including risking civilian lives he has no choice but to go with Emma. Emma and Michael are in for a really long night.

This is an excellent fast-paced spy thriller that takes place in one night. One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book is that there are no unnecessary plot lines. The story takes place over one action-filled night with a few timeline jumps to Emma’s first days as an agent. It was fascinating to read about her journey and inspiration to become an agent.

One of the best parts of the book is the acknowledgments. The author mentions how she had interacted with spies and how we may have interacted with spies but never knew it. As a crime reporter, she came across some spies that would inspire this novel. I can’t wait to read more by this author and an adaptation would be awesome too!

This was a quick, fun read. I love a spy novel, especially when it is a woman spy! This was a short book but the pace was fast. Enjoyed.

Emma Makepeace (great name) is, as other readers have noted, like a female James Bond. Just when anyone would give up on the difficulty of their assignment, she pulls more grit and determination out of her bag of spy tricks than even seems plausible.

Tasked with getting her charge, a target of Russian assassins, across London safely, she is met with opposition at every turn. There aren't really any clever twists, turns or mysteries to solve -- just nonstop action, and that makes for a quick, easy read. I enjoyed the ride.

3.5 rounded up, because some of Emma's escapes and near-misses seemed somewhat implausible, and I'm still wondering if any government would go to such extraordinary lengths to eliminate (or save) one person. It's the kind of action adventure you see in the movies.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Alias Emma
Ava Glass
Fiction
Nancy
3
Emma Makepeace has landed the job of her dreams working for The Agency, Britain’s super-secret spy unit, even though, so far, the extent of her career since finishing the training program has consisted of only two things: choosing her alias, and working in a shop owned by a wanna-be radical named Raven, where she is expected to hone her skills as a spy, but she fails to see how the tedium of folding shirts and waiting on the (few) customers make her more proficient. Wondering just how long it will be until she’s assigned to a “real” case, Emma is thrilled when her handler, Ripley, calls her into his office with an assignment that promises not only to challenge her but to also expose her to the kind of danger that she’s been trained to handle. A Russian assassination squad is hunting a young doctor, the son of Russian dissidents, determined to kill him, as they have killed other relatives of those they view as their enemies. Emma’s job is to first convince the physician to abandon the life he’s built, and allow himself to be relocated as a part of England’s equivalent of America’s Witness Protection program; her second is to get him from one side of London to the other safely. The danger reaches new heights when Ripley drops out of sight, the Russians hack into the CCTV system in the most closely monitored city in the world, and it appears that someone, even when they can avoid the cameras, is tracking every move Emma and her charge make.
My thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC.
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Alias Emma is what would happen if James Bond was a kick ass woman. Emma has grudges to fight and a young Russian man to bring in to safety. While she is strong and quick thinking, I appreciated that she is not super woman. It made her more believable as a modern day spy. A very enjoyable, quick read.

Alias Emma is like reading spy novels I grew up with, that came in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.
Emma has an eternal hatred toward Russia. Courted by British intelligence agency, she is fearless.
I loved all the action, subterfuge, and chases. I also loved how Emma went old school and had to get the good doc across London using her noggin and prowess.
She would be the perfect partner for James Bond!

Alias Emma, by Ava Glass, is an absolute hit for me! It is a clever, intelligent, fast-paced espionage thriller, and the beginning of a new series.

Emma Makepeace, an agent for an organization quietly known as “The Agency”, is pulled from her rather tedious undercover assignment into a high stakes, solo rescue mission. Her job is to convince a young oncologist, devoted to his patients, to enter into the witness protection program with his esteemed Russian spy parents, who defected years ago.

It is not only much more of a challenge to convince him to abandon his post, but the extraction is wrought with much more peril and adventure than Emma ever imagined. Chased by the ever-present Russian spy network and their well-trained assassination team, the race to their theoretically safe destination is on! But who is actually on Emma’s side? The uncertainty and tension increase with each roadblock she encounters.

Alias Emma is an intricate, fast-paced, pulse-pounding British spy novel that will keep the reader rapidly turning the pages. It features a strong, savvy, brave heroine with clever survival tactics who remains steady under pressure. This is a highly entertaining, immensely engaging, action-packed thriller and I look forward to the next in the series.

I received an ARC of this book. This book is a thrill ride from start to finish. Fast paced and full of action, I couldn't put it down!

I don’t read a lot of spy/espionage novels but I was pleasantly surprised. This was an easy book to get through with constant “high speed” chases to escape the enemy. .

The main character and spy is a female and she gave me James Bond vibes! This will make for a great movie adaption.

Thank you to Bantam/Random House for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily. WOW! I feel as if I have ran a marathon. I need a nap! This was completely action packed from the first pages. There were flying bodies landing on the street immediately present in the first chapter. Then it just took off from there. Emma Makepeace is an agent with the Vernon Institute (a top secret agency in London). She is young, but determined, and she is tasked with convincing Dr. Michael Primalov that his life is in danger. He needs to go into hiding with the help of Emma and her agency (which he does not want to do). Emma had grit and determination to do her job at all costs and eventually persuades him that his life is, in fact, in danger. She was persistent and likable to me, as the reader. She takes her job of protection very seriously. You will learn more in the book about what makes her tick and what has made her into the fierce protector that she is today. The author does a great job of building background of how Emma ended up in her position by going from past to present so you will more fully understand her present circumstances and her dilemma. It was a tense and intriguing plot with "secret agencies", spies, flying bullets and men intent on wreaking chaos, havoc and death everywhere they went. Honestly, I had reservations about this book as I am not usually a spy thriller type of reader. However, I have to give kudos to Ava Glass as I was pleasantly surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ava Glass did a superb job of writing an espionage thriller without it being 700 pages long! I was completely absorbed into this book from the first chapter. Emma is my new heroine, and I look forward to possibly seeing more books with her as the lead character. The characters were interesting, and I would like to learn more about them in future books. This one is a winner!

I loved Alias Emma!!! This book was very much like an action movie in print!!! The action grips you from the very beginning and doesn’t let up! I really loved how the MC, Emma, was such a bad*ss. It was a refreshing change of pace to have a woman spy saving the guy. Great story and I hope there are more books to come!