The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter

When Henry Porter’s new espionage novel The Enigma Girl opens readers might be forgiven for thinking they have dropped into the middle of an ongoing series. With great economy Porter establishes his main character Slim Parsons, an MI5 agent in disgrace, living with her mother and working on an archaeological dig in Norfolk. So that very quickly readers will be intrigued by Slim’s backstory and hooked on what comes next. Only there are no previous books, and that backstory is both revealed and comes explosively into play in this tense, page-turning novel.

Slim has just come out of a two year undercover mission to expose a corrupt British oligarch that resulted in her traumatised and under investigation but with no consequences for the man she was trying to expose. Slim is brought out of her forced retirement for another undercover operation as a journalist at a regional newspaper which is about to expose government secrets. It turns out that the paper is run by a group of descendants of code breakers from Bletchley Park, an enterprise that Slim’s Polish ancestors, also spies, had some hand in. At the same time, Slim’s mother is in hospital and Slim seeks the help of MI5 to find her estranged brother while learning that the oligarch that she was trying to expose has learnt that she is still alive and is coming for her.

The Enigma Girl is anchored firmly by Slim – her drive, her initiative and her circle of friends and supporters. Slim joins a long line of loveably flawed, intuitive agents, who takes action when she needs to, and pushes for the right outcome even when it might be at her own expense. She is absolutely a character that readers will cheer for and want to see again. That said, surely in 2025 we are beyond books flagging that they have stong female protagonist by using the world ‘Girl’ in the title.

The Enigma Girl is great domestic espionage fiction, that centres on real world issues of the purchase of influence, government cover ups and the freedom of the press. Porter delivers a plot with plenty of moving parts, dodgy characters and well written action scenes and which also allow him to delve into a really interesting aspect of World War 2 history along the way. But strip that all away and it is the character of Slim Parsons that will keep readers hooked. And while this may not be the latest book in a series, hopefully it is the start of a new one.

The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter

9

9.0/10