From Library Journal
This exciting addtion to the popular series take Mrs. Pollifax, an occasional CIA agent, to Syria, where a young American woman who foiled an airplane hijacking has diappeared. Disguised as the woman's aunt, Mrs. Pollifax follows dim tracks while sinister other track her. Slick and charming as usual. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
This fourteenth Mrs. Pollifax novel is narrated by Barbara Rosenblat and includes an interview with the author at the end. On a mission in the Middle East, Mrs. Pollifax searches for a missing American woman. Rosenblat comfortably exudes the charm, suspense, and inquisitive nature of the characters and the foreign setting they travel through. Author and narrator mutually complement each other's talents in this short, yet pleasing, mystery. B.J.L. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
It is so soothing to be in Emily Pollifax's presence: we know that, at any time, she may leave her tidy existence in Connecticut (complete with geraniums and an understanding husband) and venture forth, with manners and nerves of steel, to do whatever the CIA has planned for her. This time, with her rakish cohort Farrell, she's sent to Syria. An American girl named Amanda Pym has faced down a handful of skyjacking terrorists and then vanished. Mrs. P and Farrell track Amanda down with the barest of clues, through souks and tourist destinations, through the desert and an archaeological dig where an earnest young professor named Joe manages to assist with borrowed vehicles, large numbers of sheep, and other tools. It's wonderful to watch Mrs. Pollifax manage it all with clear thinking and the midlife woman's ability to fade into the scenery as someone's aunt or mum. Along the way, there's lots of local color, a bit of politics, useful phrases in Arabic, and some really elegant use of ancient Babylonian verse. GraceAnne A. DeCandido


From Kirkus Reviews
Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled ($23.00; Feb.; 208 pp.; 0-345-43652-0) Gilman returns from the fairy-tale purlieus of Thale's Folly (p. 107) to the more-well-trodden paths of Emily Pollifax, whose status as unlikely secret agent is being seriously undermined by her durability (this 14th title ties her with Ian Fleming's James Bond). This time, Mrs. Pollifax is searching for Amanda Pym, who foiled an airline hijacking only to vanish among a sea of popping press flashbulbs after her plane touched down in Damascus. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Mrs. Pollifax will go to any lengths to solve a problem, even down dark Damascus cul-de-sacs. In this quickly twisting mystery, the former CIA agent surprises even herself as she attempts to track down a young American woman in Syria.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

After facing down hijackers on a flight to the Middle East and saving the lives of the passengers on board, a young American woman steps off the plane in Damascus in a blaze of celebrity and disappears. The CIA believes Amanda Pym was kidnapped, possibly murdered.

Masquerading as Amanda Pym's worried aunt, Mrs. Pollifax begins her determined search, slipping through Damascus's crooked streets and crowded souks . . . and trekking deep into the desert. Yet she is shadowed by deadly enemies, whose sinister agenda threatens not only Mrs. P. but the fragile stability of the entire Middle East. Only a miracle or a brilliant counterplot can forestall a disaster that will send shock waves around the world.

SYNOPSIS

After facing down hijackers on a flight to the Middle East and saving the lives of the passengers on board, a young American woman steps off the plane in Damascus in a blaze of celebrity and disappears. The CIA believes Amanda Pym was kidnapped, possibly murdered.

Masquerading as Amanda Pym's worried aunt, Mrs.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal