Anyone who has enjoyed Henry Porter’s excellent series of Paul Samson spy thriller novels will be pleased to hear that he has a new protagonist, Alice “Slim” Parsons, who is every bit as dynamic and charismatic as Samson. She takes central stage in this superbly twist-laden novel, and swiftly establishes herself as a heroine for the ages. There’s plenty of sly wit on display as Parsons, a former deep cover MI5 agent – whom we are introduced to semi-reluctantly saving her mother’s life – is dealing with the aftermath of a close-quarters, near-fatal struggle in a private jet somewhere over the Balkans, in which we learn that she isn’t someone to be messed with.
