According to KILLING IT, the double O section of Her Majesty’s Secret Service is called Platform 8, so named for the offices located in a disused network of rooms and tunnels coming off a platform at Holborn tube station, where the sound of trains helped disguise any troubling noises from uncooperative interviewees and the term “signal failure” takes on a sinister new meaning.

Alexis Tyler is the first female agent in its history to have had a kid and come back to active duty.

Back from maternity leave she is assigned to provide eternity leave for a Russian tech- industrialist.

Asia Mackay’s thriller is fast, furious, and funny, with a femme fatale that is unquestionably deadlier than the male.

Ridiculously enjoyable, a sinister symmetry where the comic is shadowed by something leading to the cemetery. Black but not bleak, Mackay manages to hit hot topic buttons with a breezy, racy style.

Killer instincts mix with maternal instincts as nappy bags are just likely to carry napalm as lip balm. James Bond may have his tuxedo, but Alexis has killer heels – literally – and tampon transmitters and a bullet proof pram complete with a small calibre soft toy and a baby rattle containing ammo.

There’s a whole new meaning to popping up a wet one.

KILLING IT it as all frightful fun with an important gender agenda. Asia Mackay takes a well armed character and takes a well aimed shot at the glass ceiling and smashes it to smithereens.

The sassy assassin makes a sterling case that national security begins in the home, creating safe and secure environments for children by dedicated parents.

“As much as what we did at the Platform involved the frequent casual throwing around of words like courage and hero, this bravery was more raw… real life, day to day traumas and these mothers just picked themselves up and got on with things.”

Make no mistake, Alexis Tyler is one tough mother and likely to have spawned a femme fatale franchise.

In all modesty, long may it blaze.

KILLING IT by Asia Mackay is publshed by Zaffre.