Fast-paced, fun, action-packed and a quick read---would recommend to readers of the genre or to new thriller readers. While some of the plot twists are a bit stretched/not as complex as I'd like, overall this is an enjoyable read.

Thank you to @randomhouse and @netgalley for the eARC of Alias Emma.

Are you a fan of books that read like you’re watching an action-packed movie? 🍿🎥 That’s exactly what reading Alias Emma is like.

Emma Makepeace has barely completed her requirements to become a secret agent for MI6 when she gets her first assignment: protect the adult son of Russian dissents before he’s killed by Russian operatives.

Dodging bullets, crafting disguises, evading CCTV camera, etc., etc. This book has all that and a bit more. If this is your jam, then I definitely recommend this one.

Honestly, I don’t read a ton of spy novels, but this was a nice change of pace for me. I really liked Emma’s character and it’s looking like this will be a series.

This fast paced thriller features Emma Makepeace in an early assignment trying to rescue someone. Emma is brave and resourceful, and the action is steady. I also liked Ripley who was Emma's boss.

This was a really interesting, fast-paced spy novel. I don't know if I'll read the rest of the series, but I really liked this one. "Emma" and Michael were both complex, fun characters to read about, and I felt like I was on the run with them the entire time.

An action filled thriller that will keep you up until you finish!
Many thanks to Random House and to. NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Emma Makepeace has one mission; get Dr. Michael Primalov to come with her and survive the night.

Emma works for MI6 and one day gets pulled in for what seems to be a simple mission but turns into life or death. Someone in Russian is killing Russian Nuclear scientists who defected over the years. They all seem to be connected to Michael Primalov's mother and now Michael is a target. Emma has been sent to bring Michael in for relocation and protection where all other agents have failed. The first time she goes to convince him she notices that the Russian assassin team is already following him.

Emma needs to make her way from Camden to Southwark before morning without any cameras picking her or Michael up. Will she succeed?

Alias Emma is fun spy novel set is one night through out London. I recommend it if you want a quick, enjoyable read.

Alias Emma is the debut book of a thrilling new series by Ava Glass. Readers will not be able to put it down. Emma Makepeace is a newly minted British spy who is given a brutal first assignment: She has twelve hours to bring the son of Russian dissidents into protective custody. Glass sets the scene impeccably.

The sun was setting over one of the most expensive streets in the world when the assassins arrived.



The CCTV camera on the central London corner recorded long blades of golden light stretched out across limestone walls as two men walked down the exclusive avenue.

The assassins keep their heads tilted down so no camera recorded their features as they slipped out of the shadows. The CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras Glass references are those that form the backbone of the City of London’s legendary Ring of Steel perimeter. The other elements are control zones and restricted access to the city center, but it’s the silent, omnipresent cameras the criminals fear most. There are almost a million CCTV cameras in London—one camera for every ten people. Inside the security cordon, Londoners can expect to be surveilled upwards of seventy times daily. How is Emma supposed to covertly bring someone into protective custody if she and her asset are visible on closed circuit TV? Hold that thought.

Emma has worked for a shadowy Agency for two years, but she’s only received one emergency code, a test. A second call-in is the real deal. Ripley—her boss/handler—awaits her. Charles Ripley is nondescript, somewhere between 50 and 60 years-old, wearing a wool suit that “was neither expensive nor cheap,” and shoes that were decent but not polished to a high sheen.

In fact, he was so unmemorable in appearance that if he crossed the street in front of you, you’d be hard-pressed to describe him five minutes later. As he’d told her when they first started working together, “Invisibility is a spy’s greatest asset.”

Emma and Ripley discuss the latest murders, which Ripley characterizes as a “professional job, precisely like the others.” They know the Russian military spy agency—the GRU—is behind the brazen hits. The GRU are after a pair of former Russian scientists who escaped the motherland years earlier. They are especially anxious to silence Elena Primalov. The British have brought the couple in from the cold and given them protective custody, but their son Michael Primalov won’t walk away from his medical career as a pediatrician. Elena is frantic because she knows the Russians will focus all their might on Michael once they realize his parents are out of reach. That’s where Emma comes in.

“Elena is one of our top assets, and that makes Michael critical to us. We need to get him to safety as quickly as possible. Do whatever you must to convince him to let us protect him. Be his friend. Earn his trust. Whatever it takes. Just bring him to safety before they kill him.”

The next morning Emma fakes a fall on a running path that Michael frequents, confident he’ll stop to help her. He does and after a few remarks, she tells him she works for a government agency that wants to protect him. Emma asks him if he’ll enter protective custody, warning him that if he doesn’t, he’ll be killed. Michael turns her down, asking to be left in peace. While he understands his mother is worried, he just wants to be left alone. Off he runs. Emma is at a standstill when she notices two very proficient runners following in Michael’s wake. Something about them bothers her.

It was how they ran. They moved with remarkable accuracy. Each stride the same length as the next. They were in perfect sync. That kind of precision is drilled into you in the military.

The Russian military. They don’t assassinate Michael: Emma figures they are trailing him to see if he is under British surveillance. She fills in Ripley and asks for help but he tells her she’s on her own. What? How can she do this solo? Silence. Finally Ripley lays it out.

When he did speak, there was a new urgency in his tone. “I wouldn’t have chosen you for this job if I did not believe you were perfectly capable of handling it. You’ve been trained for this your entire life. You’ve been ready for a long time. You have to handle this one on your own.”

Disguised as a nurse, Emma confronts Michael at the hospital where someone else is also faking their identity (one of the runners from the park disguised as a maintenance worker). Emma tells Michael Russian agents have infiltrated the hospital but he won’t budge. Stymied, she follows him when he leaves the hospital that evening. Two Russian men get perilously close to Michael so she springs into action. She calls out, asking for directions, shifting their attention from Michael.

Still smiling, she gave a last burst of speed and leaped, aiming a flying kick at the shorter man’s chest.

Emma fights desperately against the two assailants, but a thumb pressed against her carotid artery has her starting to lose consciousness. Michael slams his laptop on the man’s head, saving Emma’s life. She tells Michael she can’t fight again—that they must run—and he finally believes her. Emma calls Ripley, but his lieutenant, Ed Masterson, answers. She doesn’t know exactly why she’s suspicious but she hedges when Ed questions her. She and Michael unearth a hidden data card left for her by Ripley which she reads on Michael’s phone.

The message was brief and blunt.

Change of plans. I think I know who’s behind the attacks. If I’m right, this is more dangerous than we feared. Don’t bring the guest home. Take him to the neighbors. Avoid all cameras, they’re not ours right now. Be careful with M. No calls. No tech. Move fast. Stay dark.

Translation—Ripley is not available to help Emma, he’s gone dark. M (Ed Masterson, his second-in-command) is not to be trusted. The neighbors are M16, which means Emma must get Michael to their headquarters across the river at Vauxhall Cross—while avoiding all CCTV cameras—thus they can’t use buses, cars, the Tube, ATMs, cellphones, or credit cards. It’s a race against time: To save Michael’s life (and likely her own), she must move fast and stay dark.

Alias Emma is a fabulous debut thriller. Emma Makepeace is independent and intelligent, with an intriguing background. She’s been compared to James Bond, high praise indeed. Readers will rip through the pages as Michael and Emma confront an intimidating array of foes.

The book was okay. The characters were fine, and the story was also fine, but they were just that. FINE. I was expecting much more since this has been compared to a female James Bond.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Emma Makepeace is on a mission. She works for a secret agency in London and she needs to bring in an innocent man to protect him from Russian agents. All alone with her target, Michael Primalov, she spends the night trying to get across London without access to resources or transportation means. Additionally, she fears that her own team is making the situation worse and more dangerous for her.

Will they make is safely across town? Will they live to fight another day?

This book was a fast-paced read through one night in London and the obstacles that they needed to overcome. It is the first in a series and I am looking forward to the next one.

Emma Makepeace is a spy in MI6 who has an assignment monitoring some environmental activists. But, she gets a more exciting assignment when her boss calls her in to work on relocating a doctor who is in danger from Russian spies. At first, the doctor, Michael, doesn’t want to relocate. Soon, he changes his mind when the Russian spies show up. The rest of the novel follows the adventures of these two as they try to make their way across London, which is the most camera-dense city in the world. Their every move will be monitored by cameras that the spies have hacked into. Can they make it across the city to safety before they get caught?

This is an action-packed story from state to finish. There are a few moments when the characters get a break and have some time to try to rest, but otherwise, it is a chase across the city that lasts all night long, with danger lurking everywhere. I loved how the characters managed to find ways to get around in the city and avoid the spies hunting them. They were very creative, and the reader got to see some parts of the city that are not on the tourist maps. The best thing was that the lead character was a female spy. It was refreshing to see a woman in that role for a change.

If you like a good espionage story with lots of action, I highly recommend this one!

I loved this book. I had to put it down once because I truly needed sleep, but if I hadn't this would have been a one sitting book for me! Exciting, fast paced, and set up like a great action movie, with a great amount of breaks in between the action sequences. I also loved the female protagonist, and it's just always SO NICE to have a woman lead the way rather than yet another man.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alias Emma is a fast and easy read with non-stop action. It is a short book, and you' ll race right through it

It is a spy thriller that takes place mostly in just one night...concentrating more on action, and light on the politics often involved in more intricate spy thrillers.

Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

I love spy novels and spy tv shows so when I got offered to read an ARC of this book I jumped on it. I feel terrible for being such a slacker in posting my review cause it was excellent. This book gets you on page one and does not let up until the end. What a wild ride !!! Tasked to save Michael's life, Emma puts herself in danger to do just that. Can't wait for other books to follow in this series. Very well written and just a great read !

Alias Emma is a fast pace thriller that kept me guessing right up to the very end! I was happy to find this book had great well rounded character development and the plot flows well. Enjoyable and easy read would recommend to any spy novel readers. Well written.

Emma Makepeace, new MI6 Agent, was embedded in a patchouli-scented shop monitoring a climate change activist whose organization had Russian money funneling through it. Though she found him to be harmless, her work continued until she was called to headquarters by emergency communication. Her new order was to convince a doctor, Mikail (Michael) Primalov, that his life is in grave danger. His parents, former Russians who now work for MI6, have already been taken into protective custody, but with Michael unguarded, they are all at risk for torture and death. They will not go deep undercover until their beloved only son is with them, safe. Emma has twenty-four hours to trek Michael across England, where there are facial recognition cameras on every corner that have been hacked by the Russians, without being captured, killed, disavowed by her own government, or left bearing the blame for all that goes wrong.

This is a very exciting novel, especially once Emma is sent to intercept Michael. The action becomes non-stop as it is taking place over a twenty-four hour period, and the reader is left breathless as their run for the opposite side of England occurs while the two are being mercilessly tracked by the Russians. I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamic of Emma and Michael, who helped Emma as much as he was helped by her as they ran to the other side of the river across the country to the safety of a different MI6 branch. Something underhanded seemed to be happening at Emma’s branch of MI6. Her boss and mentor, Charles Ripley, was suddenly replaced by his second-in-command who refused Emma’s call for help and left her stranded to make her own way with Michael. I wish the budding romance between them was allowed to develop, as they both deserved to be happy after the trauma they experienced. I also wish the motivation for every character in the book from Emma’s mother to Ripley was not revenge, because instead of sounding like a government mission, it read very much like vigilantes hunting for retribution. However, “Alias Emma” was an excellent read overall, and I believe it will appeal to readers of government espionage, thrillers, and mysteries.

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Ava Glass, and Moonflower Books, Ltd/Bantam Books for the ability to read and review this ARC.

Finally a modern spy thriller with a female protagonist. How could you avoid every camera in London while secreting away a high-value asset? You'll find out when you read Alias Emma.

4 stars for an engaging and immersive spy thriller!

This was a really fast-paced spy thriller with a strong female lead that takes place in Britain - really enjoyed it! If you like action-packed thrillers with a solid story this would be right up your alley. Emma, our protagonist, gets sent off to her first real assignment, and she is full-force ready to protect the innocent and bring justice to her country. There was drama, action, a sprinkle of romance - solid read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Bantam for providing a digital ARC for review!

I usually do not read books that are about spies or any espionage. It’s a genre I do not care for, and I typically go out of my way not to read anything from it. So, I was surprised (and a little irritated) when I read Alias Emma and realized it was a spy/espionage/thriller. That was on me, though. When the publisher sent me the invite to review, I automatically accepted without reading what I was getting. Imagine my surprise when I started liking Alias Emma. This book might be the one that has cracked my dislike for that genre. It was that good.

Alias Emma is the first book in the Alias Emma series. Anything else I would write in this section can be ignored (aka my warnings about reading books out of order in a series). That doesn’t apply here.

Alias Emma had a solid and engaging storyline. Emma is a secret agent working undercover at a shop run by a low-level threat when she gets a phone call she has been waiting for. She has been assigned to pick up a man, Dr. Michael Primalov, and bring him to the M16 before daylight. She must also keep him safe from Russian assassins and rogue agents from her agency. But that is easier said than done. The Russians have taken over London’s CCTV, her handler has gone missing, and she is receiving no help from her agency. With a cryptic message from her handler about staying in the dark, Emma must fulfill her mission. If she can’t, an innocent man will die. Can Emma do it? Can she bring Michael to the safety of the M16?

I loved Emma. She was stubborn (which served her well in this book), tough, and knew how to think outside the box. I loved seeing how she was recruited and her more tragic backstory. She was a very fleshed-out character. She did irritate me during some scenes but other than that, I liked her. I also loved how she saw something through to the end. And oh boy, did she with Michael.

The storyline with Emma, Michael, the Russians, and getting to the M16 was well written. The author did a great job of keeping my attention by constantly changing the storyline. Every time I thought something was going to happen, the storyline shifted. I did have my doubts about them getting to the M16. They were both up against so much.

The storyline with Emma, her agency, and the rogue agent kept me on the edge of my seat. I was alternately irritated for her and frightened for her. But everything did iron out in the end, but it was a ride to get there.

The spy/espionage angle of Alias Emma was very thought-provoking. I liked that the book featured a female spy who was relatable. I got a very James Bondy vibe during parts of the book, and I loved that Emma had to use her intuition to feel situations.

The action angle of Alias Emma was well written. I couldn’t get over the amount of running Emma and Michael did during this book. I also couldn’t get over the number of hand-to-hand combat situations that Emma had with the Russians. Again, it was another thing that kept my attention on the book.

The end of Alias Emma was interesting. I say interesting because I was fascinated with how the Russian storyline ended. The images I produced in my head after the Russian team passed the British one at the hotel in Paris were not good. I also liked how the author left open the storyline about specific agents going rogue. There was an explanation, but the way it was left made me wonder if book two would explain more.

I would recommend Alias Emma to anyone over 16. There are a few kissing scenes (mainly to conceal identities), language, and moderate to high violence.

I couldn't finish this book. It was not for me. I don't think it was the writing or anything like that. It just was not a topic that I was engaged with.

Love a mystery/thriller...especially one with a badass lead!!! Thoroughly enjoyed this cat and mouse thriller that I didn't want to stop reading!!!