Augusta Pine Does Not Exist: An edge-of-your-seat reverse heist thriller

by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Everyone thinks she's dead. Turns out she went undercover.

An edge-of-your-seat reverse heist thriller about a teen spy who must outsmart a team of criminals in order to free a building full of innocent hostages . . . and herself. Masterfully weaving together the undercover secrecy and thrills of The Naturals series, the killer twists and turns of Five Survive and the futuristic setting of Cyberpunk 2077.

In the near future, to combat identity theft, paper and plastic IDs have been replaced with permanent biometric tattoos. But governments still need people to work in the shadows. These people are called wraiths.

THEN
When she was fifteen, Augusta Pine (alias) hacked a car’s autopilot and accidentally killed her first crush. She was given two 1) Spend twenty years in prison for manslaughter or 2) serve ten years in the Identity Security Division as a wraith – an undercover spy with no official existence. Augusta chose the second.

NOW
Eighteen-year-old Augusta has no fixed home and all her family think she died in the car crash. Her only friends are her coolly professional handler, Prefect, and a snarky sentient Al spybot called Edgar. On a rare weekend to herself, she decides to rent a room in a smart apartment complex and makes grand plans to do nothing but relax . . . until six cyber criminals hack the building and imprison all the residents.

To save everyone, Augusta will have to rely on her wits and her own criminal skills to stay one step ahead of the killers. For the first time in her life, could it pay to not exist?

Genres: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 7, 2026

About the author

Emily Lloyd-Jones grew up on a vineyard in rural Oregon, where she played in evergreen forests and learned to fear sheep. After graduating from Western Oregon University with an English degree, she enrolled in the publishing program at Rosemont College just outside of Philadelphia. She currently resides in Northern California.

Reviews

[Emily Lloyd-Jones]

Some books are easy to write. And then there are books that take seven years.

This is the latter.

AUGUSTA PINE DOES NOT EXIST is my white whale of a book. It took the aforementioned seven years, several drafts, and a lot of heist planning. It’s about a lot of things: the lengths we go to for family, how technology is encroaching into our lives, how we recover from mistakes we’ve made, and of course, a very snarky heroine.

It also has a slightly sociopathic AI spybot that looks like a bumblebee. And he is everyone’s favorite.

This book (and the whole fictional world) is very dear to me, and I hope readers will love Augusta as much as I do.

And! Right now I’m running a Goodreads Giveaway where you can win an advance, signed copy!

[Natalie Unsinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was all sorts of action-packed thriller but also adorably warm. It covers fighting your fears, loneliness, and the importance of family while also touching on moral dilemmas of technological advancement in a spy girl setting. And it was the found family side characters that really got me, making me laugh and giving me warm fuzzy feelings that left me hugging this book.
The pacing of the book in the beginning (with the use of flashback scenes) took me out of the main plot sometimes but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Thank you to Emily Lloyd-Jones, Macmillan Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

[Starr ❇✌❇]

not at ALL what I expected from ELJ but okay !

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm such a huge fan of Emily's books, and I've become an even bigger fan after this shift from fantasy to dystopian/scifi. God, the humor is TOP NOTCH and the emotional core is stark in the best possible way. Of course I fell so utterly in love with the book as whole.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ This book was a fun read. It was fast paced and I enjoyed the layout of the book with the case study passages and flashbacks for some background information. Edgar the sentient AI bumblebee was probably my favorite character. His and Augusta’s interactions were fun and witty. I think if you like YA spy books or black mirror-esque themes then you will enjoy this. It didn’t end on any cliffhangers or set up for a second book but if there was one, I’d definitely read it.

[Ashley Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bring on the robot uprising. I'll happily let Edgar take over the world. Throughly enjoyed this one. The humor was a delight and I loved the interactions between the characters. The format is a little different with the case studies, but it works well for the story. A quick paced, fun, spy filled read with a strong emotional core. Emily Lloyd-Jones has become one of my favorites!

[Gabrielle Belisle · Rating 5 out of 5]

(proper review to come)