The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter

 

The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter.

Published 7th November 2024 by Quercus.

From the cover of the book:

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 role 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.

***********

Alice 'Slim' Parsons has been keeping a low profile, caring for the elderly mother who is drinking herself to death from grief, since her last mission as an MI5 agent went horribly awry. Convinced she has blotted her copybook by going completely off the mission play-book, and by causing all kinds of headaches for her spy masters by going on the run across Europe, Slim is certain she will not be called back to active duty any time soon - no matter how justified her actions were.

Slim is astonished when she is recalled to work on a new mission rather sooner than expected, Operation Linesman. Her task is to infiltrate a news website called Middle Kingdom, run by descendants of Bletchley Park's war-time finest, that is causing concern among the powers that be. She agrees, on the understanding that MI5 put their resources to use in finding her missing brother.

To Slim's surprise, Operation Linesman proves to be a lot more complicated that it first appears, and it brings with it dangers connected to her last mission that she did not see coming...

The story unfurls in three cleverly wielded storylines around the dangerous legacy of Slim's last mission; her current operation into the goings on at Middle Kingdom; and the fate of her missing brother Matt, which is closely tied to the the dysfunction that runs through her relationship with her mother. In a masterclass of plotting, the storylines touch and gradually weave together as the pertinent details of each one are revealed in parallel, until they clash gloriously together in the kind of way only a consummate storyteller can pull off.

Porter's style is deliciously old school espionage fare, punctuating the slow-burn rise in tension with perfectly timed bursts of action to keep the pace going nicely, and inserting tenderness and humour where required. He beautifully combines timeless spy-story themes of sacrifice, secrets, and a renegade agent, with a particular sense of right and wrong; fascinating historical titbits about remarkable war-time deeds; and current topics to keep the novel fresh for a modern audience, especially when it comes to investigative journalism, corruption at the highest levels, modern slavery, people trafficking - and Slim's personal life. It is an addictive blend, and the journey from emotional opener to an ending that had me punching the air with glee is immensely satisfying. 

I absolutely loved Slim. She is gutsy, unapologetic, and resourceful, but she is also just the right side of vulnerable. This story brings her plenty of trouble and heartache, but everything that happens here forges her character into the kind of person you are sorry to let go of at the end of a novel. I really hope Porter uses this book as a launching pad for a new series with her at the helm, because I want to read about more of her adventures - and there is a brilliant supporting cast for her to bounce off too. Superb!

The Enigma Girl is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Quercus for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Ransom PR for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Henry Porter was a regular columnist for the Observer and now writes about European power and politics for The Hive website in the US. He has written several bestselling thrillers, including Brandenburg, which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, A Spy’s Life and Empire State, which were both nominated for the same award. He is also the author of the Paul Samson spy thrillers: Firefly, which won the 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and White Hot Silence.

Henry Porter is frequently described as the heir to John le Carré. He lives in London.