ALICIA MYLES

Alicia Myles is an agent with SPEAR.

Well, eventually she will be but when we first meet her, she is a freelance agent working for whoever will pay the kind of money she demands, which is substantial, and who will provide the kind of constant excitement and action that she thrives on, which is tremendous. Then she would go to work with a unique team of skilled operatives working for a very wealthy man with a love of finding and recovering lost artifacts. Finally she takes a job with Matt Drake, leader with a Special Investigation Team, a "small but prolific sub-unit of Special Activities Division formed to investigate, track down, and, if possible, bring home missing CIA operatives." (To understand why Brits like Drake and Myles would be working for the CIA, check out his write-up.)

To get an idea of Myles and the impression she makes on people, literally as well as figuratively, it takes but a few snippets of conversation with those with whom she has fought with or against over the years. Her old friend and sometime lover, Drake, who says, "That girl's a law unto herself. Crazy as all hell and as loyal as a bulldog...Wild and beautiful." He would add, "Taught her everything she knows. Literally, at first. Then she went way past me. And she's never been a lady, that's for sure." Another telling quip is "Stay clear of Alicia Myles. She's. . .blue-eyed disaster."

As was written in the first few adventures, Myles was a Londoner who was once in the prestigious British S.R.T. (Special Reconnaissance Team), "a secret regiment within the SAS, inside the covert British entity known as the Ninth Division. They were the best of the best. Patriots. Hand-picked by those that had been hand-picked themselves." It was also said that "women had to be better than men in the Special Forces to get even half as far. And Alicia had gone right to the top, the first female member of the SAS."

Still more interesting observation are a) "only one thing motivated Alicia - money", b) "she might live for danger and money, but she had no real agenda save for constant stimulation. The journey was everything for her, not the destination.", c) she "was an uber-warrior blessed with a cop's sixth sense of suspicion", and finally d) she "didn't really care if she was dressed in denim or lace, leather or silk, or anything for that matter."

Quite an interesting woman, Alicia Myles.

I really enjoyed the Matt Drake series so it is a no-brainer I would go for the Alicia Myles one since most of the books with her in them are the Drake books. But she does have 4 adventures on her own which is why she deserves her own entry in the compendium.

Numerous comments by other characters in the series make frequent reference to the fact that Myles is, well, bat-s**t" crazy and seeing the sort of things she does, one would be tempted to believe it except she is so good at what she does and pulls off her wild schemes so is she crazy and lucky or just wild and effective?

I do not know, of course, if the author plans on having her go it alone much in the future but as long as she sticks around with Drake, I'll be happy.