The Trap

Starred review from July 15, 2024
Glass (a pseudonym for YA author Christi Dougherty) keeps her hot streak going with the third outing (after The Traitor) for Emma Makepeace and her colleagues at the Agency, a shadowy British counterintelligence org. While Edinburgh prepares to host the annual G7 Summit, a Russian spymaster arrives in London to visit oligarch Nick Orlov. Their meeting sets off alarm bells, and Emma’s boss puts her in charge of a joint deployment of MI5, MI6, and the Scottish police to halt what Agency officials fear could be an assassination attempt at the summit. Eventually, Emma agrees to honeytrap Orlov, even as the case dredges up painful memories of a former lover who turned out to be a Russian double agent. Leaning on the support of Mackenzie, her spunky new Scottish police partner, Emma engages in some of her most treacherous, nerve-shredding spycraft yet, which Glass supplements with psychological depth and a wonderfully colorful portrait of Edinburgh. In the crowded field of contemporary spy thrillers, this series continues to lead the pack. Agent: Madeleine Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary.