Original Sin: A Sally Sin Adventure [Hardcover]

Beth McMullen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 12, 2011

“Smart, sassy, sexy Sally Sin is an absolute delight of a heroine whom I predict will be around delighting readers for a very long time. And her first adventure, Original Sin, is pure entertainment gold.”
—John Lescroart, author of the New York Times bestselling Dismas Hardy novels

After falling in love and making a quick exit from her nine-year career in the USAWMD (United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction), ex-spy Sally Sin does her best to become Lucy Hamilton, a stay-at-home mom in San Francisco. No one, not even her adoring husband Will, knows about her secret agent escapades—chasing no-good masterminds through perilous jungles, escaping evil assassins, and playing dangerous games of cat and mouse with her old nemesis, Ian Blackford, a notorious and dashing illegal arms dealer.

In her new life as Lucy Hamilton, she squeezes inside forts crafted from couch cushions by her three-year-old son Theo, makes organic applesauce, and frequents the zoo. But sometimes her well-honed spy reflexes refuse to lay low. She can’t help breaking into her own house to check on the babysitter or stop herself from tossing the yoga instructor who gets on her nerves. And when Ian Blackford, who is supposed to be dead, once again starts causing trouble for the USAWMD, the agency becomes desperate to get Sally back on the job.

How can Sally or Lucy or whatever her name is save the planet while at the same time keeping her own family’s world from spinning out of control

Every bit as much fun as a spy-mom thriller ought to be, Original Sin is a fast-paced adventure story for mothers and spies, and anyone who has ever dreamed about being either.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Beth McMullen graduated from Boston University with a degree in English Literature. After landing a gig with Reader's Digest, she eventually realized she'd rather write books than condense them. She relocated to San Francisco, California and worked in Silicon Valley to pay the bills, trying to do as much writing and traveling as possible. Finally, after getting married, she and her husband decided to take one year and see as much of the world as they could before they ran out of money. It's a big world.

Beth currently divides her time between writing and taking care of her two children, Max, 5, and Katie, 3.

She holds an MLS from Long Island University and lives with her husband and children in Davis, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (July 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401324215
• ISBN-13: 978-1401324216
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Beth McMullen used to have a normal life. Until she had kids. Then, everything changed. She has channeled her often hilarious and sometimes distressing experience with parenting into two novels that tell the tale of a life she is definitely not leading. The title of her upcoming release (Hyperion, June 12, 2012) says it all: Spy Mom, the story of a stay at home mom who used to be a spy.

The idea of a San Francisco mother with a secret life was born about six months after Beth's son. Thinking 'how hard can it be?' she left a job in Silicon Valley for full time mothering. Well, we all know the answer to that question, don't we? Had she realized at the time it would be a while until she spoke to adults again about anything other than diapers, organic baby food and the odd, sometimes embarrassing effects of chronic sleep deprivation, she probably still would have opted for the baby. He was really cute, after all.

But right around the time when that cute baby learned to sit up, Beth realized she was frequently checking under the bed for where she might have left her sanity. Thinking it was probably important for her son to have a mother who hadn't lost all of her marbles before he even started to drive, she decided to go back to work.

Two years later, Original Sin was acquired by Hyperion and published in July 2011. The sequel, Spy Mom, will be released June 12, 2012.

Beth lives in Northern California with her husband, two children and very old cat. At any given moment, you can find her driving to soccer practice, doing math homework, volunteering for school yard duty or working on the third book in the series as well as another novel.

It's all good.

(Beth loves to do book clubs! If you are local (Bay Area, Northern CA), she can usually arrange to come in person. If not, Skype is the next best thing. Contact her on the Send Communique page on this website to set something up!)

website: BethMcMullen.com
twitter: @bvam
facebook: http://on.fb.me/uxoVJU
email: [e-mail]

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Original Sin July 12, 2011

By P. Bergbauer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Original Sin by Beth McMullen

I was thrilled to get this book to review as I loved the premise and haven't read anything like this before.
Lucy Parks Hamilton used to be Agent 26, code named Sally Sin, working for the United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now, she is a stay at home mom enjoying her three-year-old son Theo and her husband Will Hamilton.
One of the rules for leaving "The Agency" is that they may call you and you must answer the call.
So after a blissful few years, Lucy is called by her mentor and boss, Simon Still, and the adventure ensues.
In the first chapter or two I thought the humor was a little contrived but as I read further I was very amused by the writing and main character.
It became an easy flow of humor and dialogue. I especially loved the interaction between Lucy and her son Theo. Quite a few chuckles to be had. But it isn't all laughs, there is an absorbing mystery to be resolved. Also, Lucy's nemesis, Ian Blackford, makes for interesting back story as they recount the spy days.
I really had a hard time putting this book down and I am adding this author to my must read list. I can't wait for the next one!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and fun - A winner! July 12, 2011

By countrygirl41

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Sally Sin, a woman for our age, devoted and somewhat overwhelmed Mom, loving wife and secret spy, is the funniest and most original character I've encountered in recent years. She speaks to us women, mothers and wives while offering an exciting and fun filled adventure as a reader. McMullen is that rare author who writes with wit and joy and leaves you aching for more. Can't wait for the sequel. Highly recommended.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars From Mata Hari to Harried Mommy March 4, 2011

By Miz Ellen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Lucy Parks Hamilton is a respectable suburban housewife; Sally Sin was a dashing covert operative for a government agency so secret that its annual budget is listed only as a line item MISCELLANEOUS in the budget for another, more innocuous agency. What Lucy and Sally have in common is that a) neither one is a real name and b) they are both the same person. Lucy is trying to keep the applesauce off the walls and is no longer interested in saving the world, or to be more precise, saving the rear end of her former boss.

But the sinister Simon is determined that Sally Sin come out of retirement to deal with the notorious traitor, Ian Blackford, who turns out not to be dead after all. What Simon doesn't realize is that being the mother of a three year old boy is tough; international intrigue, by comparison, is merely child's play.

Imagine the intrepid but incompetent heroine of Janet Evanovich's bounty hunter series starring in GET SMART with an adorable three-year old in tow and you have it. The parts with the toddler were so true to life: applesauce in hair, play forts and defiance of parental authority; the spy parts were daft James-Bondian scrambles. Both had me in stitches. The narrative lurched from Lucy's present life to Sally's former career with gleeful abandon.

Lucy/Sally is our narrator and the reader soon learns that she's authentically distracted, vague and sleep-deprived like any other new mom. She might not be the most reliable witness, but we love her point of view regardless of whether she's breaking out of a cage suspended over a river or explaining to three-year old Theo that the lion in the zoo doesn't need any ice cream. Her method of checking up on the nanny is unorthodox and Lucy/Sally is the first to admit she may be a touch too paranoid: she spends her only "free" hours in the week while Theo is at day care keeping an eye on the front door of the day care center to make sure nothing is happening.

This is not a deep book; the author ducks all the hard questions that her story could pose in favor of a slapstick plot. This works well for 95% of the book, but falls down in a silly ending. Because I loved the character of Lucy's husband Will, I would have liked to have Lucy/Sally reconcile her past with her present. There's a scene in which she could, but doesn't--and that was the point where I quit laughing. The short section that followed was basically a revelation that fell flat because a)nothing was revealed of any importance to the reader, b) nothing was revealed of importance to the character and c) what was revealed was so muddled the reaction was: "Huh?" If I think too hard about it, I'd knock this down to only four stars, but this is a book for sheer fun. I loved it and I recommend it for anyone who has ever spent time with a three-year old.