I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of escapism and my time out from a hectic world. The story grabs you from the outset and pulls you in and the storytelling really made it worth reading. Characterisation was on point and I know I will be looking out for new publications from this author or similar reads in the future. A recommended read.

I started this but just wasn't feeling it. There was nothing inherently wrong with it I just wasn't feeling it at the time, however having been really excited about this book beforehand I would like to try again sometime.

I enjoyed this thriller about Jenny, a young intern who ends up with far more on her plate that she could ever have envisaged!

Well researched and written and the author has a deep knowledge of the inner workings and machinations of the intelligence services.

Sometimes hard to follow and perhaps over complicated but well worth the effort to keep reading.

Not for me I'm afraid - if it doesn't grab my attention quickly when there are so many other options out there, it's a 'no'. Unappealing characters from the get go. Not for me, sorry.

‘Don’t you understand what’s at stake here?’

Terrorist attacks are all too frequent in the world in which we live, and increasingly in the fictional world as well. Imagine: Fourth of July celebrations at the US Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, where a bomb is detonated killing hundreds of people. The day after, Penny Kessler, a young intern who was working at the Embassy, wakes up in hospital. Penny has few immediate memories of the incident, but senior US staff believe she’s a key witness.

There’s a photograph of Penny emerging from the rubble, wrapped in a giant US flag, and #TheGirlwiththeFlag has become a symbolic image of the attack. Who detonated the bomb, and why? Both the Americans and the Turks are interested in finding out what Penny knows. But will Penny survive?

Part of the challenge in this novel is trying to work out who can be trusted: some of the ‘bad guys’ are obvious early, but others are not. And, naturally, it’s complicated. The CIA (and others) have territory to protect, and people are expendable. Everyone thinks that Penny holds key knowledge, and everyone wants Penny. Alive or dead? It doesn’t seem to matter.

‘The only thing better than a pretty girl with a flag is a pretty, dead girl with a flag.’

There’s an extended cast of characters to contend with: the Turkish president and his daughter, as well as several people from the CIA and the US State Department. It’s not hard to keep track of who is who, but it isn’t always clear why people take the actions they do. Penny, in partnership with Connor Beauregard a CIA operative on his first overseas assignment, is trying to stay alive. They are also trying to find out who detonated the bomb and why.

If you enjoy action packed novels with plenty of twists and turns, can suspend your disbelief occasionally, and enjoy negotiating your path through conspiracies, then you may enjoy this novel. It’s the action more than the intrigue that keeps this story moving. Improbable in places, stretching credibility in others, plenty of bad guys to loathe and a couple of heroes as well. I found it an interesting escapist read.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK Fiction for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

What a fantastic book that was to read. Really gripping as you tried to work out who the good guys and the bad guys were.

Really good writing .. intern gets involved in very high level CIA international secret manoeuvres... really not credible but mostly the author takes small steps within this high stakes world and keeps it marginally short of plausibility. All the pieces of this puzzle of double crossings are there, but the original one of suspecting am intern is the weak link for me. In the end with everyone lying like mad to everyone else she takes it up too. It makes it all a bit naive and this is far closer to young adult than strong thriller fodder but enjoyable enough for all that.

A fast-paced 'chase' story as an embassy employee is forced to go on the run in Turkey following a bomb. With sinister CIA operatives after her, and conspiracies unfurling all around this is more Jason Bourne than le Carre - a fun, escapist read.