Agency (Fenian House Publishing)
by Sean Fenian and Robert Auerbach
The story starts in media res, with Ciaran MacCool (pronounced MacCole), an agent who is in a contractor for the military in Syria under an assumed name. He accomplishes his work, his covert mission, and is nearly killed–which blows his cover. But the reader wonders, who sent him? There are tantalizing clues that it’s someone, or something…unusual.
He was sent on this and other assignments by a mysterious, fractal, gravity-defying “Box” which always sends him on missions to right a wrong or capture bad actors, but will not tell him where it’s from or why. MacCool’s questions are usually answered, “That’s problematic.”
With almost no warning MacCool is told he has to show up on the second floor at an address, where he interrupts an attempted murder. The woman he saves must’ve seen, or at least someone thinks she’s seen, something incriminating: the law office she worked at is firebombed and her boss is tortured and killed.
With the Box’s material support they slowly unravel a scheme that could eventually destroy the world.
I cannot tell you how well written and just plain fun this sci-fi thriller and spy story is. It’s now a comfort read and I enjoy it every time I reread it. From a biker sashaying like Dr. Frank N. Furter to break a tail by the opposition (OMG, so hilarious) to high-tech shenanigans made simple, to the Mob, to romance, to corporate espionage, to high-end hackers, this novel is a treat.
It’s a magnificent book.
RECOMMENDED