The Night Agent: A Novel

The Night Agent from Matthew Quirk is an interesting story, one that at first glance I would have expected to be drawn into. But it never gripped me, and I can't say for sure why.

The plot is not something that is especially new or unusual. That is not as big of a negative as one might think, espionage, political thrillers tend to revolve around a handful of basic plots with variations thrown in to make each distinct. Such is the nature of any genre. That said, even familiar plots can be engrossing because of the characters or some other element. In this case, I think the protagonist was supposed to be that variation and while it worked it didn't work as well as I would have liked.

An aside here for people who make complaints about how show more some events in a book like this are "unrealistic" or "hard to believe." Seriously? The bad guys almost always have numbers, firepower, and other advantages, yet the underdog protagonist manages to win out. If you like this genre you know many instances will be a bit of a stretch. To make it sound like those things are what makes the book less appealing to you is asinine. You disliked something else and fell lazily back into sophomoric genre criticism rather than think about what you actually didn't like. If a scene here seems unlikely but you buy into Bourne or Reacher situations, maybe your issue isn't the situation but the character simply didn't connect with you. But unrealistic situations? In this genre that is the norm and criticism of it is disingenuous.

Also, if you happen to read a review from the people who always claim every writer they don't like "doesn't know how to write" and "should take a course," well, ignore them. They offer no concrete stylistic criticism, they just think because they didn't like it then the writer, no matter how many decades they have made a living as a writer, can't write. And in these "reviewer's" infinite wisdom they can spot all of these bad writers. This is far below nonsense, it borders on Trumpian overblown self-worth and ignorant projection of one's own obvious shortcomings.

While I would recommend this book, I would probably do so primarily to readers who read enough books that they don't expect each one to be a masterpiece. Fans of the genre will be able to enjoy this even with its weaknesses while casual readers will be able to zip through the book fairly quickly.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. show less

Peter Sutherland, an idealistic FBI agent, is surprised at his selection to work in the White House Situation Room. He’s a surveillance specialist, an agent who works by the book, an agent determined not to break the rules. He’s seen the repercussions of a choice such as that: when he was a boy, he watched his own father’s downfall as he came under suspicion of selling secrets to the Russians. The aftermath of the accusation was catastrophic for the FBI counterintelligence section chief . . . and Peter never forgot it.

Now, vigilance is his watchword as he monitors a silent emergency phone.

And then it rings.

A young woman named Rose says her murdered aunt and uncle gave her the number and a message: “OSPREY was right. It’s show more happening . . . .”

Interesting, believable characters people this tense political thriller that keeps ramping up the suspense. Peter and Rose, caught up in the treachery reaching far into the government, aren’t certain who can be trusted. The reader is in the same quandary. It’s a pulse-pounding, suspense-filled, timely narrative that readers will find difficult to set aside before turning the final page.

Recommended. show less

The Night Agent is a suspenseful political thriller with non-stop action. Peter Sutherland is a new agent working in the White House, but his career with the FBI has been slow since his father, a convicted Russian spy, left a cloud of distrust over his son. One night, Peter's loyalty to his country is put to the ultimate test when he receives a distressed call for help over the hotline. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game of deadly betrayal and murder. I was a little disappointed at the end but still enjoyed this book immensely.

"The Night Agent" is about Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent tasked with sitting near the Situation Room in the White House and manning a phone. Only people who are in real trouble call that phone, and Peter is simply to verify they're legitimate, then pass them off to his superiors.

The phone rarely rings, but on this one occasion, a young woman calls and is very distraught. Peter's not supposed to converse with the callers, but for this call, he does so, finding out her aunt and uncle have just been killed. This begins a series of events in which Peter ignores the orders of his superiors and bends, then breaks, the rules—something he swore he'd never do. This is because Peter's father, also an FBI agent, died under a cloud of suspicion show more that he was spying for Russia.

This is a decent book. The protagonists' characterization was good; the antagonists, pretty cookie-cutter. There were a few nice twists and turns. I'd read more of Matthew Quirk's books. show less

I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this more: it moved quickly and there was no gory torture. I assume the plot was coherent, but I started skimming at too early a point to be sure. The ending seemed a little unlikely to me, and I found the hero and heroine likeable, but not sufficiently deeply characterized for me to be fully drawn in.

An FBI agent assigned to night phone duty goes a little rogue when he decides to become personally involved in a case rather than passing it up the chain. The tip is that there is a Russian mole in the White House, appropriate considering the current political environment. The book is fast paced and suspenseful, thoroughly enjoyable.

The book is taut, and I read it for two days with a tight breath. There is no clever plot here, but the realism and the connection to events taking place in the United States, France, and other sites where campaigns of influence and intervention in democratic processes took place by various elements. The plot develops, and the mystery solved to a very high level.