Rate: 4/5 stars
Can Milena take down Perun, protect her fellow cadets and make a life for herself with her boyfriend, Grant, as well as the friends and family she’s come to love as Alexandra Gastone? Buckle in for a wild ride as the Alexandra Gastone duology comes to a close.
I read the first book in this duology, They Call Me Alexandra Gastone, back when it first came out. It was pretty much the very first spy thriller that I had ever read at that point, and it instantly became one of my favorite books. It transported me into the high-thrill and dangerous world of being a teenage sleeper spy for an organization in Russia, and what might happen if you were to simply decide that instead of hurting the people you care about, you would take a stand and move against the people who were using you, even it if it means endangering yourself.
If you would like to read my review for They Call Me Alexandra Gastone, you can find that here.
Since this is the second book in the duology (which I’ll admit, I’m really sad that it’s over), it gets wrapped up pretty nicely at the end, bringing a pretty satisfying ending to a set of books that I thought were a real treat to read. They introduced me into an entire new sub-genre of novels that I now can’t get enough of, and I am really thankful for that.
This novel picks up about two months after the first book ends – Alexandra is now going by her real name, Milena, and she and Albert are in hiding now, since they are both wanted by the CIA. When Albert goes to extract his real granddaughter (the real Alexandra) from her current location, Milena is left to take care of herself for a while – in a safe house with her dog, Orkney.
Only Milena doesn’t want to idly sit by and wait for Albert to return – she wants to take down Perun, the spy agency that trained her and made her who she is today. Along the way, she meets a few people she didn’t think she would see again, including her father, who is only concerned with how badly Milena screwed things up when she protected Albert instead of doing the job she was selected to do. The book becomes a real nail-biting race against time, and it deserves to be called a thriller, just like the book before it.
If you read the first novel in the duology, you can’t miss this one, because it continues the story and gives vital information behind Perun and Milena and her family. I remember reading the first book and being so upset when I reached the end because it was such a great book, and I am so happy that the story was continued here. If you haven’t read They Call Me Alexandra Gastone yet, you really should, especially if you like spy thrillers.
As I have previously said about the first book, the author’s writing is phenomenal – she really knows how to wrap you up in the story and keep you at the edge of your seat the entire time.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
T.A. Maclagan is a Kansas girl by birth but now lives in the bush-clad hills of Wellington, New Zealand with her Kiwi husband, son and four pampered cats. With a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in anthropology, she’s studied poison dart frogs in the rainforests of Costa Rica, howler monkeys in Panama and the very exotic and always elusive American farmer. It was as she was writing her ‘just the facts’ dissertation that T.A. felt the call to pursue something more imaginative and discovered a passion for creative writing. They Call Me Alexandra Gastone is her first novel.