The Trap by Ava Glass – blog tour

I’m going to start my thoughts with saying, that although the first of Ava Glass’s ‘Alias Emma’ books, The Chase kept me up all night to finish it, the new one – the third in the series – was the most satisfying yet plotwise. All three with their distinctive ‘running woman’ covers are pageturners.

The Trap is set against the backdrop of a known entity which adds hugely to the suspense. That is the G7 meeting of the intergovernmental forum of the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, which moves around the member countries. It’s the UK’s turn to host and the venue is to be Edinburgh with the talks due to take place in a castle outside the Scottish city.

Preparations are, of course well, underway, but as the novel opens, the arrival of a top FSB man, Balakin, in the UK triggers action. He is followed into London by a team including Emma Makepeace, who works out he is Embassy bound. When Balakin’s pilot files a flight plan for Edinburgh, the game really is on… The various arms of the secret service, the police and the home and foreign offices get together, that includes the Agency, the select group that sits between MI5 & 6, run by Charles Ripley, Emma’s boss. The chatter indicates that an assassination attempt may be on the cards. Is Balakin involved, or is his presence a distraction? Ripley will lead a cross-departmental team in Edinburgh, to uncover and stop the nefarious plans and allow the G7 meeting to continue as if nothing was happening.

With the Edinburgh HQ set up and the team in place, Emma is somewhat annoyed at first to be given a partner from the local police, she’s never had one before, but Ripley insists. She doesn’t know Edinburgh, Mackenzie does, and the two women will come to depend on each other as events pile on complexity and danger.

Nick Orlov is a self-made Russian billionaire and is not your typical oligarch. He made Scotland his home a good few years ago, he has adopted the country, and it has adopted him. But when Balakin pays him a visit, he becomes a person of interest. Cue Emma going undercover to get to know him better. You know what that means, don’t you? She’s not had to be part of a honeytrap like this before. A face from her past will convince her that if others’ lives will be saved, she can do it. Luckily Orlov, who is a known womaniser, is easy to like and get on with – with her cover as an employee of an oil company in place she sets about reeling him in.

All of this is just a little that happens in about the first third of the novel, and it doesn’t let up for a moment thereafter!

Three novels in, we’re getting to know Emma well, utterly professional, yet she still can’t believe she is doing this for a living. It’s good to know she does have moral scruples as more caring yet still tough female agent, and her relationship with Mackenzie as it develops is a pleasure to see. Ripley, however, although totally opposite in personal character, is still a bit of an enigma like Mick Herron’s Jackson Lamb. They do share a desire to look after their agents though, they just express it in different ways! I’m sure we’ll get more glimpses into Ripley’s character as this series progresses. Give me more!

My Shiny co-editor, Harriet, will be reviewing The Trap at Shiny New Books on Friday too – do pop by to see what she thought.

Source: Review copy – thank you. Ava Glass, The Trap, Penguin, 416pp., paperback original.

BUY at Blackwell’s via my affiliate link (free UK P&P)