The shadow mission

Athena agents discover that the terrorists who attacked a girls school in India are far from fringe--and they have a personal vendetta against one of the agency's founders. While in pursuit of the terrorist who burned down a girls school in Pakistan--the catalyst for the founding of the clandestine Athena agency--Jessie, Caitlin, and Hala find that they are too late to stop an attack by extremist organization Family First in Mumbai. Resenting Western cultural influences and what they perceive as the erosion of family values through female education, Family First's target is personal: a girls school established by Jessie's mother, Athena co-founder Kit Love. In Mumbai the agents investigate the attackers and Jessie butts heads with (and fights her attraction to) local female detective Riya Kapoor, who is also lesbian. Together they find that Family First's reach is substantial, involving a prominent politician as well as the military and police in both India and Pakistan. They face great dangers, as their enemies are unafraid to make examples of them. Sarif's second volume in this woman-centered spy series is as fast-paced and engaging as the first. The ethnically and globally diverse cast of Athena women make prominent appearances, but this volume is much more plot focused than revelatory of individual backstory. White British Jessie continues to confront the universality of patriarchal norms, misogyny, and oppressive treatment of women worldwide. A badass, action-packed, feminist page-turner. (Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.