A confession-I have not completely read a political, espionage thriller before. People like John Le Carre, Ian Fleming...I have tried and just not been able to get the twisting, labyrinthine plots; the attacks and counterattacks left my head spinning and doubtful of every character that I read. That is not to say that 'The Exphoria Code' is a paint by numbers book, even its heroine announces early on that she did not join MI6 to be 'Jane Bond'-this is a female protagonist led spy thriller which invites the reluctant reader(me) in ,it is layered, believable and relatable, but most of all intriguing. And I think this is my problem with many of the male written novels in this genre,especially cyber thrillers.They present themselves as far too clever for the reader to understand right from the off. I want a book to challenge my mind, definitely, but not set it up so that I struggle through the description on the cover.I don't want a lesson in how stupid I am not to have seen who the undercover agent is right from page 2. Brigitte Sharp(known as Bridge) is riding a desk as a third of Cyber Threat Analytics(CTA) team, set up after 7/7 to prevent a cyberpocalypse. Recruited straight from Cambridge after hacking first the uni servers ,then government databases, brought her to the attention of MI6, she is fascinated with puzzles, codes and web treasure hunts. Referred to as Operation Doorkicker and revealed in flashbacks, her last mission has left a fellow worker dead and Bridge in mandatory therapy -whilst her boss and the inhouse psych doc think she is ready for her next Operator In Theatre (OIT) task, she point blank refuses and is happy behind the relative safety of her screen. Awkward and strained relationships with her family aside, Bridge finds her community online via a Usenet forum where she talks to fellow 80's goth music fans.On a personally designed secure messenger server, she and fellow fan Tenebrae_Z have noticed that an obscure French newsgroup was randomly uploading ASCII art -ASCII  is made by using  95 recognisable characters on a keyboard into a picture so words into an image, for example, :) (Please correct me if I am wrong as I think that is what it means?) But when Tenebrae_Z does not return after a date which he set up online, and before he had a chance to reveal that he cracked the ASCII code, Bridge is stirred back into action. Hunting down a mole, trying to trap a counter terrorist organisation whilst trying to decipher the code and messages that Ten left for her gets Brigitte back in the game. As Ten says, 'The game's afoot Ponty!' I loved 'The Exphoria Code'-it has a layered protagonist who is not a cookie cutter 'woman in a man's world.' It has suspense which is heightened by the short chapters, zipping dialague which backs up the narrative and drives forward the plot, enough explanations to make you feel that you are running alongside Brigitte in her investigation but not so much that you felt talked down to. It is a fine and delicate balancing act to open a series, establish a character and their skill set without showing your entire hand, leaving the audience wanting more and yet  feeling satisfied at the finale.This, Antony Jonhston does with aplomb. Mixing real world political issues with old school spying and epsionage is very clever in this humble reader's opinion-it takes the cyber capabilities know-how and the old school messaging system to fuse the answer together. And Brigitte is the one straddling both worlds.Witty, fast paced and thrilling, 'The Exphoria Code'  has changed my mind about espionage and I am definitely looking forward to more from Ms Sharp.