Author Daniel O'Malley takes a familiar trope and turns it the fawk on its noggin.   In The Rook, we meet Myfanwy (pronounced Miff-un-ee) Thomas, a member of a clandestine government of "special" agents, who discovers she has amnesia via instructions she left for herself to read should this circumstance ever occur.  With this premise quickly laid out, Myfawny takes the reader on a thrilling adventure that is grossly graphic and totally unpredictable.  Like a Scully/Mulder/Jason Bourne hook-up, The Rook is one coffee-spitting idea after another.  

The main characters, good and bad, are easy to take a shine to.  The bombardment of ideas and sticky situations are non-stop.  And the clever web of mysteries Myfanwy finds herself caught in is both dangerous and amusing.  For an author's debut, Daniel O'Malley takes it to the house.   If you like mixing up your book-reading genres from time to time or breaking up your routines, The Rook is a tasty page-turning curveball.