When a Russian Minister and his family is kidnapped in Prague a few days before an EU energy conference where he was due to make a speech, the APO believe that he has been taken to prevent him from speaking at the conference – for, if he were not to attend, the entire Russian economy could collapse.

As they search for the missing politician they start to realise that there is more to his abduction than they originally thought and they must stop the terrorists who have taken him prisoner before anyone else dies. When Sydney manages to rescue his daughter, Faina, she discovers facts about that abduction that makes them realise they are rapidly running out of time to recover the Minister before the death toll rises.

Faina is one of the best Alias books I have read so far. What originally appears as a kidnapping to prevent a Russian Minister speaking at a conference soon gains a more sinister overtone as the APO team start to realise the true reason behind the abduction.

Faina, the Minister's teenage daughter is a refreshing character. Initially you think she is just going to be a spoiled teenage brat but we soon discover that she is actually some kind of computer genius capable of writing code that could be catastrophic in the hands of a terrorist. It would have been very easy for the authors to have given her an "mature beyond her years" character but instead they maintain the teenage personality with all of its conflicts and unpredictability.

As a secondary storyline we also have Sydney looking at her possible relationship with Vaughn and trying to decide if it could ever be successful. It is clear that they love each other but is that sufficient? Considering that Sydney's fiancé had been murdered and Vaughn's wife turned out to be an enemy spy they have had it far from easy.

The very nature of the Alias books makes them fast moving and, as a result, extremely easy to read and I am delighted to say that this one is no different. I found myself dragged through this book at such a pace I found it almost impossible to put down. Extremely entertaining and recommended for all fans of the Alias TV series.

Synopsis
A Russian controller and his teenage daughter are taken hostage with merciless precision by a terrorist who fancies himself an artiste of chaos. After the CIA fumbles, Sydney and the black ops unit APO are called in for the rescue. The stakes are high. In less than forty-eight hours the controller must deliver a critical international forum speech, or the result will be widespread economic disaster.

But sometimes even the best intel is incomplete. The true threat is bigger, and closer at hand, than anyone considered, and only an emotionally shattered teenage girl can make everything right -- or single-handedly cause a scale of tragedy unimagined.