Phil in SF reviewed The Trap by Ava Glass (Alias Emma, #3)
Straightforward spy story
3 stars
Emma Makepeace is chosen to lead a team trying to figure out how Russia plans to disrupt a G7 meeting in Edinburgh. The catch is that she may have to be a "honeytrap" for Nick Orlov, a Russian asset, in order to find out what they are doing, and she's not sure how she feels about that.
Not thrilled with the story. Makepeace isn't really leading the team, for instance. That seems more like a line thrown in by the author to justify Makepeave getting to sit in on a meeting between the heads of the Home Office, MI5, MI6 and the Agency. Another is that the Russian plot is extremely clumsy. Early on, an FSB agent wanders around photographing Carlowrie Castle, the site of the G7 meetings. When we find out who some of the characters carrying out the plot are, I cringed. It's a convenient authorial reason to …
Emma Makepeace is chosen to lead a team trying to figure out how Russia plans to disrupt a G7 meeting in Edinburgh. The catch is that she may have to be a "honeytrap" for Nick Orlov, a Russian asset, in order to find out what they are doing, and she's not sure how she feels about that.
Not thrilled with the story. Makepeace isn't really leading the team, for instance. That seems more like a line thrown in by the author to justify Makepeave getting to sit in on a meeting between the heads of the Home Office, MI5, MI6 and the Agency. Another is that the Russian plot is extremely clumsy. Early on, an FSB agent wanders around photographing Carlowrie Castle, the site of the G7 meetings. When we find out who some of the characters carrying out the plot are, I cringed. It's a convenient authorial reason to involve a character from the Scottish police, but it makes little sense from a plot perspective.
Emma Makepeace is a good character, but I want to see better stories written around her.