Matti is a feisty commando woman whose own mother was killed in the course of an undercover mission, leaving her beloved daughter to be raised by others. She follows in her birth mother's footsteps in working on foreign missions, facing terrorists, torturers, and adversaries and cultivating relationships with strong peers who also operate under the radar, but she's also managed to shield her husband and children from her demanding career as a secret operative.
 
What could possibly go wrong in her latest mission? Plenty; because it not only involves dangerous confrontations overseas, but comes full circle to attack her personal life and everything she loves.
 
The central force in AESOP lies in Matti's personality and spunky perspective take the world, and in her take-charge attitude and training which not only allow her to survive, but to consistently confront the forces against her. It's refreshing to see a female protagonist take the reins with independent thinking, proactive engagement, and confrontations that demand higher-level thinking. 
 
Matti is a formidable spy, enemy, operative, and individual whose dual identity as a wife and mother is constantly tested by her assignments.
 
From chance encounters and the nature of 'defining moments' that change her course in life to her creative problem-solving skills and determination to not just survive, but thrive, Matti's character is the driving force to a story of espionage, intrigue, and adventure that will capture reader interest and keep readers engaged right up to a vigorous, explosive conclusion.
 
Plenty of thrillers attempt to create spunky female protagonists; but AESOP excels in its gritty, first-person observational style. It will especially delight thriller audiences who like their action nonstop and their characters not just intelligent, but self-determined, driven, and sometimes edgy in their relationships with loved ones, superiors, peers, and the world.
 
AESOP is highly recommended and is head and shoulders above most thrillers featuring female operatives facing high-level threats and physical and mental challenges. 

 

AESOP by Michele Packard is a fast-paced novel that introduces private contractor (Hit Lady) Matti Baker whose job is to find and eliminate individuals who pose a threat to America.  Packard has created a kickass heroine that possesses beauty, brains, cunning, guts and brawn. In this novel, Matti is out to stop some very bad actors, and the job is exasperating. She doesn't know it, but someone is out for her too. She has or knows something of importance that someone powerful wants very badly.  So sometimes she is the hunter, and at other times she is the hunted.
 
She uses her beauty and charm to eliminate one bad man but sometimes the hunted are immune to her charm, and things have to become a bit more violent. She has the help of two wonderful dogs, Bruiser and Koda, that are trained to rip an adversary to shreds if needed. But even as talented and careful as she is trained to be, things don't always go as planned. In fact, in one situation Matti gets abducted and terribly beaten, but after a long hospital stay and lots of surgeries bounces back.  She is part Bionic Woman and as cunning as Pussy Galore; she is the female version of Mitch Rapp.
 
Matti Baker doesn't live only for the adventure of being a private contractor; she is also a mother of three children and a loving wife to a very supportive husband.  Her family is important to her, and she finds herself torn when her assignment forces her to leave them or when she feels they are in danger because of her job.
 
Packard likes to use events from movies to illustrate the action occurring in her story. A memorable example is when Packard uses Stephen King's scene of Annie Wilkes smashing Paul Sheldon's feet with a sledgehammer to convey what is happening to Matti when her abductor's interrogation goes to the extreme.
Packard puts Matti through some terrible situations. In one scene she is again tortured, but instead of her crying out in agony she laughs.

 "I stuck out my left foot purposefully to say, 'bring it on.' He grabbed it and pulled it to his knee level and opened the pliers. He looked at DD, who nodded to proceed. He yanked that pinky toenail straight off. I literally laughed out loud, as I could not feel a single thing."
 
Matti Baker is deeply involved in the most intriguing and dangerous missions. AESOP contains a perfect balance of action with the right amount of human context woven in. I found Matti Baker a very relatable, wonderfully strong and resourceful female character. Let's hope that Michele Packard keeps Matti alive to help keep America safe.