THE TRAITOR.....A FEARLESS YOUNG SPY BACK IN ACTION...(*****)

 The Traitor by Ava Glass (2023)

                While we're all waiting an eternity for the next James Bond movie, I'd highly recommend "The Traitor" as the next best thing. Fast paced, effectively twisty and filled with some genuine moments of harrowing action and nail biting suspense, it's the new mission assigned to young British spy Emma Makepeace.

                 Even more so than her bosses, Emma's especially dedicated to rooting out and thwarting nefarious Russian operatives. She and her mother escaped Russia, but not her father, who died at the hands of Moscow secret police. So when a fellow MI6 spy's found brutally murdered,, she's put on the hunt for the prime suspects - a couple of fabulously wealthy Russian oligarchs.

                This new mission puts Emma undercover right in the lion's den......posing as a replacement crew member on a spectacular sumptuous yacht in the south of France....owned, of course by one those two oligarchs. Utterly fearless and determined to uncover the Russians' malignant doings, Emma's placed herself in no end of danger. If her identity's discovered, the oligarch and his ominous thuggish minion will most likely make her disappear without a trace. And the thug already views her with deep suspicion. 

                To go into any more detail would totally spoil all the adrenalin-filled fun of reading a spy adventure like this one. I will say that you'll find yourself cringing with fear for Emma as she takes one near lethal risk after another.....and then finds herself coping with yet another perilous threat she never counted on.

                Having thoroughly enjoyed 'Alias Emma' the first book in this series, I couldn't wait for a new one. And 'The Traitor' did not disappoint in any way. For all of us armchair secret agents, it's a pure escapist read of the best kind.  5 stars (*****)

WHO HAUNTS YOU......WHO'S HAUNTING HER OVERACHIEVING FRIENDS TO DEATH? (*****)

 Who Haunts You by Mark Wheaton (2023)

                Had no idea that to expect with this book.....but wow, what a swift, creepy and unexpectedly complex little thrill ride. It wastes no time at all sucking you in to its story of an autistic teen girl seemingly tormented by a haunting that's killing off her classmates, one after the other.

                Even as it maintains a literally breathless pace of suspense, scares and mind-bending twists, you still come to care deeply and fear for its narrator, Bex. She's forced to cope with way more than the everyday human interaction struggles of neurodiversity. Her school Claremont High boasts a student body heavily populated in overachievers with GPA's worthy of college placements reserved only for the best and the brightest. Bex, equally smart and armed with a deadpan wit, does her best to keep up with them.

              But why are some of the classmates she grew up with dying in horrible accidents? And why, in their last moments do they appear to be fleeing in terror from something (or someone) unknown.....and unseen?

              Bex quickly becomes desperate to find out, since this paranormal virus, or whatever it is, lands on her as its next victim. And her sense of what's real in her life and what isn't starts to rapidly warp like a funhouse mirror. 

             Given the sheer brevity of the book, I'm duly amazed and impressed at the density of the core mystery at the heart of all the strange goings on. There's truly some vast, overwhelming evil at work against Bex.........and as a fan of Hitchcock-type suspense, I couldn't help loving the scenes where she's hurled into the maddening position of sounding delusional to everyone around her.

             With its satisfying, ironic finale twist, "Who Haunts You" finishes up as one of the fastest, most enjoyable YA thrillers of this year.......a well earned haunting 5 stars.

ENOLA HOLMES AND THE MARK OF THE MONGOOSE......SHERLOCK'S KID SISTER, BACK ON THE CASE...(*****).

Enola Holmes And The Mark Of The Mongoose by Nancy Springer (2023)

             Once again, the game's afoot amid the cobbled streets and darkest corners of 1890 Victorian London. And once again, it'll require the relentless, perceptive and fearless investigation of a Holmes=ian detective with dauntless courage and intellect. So who better than Sherlock's feisty and fiercely independent young sister Enola?

              Having now established a distant but respectful relationship with her famous brother, she's a consulting finder of missing persons herself.......but under the guise of a fictitious male name. This ruse entices a potential client in cantankerous, irascible famous author Rudyard Kipling. He's seeking a dear friend, a young American publishing representative who vanished off the London streets,......but Kipling storms out enraged at the thought of dealing with a teen girl detective. Enola, intrigued enough to take on the case anyway, dons her endless variety of costumes and disguises to plunge fully into solving the dangerous mystery of what befell young Wolcott Balastier....even if it puts her own life at risk

            And guess what? Sure enough it does, as she encounters foaming-at-the-mouth rabid dogs, an ominous secret society of thuggish street vigilantes and further run-ins with the high strung, hot-tempered 'Ruddy' Kipling.

             As I expected, this latest Enola Holmes adventure proved every bit as thrilling, clever and witty as all the previous entries. And again, author Nancy Springer's meticulous research recreates Enola and Sherlock's world of late 19th century London with such evocative detail. It's the kind of long lost world any reader can happily lose themselves in.

              I wouldn't dream of missing any of Miss Holmes's baffling cases, filled with suspense and sometimes even laugh-out-loud moments..... and I'd more than recommend you don't miss this one either  5 stars (*****)....elementary.