The Trap by Ava Glass: a race against time in Edinburgh

Emma Makepeace works for an espionage organization so secret it has no name but The Agency. There is no mistaking its role, however: to hunt Russian spies. Emma has her own motivation for this work – her father was Russian and was killed before she was born for being an informer.

It is a crisp October day when Emma and her colleagues learn a high level Russian intelligence officer, Vladimir Balakin, has reached London by private jet. The Group of Seven (G7), a political and economic forum made up of seven of the world's leaders, including Britain and the United States, is about to meet in Edinburgh. It seems likely Balakin has a target in mind, which could be the Prime Minister or the President. Charles Ripley, a Cold War veteran, who runs the Agency, sends Emma and a hand-chosen team to Edinburgh to watch Balakin and prevent any kind of incident, which would embarrass Britain as well as causing chaos.

My Impression: This third book in the series delivers from the first page, with newscasters setting the scene for the G7 summit – the good guys are meeting in Edinburgh (US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan – and British Intelligence must keep everyone safe. A Russian spy is traveling through London in a black Mercedes:

At the wheel of a nondescript Ford, a short distance behind him, Emma Makepeace spoke into the microphone embedded in the lapel of her jacket.

“Unit Twelve, Target traveling east on Cromwell Road. I have eyes on.”

“Copy that, Twelve.” Adam’s gravelly voice sounded clear through her earpiece.

Adam Park was Emma’s colleague. Except his name wasn’t really Adam, and hers wasn’t Emma. Both of them were intelligence officers who worked for an agency so secret it had no name at all.

Emma is a likable and believable character.  She does not have to be quite as ingenious in this book as in Alias Emma, the first book in the series, where she had to protect someone without any support from her organization, but she faces danger and a moral dilemma in this fast-paced story that also takes place over just a few days.  Is she setting a trap or will she be trapped herself?

Looking back, I am surprised I didn’t include Alias Emma as one of my favorite books of 2023; you can tell how much I enjoyed it from my review and the fact that I hurried to read the second book in January. The Traitor was disappointingly predictable so I hadn’t rushed to read The Trap when it came from the library until I realized it was due today and could not be renewed. I decided I’d read one chapter last night before I turned off the light – and instead read the entire book, which I always regret the next day.  It seemed short but was 300 pages, relatively small print.

Glass is writing or being published quickly (three books in two years) and although Bantam’s legendary crime fiction editor Kate Miciak has retired, I remember she once said to me that she never bought one mystery; she wanted to be sure the author had the ability to write at least two before she invested money, time, and marketing, so I guess the publisher still follows this policy.

This is book 24 for Carol’s Cloak and Dagger Challenge.

Author: Ava Glass
Publication: Bantam, trade paperback, 2024
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present-day London and Edinburgh
Source: Library

Ballet Shoes alert: Cromwell Road is where Emma is trailing Balakin at the beginning of the book.

The Fossil sisters lived in the Cromwell Road. At that end of it which is farthest away from the Brompton Road, and yet sufficiently near it so one could be taken to look at the dolls’ houses in the Victoria and Albert every wet day.