The Nursery

Description

Lex Tyler is trying to have it all. But being a working mother is so much more difficult when you're a secret agent for an underground branch of the security services. Platform Eight have been tasked with tracking down and eliminating the traitor in MI6 who has been selling information to the highest bidder through a headhunting website for the criminal underworld that connects intelligence operatives with all manner of bad people with a simple right swipe. Deals get made. Secrets get sold. Missions fail, and agents die. Lex's own home life is not much easier. With a husband who rings her in the middle of a gunfight to complain she's yet again forgotten to pick up his dry-cleaning, and a two-year-old daughter who has a newfound love of biting, surviving both the Terrible Twos and a traitor might just be too much for one exhausted mother to handle. Red Sparrow meets Mick Herron in this gripping and witty page-turner about having it all, keeping it all and surviving it all.

A half-Chinese, half-Scottish Londoner, Asia studied Anthropology at Durham University, after which she started a career in television. She presented and produced lifestyle programmes in Shanghai before moving back to London, where she worked for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as Project Manager on their round the world motorbike documentaries. She started writing Killing It on maternity leave and undertook a Faber Academy course to help her finish it. Asia lives in London with her husband, four young children and two dogs. Killing It was her debut novel.

I so enjoyed this funny, tense, and thrilling read, with a kick-ass main character * Claire McGowan, #1 bestselling author of What You Did * There's everything here you'd want from a straight espionage story: pace, trade craft, inventive but plausible jargon, violence, hair's-breadth escapes and weltschmerz . . . Mackay is a very welcome addition to the ranks of new writers who are freeing espionage fiction from the stranglehold of solemnity * Daily Telegraph, Best 28 thrillers of 2019 so far * A lethally addictive blend of domestic suspense and hard-driving thriller. Set aside some time for this one - you won't be able to put it down * A. L. Gaylin, Edgar-winning author of NEVER LOOK BACK * British Intelligence's Most Deadly Mum is back in action! Asia Mackay's The Nursery is funny, fast and full-tilt! * James Swallow * A cracking book - funny, thrilling, touching. It's as if mum-lit was on crack with shades of Killing Eve. This is a thrilling, original and funny read which takes spy fiction to a new level. I loved it * Claire Allan * I LOVED this. Wildly entertaining with a brilliantly witty main protagonist and a banging good story to boot . . . This, like Killing It, is a brilliant hybrid of espionage and family drama with an edgy, involving prose that will have you laughing out loud one moment and clutching your head the next. Cleverly plotted and engagingly humorous this is a book to savour. Forget Killing Eve, Lex Tyler is the far superior creation and I hope for many many more novels to come * Liz Loves Books * Funny, entertaining, clever and original, this is mum-power on turbo charge! * Lancashire Evening Post * Asia Mackay continues to blaze a trail through the spy genre. Edgy and unforgettable, The Nursery sees Lex Tyler and the team in fierce (and fabulous) form. I couldn't love this series more * Chris Whitaker * If you like action-packed stories with fab characters that you can relate to (hopefully not the assassin side though), stories that keep you totally gripped from first page to last, then this is the book for you. I honestly loved this book and I can NOT WAIT to read more about Lex Tyler soon * It's All About the Books blog * Lots of twists and turns and red herrings. The combination of the plot plus the cast of characters results in a very fun, fast-paced mix that keeps you turning pages . . . Fast, fresh and interesting * The Crime Review * Witty and original . . . one for your suitcase this summer * Clare Mackintosh on KILLING IT * Brilliant and funny * Hugh Grant on KILLING IT * I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! It's so new and different and refreshing and I found it such fun (also loved the feminist message) * Marian Keyes on KILLING IT * An absolutely brilliant and unexpected storyline . . . Asia Mackay has such a unique and memorable talent. I hope there will be many more Lex Tyler novels to come, as I am certain that her story is no where near finished . . . Asia Mackay is a talent worth celebrating * The Writing Garnet *