The Enigma Girl

By: Henry Porter

Narrated by: Imogen Church

From internationally bestselling author who is “filling the gap left by Len Deighton and John le Carre” (Evening Standard) comes a propulsive espionage thriller for fans of Mick Herron, Daniel Silva, and Olen Steinhauer. Meet disgraced MI5 agent Slim Parsons, a character who—like Lisbeth Salander—will sear your soul.

Slim Parsons is all but burned. When her last deep-cover job for MI5 ended with a life-and-death struggle on a private jet, she went on the run from her deadly target—a conniving businessman and money launderer codenamed “Hagfish.” Now she’s back at home, in hiding from her angry bosses in the Security Service, who have accused her of being overly violent and unsuitable for the role of an MI5 operative.

But after several months off the grid, Slim is called back to another job—Operation Linesman—where she is asked to infiltrate a news website Middle Kingdom whose explosive articles clearly show that they’ve hacked into the most high-security government databases. She accepts the assignment on condition that the Security Service searches for her missing brother.

But Linesman turns out to be anything but simple. Slim uncovers a curious connection between the Middle Kingdom hackers and the legendary Bletchley Park codebreakers. Her new colleagues are becoming suspicious of her intentions, and Hagfish is out for revenge and threatening MI5 itself as it all comes together in a shocking crescendo.

And all the while she is being watched by someone even deeper in the shadows than she is.

What Fun!

Archaeology,spies and Bletchley Park! I really enjoyed it and will look for his next book.

Great female main character!

I liked Slim and her continuous focus on doing the right thing even when it was hard and scary.

Fantastic Character!

Moreover Grayman… slim has arrived! Slim is everything. She bold, audacious, and completely unhinged🤩 as more than a few of her colleagues stated throughout the story. I cannot wait for book 2. I have to listen again because I know I missed a lot of the action.

parallel to actual corruption

interesting storyline a little slow in parts and some characters not completely believable. I sometimes struggled to stay focused

Not my favorite Henry Porter

I love Henry Porter’s spy fiction. His Paul Samson series is one of the best ever, and I was thrilled to see he had published a new book. The Enigma Girl was a big disappointment. I can’t say I ever warmed up to the main character and nor did I appreciate the lesbian love affairs. The plotting of course is very good but in this one the connection was never made with the main character. Read the Paul Samson series if you want the best introduction to his wonderful writing.