The Secret Chapter

Genevieve Cogman

14 November 2019
9781529000573
336 pages

Synopsis

In this bookish fantasy adventure, a Librarian spy must fall in with a villainous group to achieve her goals. Imagine Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond with a pinch of magic. The Secret Chapter is the sixth novel in Genevieve Cogman’s Invisible Library series.

Irene and Kai have to team up with an unlikely band of misfits to pull off an amazing art heist. Or they must risk the wrath of a dangerous villain, in his secret island lair. . .

As Irene tries to manage a fraught Fae–dragon truce and her overbearing parents, she’s given a hot new mission. The world where she grew up is in danger and only one book can save it.

This is held by Mr Nemo, secretive Fae villain and antique dealer, so Irene and Kai travel to his Caribbean retreat to strike a deal. But in return for the book, they must steal a painting from twenty-first-century Vienna. They’ll join a team of dragons, Fae gamblers and thieves, so their greatest challenge may be one another. And some will kill to protect this painting, which hides an extraordinary secret from a past age.

Genevieve is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet - which reimagines the tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires, mages and magic. . .

The ensuing shenanigans are wittily told, with some great one-liners and comic set pieces, and the resourceful Irene is a delightful protagonist. This is light-hearted fantasy at its page-turning best
I absolutely loved this . . . flavoured with truly unique mythology and a dash of the eldritch. Such clever, creepy, elaborate worldbuilding and snarky, sexy-smart characters!
Irene is a great heroine: fiery, resourceful and no one’s fool, she has a wonderfully droll sense of humour – much like the novel itself