Fast, furious, and totally addictive…

…meet Britain’s female Bond!

Book blurb

From the glittering shores of St. Tropez to the sun-drenched streets of Barcelona, The Traitor is former spy insider Ava Glass’s high-octane thriller set in the billionaires’ playground of the glamorous French Riviera.

A dead body in a padlocked suitcase, chemical weapons, and an MI5 traitor selling secrets to the Russians sets the scene for British agent Emma Makepeace’s thrill packed mission on the med. 

Emma must go undercover, working below deck as a crew member on luxury super yacht The Eden. Setting sail from St Tropez, The Eden’s Russian owner and his bikini-clad supermodel girlfriend are under surveillance by MI6, suspected of procuring illegal weapons from the UK.

Out at sea with no escape, Emma must tread carefully as she races to uncover who the traitor on board the oligarch’s yacht is. Witnessing a murder and with her cover wearing increasingly thin, one false move and she could be dead. As the hunt intensifies, Emma must find the traitor before he finds her. 

From a glittering yacht party to a powerboat chase over deadly rocks, and from living below deck to being hunted through the streets of Barcelona, never before has the turquoise sea and golden sands of the Rivera been so deadly.

My thoughts

Emma Makepeace is pulled away from her current job to a flat in London where a body has been discovered in a suitcase. Stephen Garrick was an analyst for M16. The flat was contaminated some kind of chemical weapon had been used!

When they find out what chemical was used it implicates the Russians. Emma works for a small intelligence agency whose work is known to only a few high ranking officials. Their work is focussed on identifying and stopping Russian spies working inside Britain. So, yes, Russians but not the government.

Looking into Garrick’s work and his recent movements it seems that he was continuing to survey a Russian oligarch, Andrei Volkov who with Oleg Federov were suspected of illegally selling chemical weapons as well as dealing in black market arms.

Ripley, her boss, tells Emma she is to go undercover on a luxury super yacht, The Eden, currently moored in St Tropez. She will be a crew member replacing a young woman whose mother is ‘ill’. They don’t know how long the yacht will be there so Emma flies to Nice meeting Jon, who is heading up the mission, and is taken to Annabel who gives her as much information about the yacht, crew, the owner Volkov and his girlfriend, Maddison, as Emma is able to take in. She will be alone on the yacht with only a phone to give them the information she is looking for, where The Eden travels to, who may come aboard or to call for help. Help that may not come in time!

We spend a tense and gripping few days on board The Eden with Emma as she tries to find the proof of chemical weapons dealing. Emma is not trusted by Volkov or his bodyguard Cal Grogan. They take her phone away – her lifeline!

We follow Emma on and off the yacht as she works. She gets close Maddison. She is able to get some information as The Eden moves around the Mediterranean. Emma uses a shipmates phone to send a message.

One evening, when a small dinner party ends embarrassingly, Emma witnesses a body being taken off the yacht by Grogan and Jason, the steward.

Still Emma carries on even when her cover looks to have been blown! She’s told to get out but before doing so she follows Volkov to a meeting with Federov and someone else! Emma intends to get to safety but she’s taken and locked up on The Eden!

Will she get free?

How was her cover blown? She’s sure she didn’t give herself away.

Is there a traitor?

Ava Glass has written a worthy follow up to The Chase, the first book in the series. The Traitor is a thrilling a story which builds the tension until it explodes into a fast paced chase and then a search for a possible traitor. Emma is a good protagonist who is still relatively new to the spy world but is learning fast and is highly regarded. Ripley, Martha and Zach are terrific returning characters.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Highly recommended to all who enjoy a compelling spy thriller.

Thanks: I received an eCopy of The Traitor by Ava Glass from Penguin Books even though I simply shared an extract for the blog tour. My thanks to Penguin U.K. for their generosity.

I have also purchased a copy of The Traitor.

Information

Published: Penguin|14^th September 2023 | £8.99| Paperback Original

Buy: Hive U.K. | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | AmazonSmileUK | Your local bookshop | Your local library

Book: Purchased & see below.

Author: Ava Glass is a former civil servant with the highest security clearance bar one. She has seen just enough of the inner workings of espionage to ensure that she will always be fascinated by spies. 

Prior to working at the home office, Ava Glass worked as a crime reporter, covering multiple homicides, making her writing both fresh and dangerously believable.

Books and News

The Traitor is the highly anticipated follow up to Ava Glass’ 2022 debut spy thriller The Chase.

The Chase shortlisted for the CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER 2023 for Best Spy Novel at the 2023 Crime Writer Awards alongside established names including Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and Linwood Barclay. No small feat for a debut novelist.

Film rights to The Chase and The Traitor have been acquired by Ink Factory, producers of The Night Manager, who are currently working on a pilot in conjunction with Sky Atlantic, now in the final stages of editing. Next step will be casting!