The Enigma Girl: A gripping spy thriller perfect for fans of Mick Herron, Charles Cumming and David McCloskey
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By Henry Porter
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1 review
A masterclass in espionage thriller fiction from the heir to John le Carre for fans of Mick Herron, Charles Cumming and David McCloskey. Meet ‘a female agent for our times’, disgraced MI5 operative Slim Parsons.
‘SURPRISING, ENGROSSING, WITH A BLAZING MORAL ENERGY’ Rory Stewart
‘READS LIKE IT WAS DRAWN FROM TODAY’S HEADLINES’ Paul Vidich
‘ONE OF BRITAIN’S FINEST SPY WRITERS’ Daily Mail
Slim Parsons is all but burned.
Her last deep cover job for MI5 ended with a life-and-death struggle on a private jet that caused her to go on the run from both the deadly target and her angry bosses in the Security Service. They say that violence comes too easily to her; that she’s bordering on delinquent and unsuitable for the roll of an MI5 operative.
Yet she is recalled and asked to infiltrate a news website that’s causing alarm in the highest circles. It is staffed by a group descended from wartime codebreakers operating from an unassuming office block near Bletchley Park. Operation Linesman looks like a come down, the curtain on a brilliant career in the shadows. However, she accepts the assignment on condition that the Security Service searches for her missing brother.
Linesman turns out to be anything but simple. Her personal loss, her previous deep cover role, and a threat to MI5 itself from her original target come together in a three-way collision.
And all the while she is watched by someone even deeper in the shadows than she is.
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I had previously enjoyed Porter’s three espionage novels featuring ex-MI6 agent, Paul Samson. Now, after a 3-year gap, here’s a standalone novel about Alice ‘Slim’ Parsons, an MI5 agent whose last job working undercover ended in a life-and-death struggle with her target on a private jet. Before she’s had time to recover, she’s sent undercover again, this time to infiltrate a news website based near Bletchley Park which the government is concerned about. Her new colleagues are suspicious of her but it’s not long before Slim starts to feel more aligned with their views than MI5’s. And then the man who nearly killed her on the private jet reappears, looking for vengeance. At its heart, this is an espionage thriller about corruption and the establishment, but Henry Porter is brilliant at conveying menace, and as the plot races along the tension is palpable on every page. Having said that, the storytelling is never overdone or clumsy. I just thought it was a great read!
Review by Cornish Eskimo, Oundle Crime
PS: If you get the chance, track down Porter's Paul Samson novels (particularly Firefly) becasue they're brilliant too!
