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Agent of Influence
Zachariah Hardin is about to make history. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he is orphaned before moving to the United States with his adopted father, where he lives the American Dream. He goes to Yale and is elected to be the Congressman from Nevada in his early 20s. In 1994, he leads a movement to amend the constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to be elected to the Presidency of the United States. Ten years later, he reaches the zenith of his power as the new President-Elect. But Hardin has a dark side to his personality, and the FBI's vetting process for candidates is running into a wall. As the election heats up, CIA agent Anna Starks is sent to Cairo to try to dig into candidate Hardin's childhood.
As the transition of power begins, defeated President Allan Gray, concerned with what the information on Hardin's childhood means, authorizes a secret mission to Las Vegas. To aid with this secret mission, Anna enlists the help of new CIA recruit Alex Bryce. Agent of Influence takes the two CIA agents through Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Cairo, Louisville, and Washington, D.C. as they race against time to piece together the President-Elect's sinister past before it is too late. What they find could alter the landscape of the United States forever.
447 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2009
196 people are currently reading
1342 people want to read
About the author
Russell Hamilton
12 books7 followersA native of Louisville, KY, Russell spent seven years researching and writing Agent of Influence in his spare time. A fast-paced thriller, the novel grew out of his travels as well as his obsession with history. A voracious reader, he devours as many history books as possible. On the fiction side his biggest influences are Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Vince Flynn, James Clavell, Daniel Silva, Robert Ludlum, and Ernest Hemingway. When he really has some free time on his hands he loves to go scuba diving and skiing. For more information about Russell or Agent of Influence check out www.agentofinfluence.org and find out why Bookreview.com says, "Hamilton has written as tightly plotted an international spy story as you are going to find in the genre." Agent of Influence was also one of 2000 novels/manuscripts considered for the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. For a sample of Russell's writing and some background information on Agent of Influence's main hero; CIA agent Anna Starks, check out The Wet Job, a collection of short stories on kindle for only 1.49.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
November 13, 2012
I received this book free through the goodreads FIRST READS program
This book gave me mixed reviews. I gave it 3 stars because it was the consensus between my husband and I. I intentionally got this book for my husband to read because it sounded like he would be interested in it. However, it was very hard for him to follow. He said that it jumped way too much for him to be able to keep what was going on, correct. But he did say that it would make a great movie. I also agree. I do think this would be an enjoyable movie because I really liked the book. Everything to me was so vivid and action packed. There were things around every corner that would catch you off guard even though you should have expected it.
I would recommend this book to any person who loves the action packed thrillers.
This book gave me mixed reviews. I gave it 3 stars because it was the consensus between my husband and I. I intentionally got this book for my husband to read because it sounded like he would be interested in it. However, it was very hard for him to follow. He said that it jumped way too much for him to be able to keep what was going on, correct. But he did say that it would make a great movie. I also agree. I do think this would be an enjoyable movie because I really liked the book. Everything to me was so vivid and action packed. There were things around every corner that would catch you off guard even though you should have expected it.
I would recommend this book to any person who loves the action packed thrillers.
July 23, 2021
This is a retelling of history with free license to change facts, dates and people. The outgoing president appears to be a combination of George W Bush and Donald Trump but nicer than either one. The incoming president is thinly disguised as Obama but more evil.
The story line is preposterous but I have seen so much recently that anything is believable so I can accept it as a realistic fiction. I did not like the ending but since I did not write it, I accept it is the author's prerogative to end it the way he chose.
Overall it is an engaging story and I might read more by this author.
The story line is preposterous but I have seen so much recently that anything is believable so I can accept it as a realistic fiction. I did not like the ending but since I did not write it, I accept it is the author's prerogative to end it the way he chose.
Overall it is an engaging story and I might read more by this author.
May 5, 2017
I liked this book but didn't love it. I found some of the plot turns to be a bit of a stretch, but I understand the plot overall wouldn't have worked without them. There is an amendment to the US Constitution mentioned in the book that was passed in the 90's. I can't fathom how 3/4 of the US states (38) could actually agree upon anything, let alone a change to the supreme law of the land. In my Kindle version of this book, there were typographical errors, but nothing so overt that I couldn't figure out what was meant.
August 22, 2023
Deception to the max!
I needed to read something that would take my mind off the coming of a hurricane. This book did it. The rain came, and the winds howled.
The suspense never stopped in this read. The author takes you back and forth with the characters and the timeline. It will take your mind off what's happening around and the reality of how deceitful people can be.
I needed to read something that would take my mind off the coming of a hurricane. This book did it. The rain came, and the winds howled.
The suspense never stopped in this read. The author takes you back and forth with the characters and the timeline. It will take your mind off what's happening around and the reality of how deceitful people can be.
October 28, 2017
Excellent intrigue
It had all the makings of being unbelievable, but the story was woven together so well that it became a believable scenario. It flowed extremely well and the balance between action and monotonous necessary background was great.
It had all the makings of being unbelievable, but the story was woven together so well that it became a believable scenario. It flowed extremely well and the balance between action and monotonous necessary background was great.
June 8, 2017
Good book
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
May 24, 2018
Great book
This is a real page turner! In the world today it seems plausible, unfortunately. Everyone needs to be aware of the things around them. God bless us all!
This is a real page turner! In the world today it seems plausible, unfortunately. Everyone needs to be aware of the things around them. God bless us all!
February 5, 2019
First off this book was very exciting. Much of the long range planning needed to pull off this caper was believable but the ending was a little beyond believable. All in all I enjoyed the read.
October 20, 2021
Exciting and REALLY scary
The USA is positioned to destroy itself from a terrorist cell unleashed from Egyptian fundamentalists who have been plotting this for almost twenty years.
The USA is positioned to destroy itself from a terrorist cell unleashed from Egyptian fundamentalists who have been plotting this for almost twenty years.
May 2, 2022
It was okay. I was expecting more intensity. Enjoyable but not great!
August 25, 2022
A spy thriller combined with modern political arena.
July 14, 2013
A well-written story , and the unconventional plot moves along at a brisk pace and never bogs down or gets dull. The characters were well-drawn, the plot gets increasingly ambitious as the story moves along. Th climax in particular seemed way over the top for me, but it made for good reading.
Zach Hardin is an American success story. Orphaned in his native Cairo . . . brought to the US by an anonymous benefactor to attend high school and adopted by a New York congressman . . . great student . . . Yale honor student . . . moves to Nevada to be mentored by another Egyptian success story . . . 4-term congressman . . . then the Senate.
While in the Senate, he and his adoptive father sponsor a bill to amend the ‘natural born citizen’ clause in the 2nd article of the US Constitution. Immigrants founded the US and the clause restricts a huge number of qualified Americans for becoming President. To prove the move wasn’t to benefit him, Hardin says he would not entertain a run for 20 years after the change to the Constitution. The amendment is approved. It’s the mid 1990’s.
In Hamilton’s revisionist history, 9/11 didn’t happen. 10/01/00 did. And the act polarized the Muslim community. Those who favored violence were ecstatic, but the arm that favors a peaceful transition to an Islamic world was horrified. The two sects were at each other’s throat. Iran and Iraq have dragged Israel into their conflict. Palestine is on the verge of erupting. The current US President is too quick with a military solution and no leader in the Middle East trusts him. The world is on the verge of war on an unprecedented scale.
The 2008 election looms. A candidate who can mediate peace in the Middle East is seen as a solution. Who better than an American who grew up on the harsh streets of Cairo? Hardin is swept into the campaign and not surprisingly, easily defeats the incumbent.
The routine FBI background checks find nothing of interest in Hardin. Because some of the background had to be done quietly in Cairo, the FBI uses a CIA asset to dig around. The main problem is the lack of information of his early life in Cairo.
Hamilton asks whether America should accept Hardin’s public statements or should the CIA/FBI dig deeper on the miniscule chance that Hardin and his mentor might be the deepest of sleeper cells that will bring their caliphate down on the US in the hours after Hardin takes the oath of office.
While it’s a bit of a stretch to think that the worst outcome could actually happen, but the track taken by the CIA uncovers just enough evidence to raise their eyebrows. And what do they do with this information? The President-elect has already said the current CIA chief will one of the first heads to roll when he takes power. Any statements by the CIA will look like sour grapes by the lame duck director. Is their only option to wait until Hardin in President and try to catch his act of treason? It’s an interesting quandary, isn’t it?
There are a lot of typos in the book, but they're easy to ignore, if annoying. A character doesn't "wreck havoc;" he "wreaks havoc." A character doesn't make a "hallow resolution;" he makes a "hollow resolution." And an articulate character would not think that his "conscious was clear," but rather that his "conscience was clear."
And thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy!
Zach Hardin is an American success story. Orphaned in his native Cairo . . . brought to the US by an anonymous benefactor to attend high school and adopted by a New York congressman . . . great student . . . Yale honor student . . . moves to Nevada to be mentored by another Egyptian success story . . . 4-term congressman . . . then the Senate.
While in the Senate, he and his adoptive father sponsor a bill to amend the ‘natural born citizen’ clause in the 2nd article of the US Constitution. Immigrants founded the US and the clause restricts a huge number of qualified Americans for becoming President. To prove the move wasn’t to benefit him, Hardin says he would not entertain a run for 20 years after the change to the Constitution. The amendment is approved. It’s the mid 1990’s.
In Hamilton’s revisionist history, 9/11 didn’t happen. 10/01/00 did. And the act polarized the Muslim community. Those who favored violence were ecstatic, but the arm that favors a peaceful transition to an Islamic world was horrified. The two sects were at each other’s throat. Iran and Iraq have dragged Israel into their conflict. Palestine is on the verge of erupting. The current US President is too quick with a military solution and no leader in the Middle East trusts him. The world is on the verge of war on an unprecedented scale.
The 2008 election looms. A candidate who can mediate peace in the Middle East is seen as a solution. Who better than an American who grew up on the harsh streets of Cairo? Hardin is swept into the campaign and not surprisingly, easily defeats the incumbent.
The routine FBI background checks find nothing of interest in Hardin. Because some of the background had to be done quietly in Cairo, the FBI uses a CIA asset to dig around. The main problem is the lack of information of his early life in Cairo.
Hamilton asks whether America should accept Hardin’s public statements or should the CIA/FBI dig deeper on the miniscule chance that Hardin and his mentor might be the deepest of sleeper cells that will bring their caliphate down on the US in the hours after Hardin takes the oath of office.
While it’s a bit of a stretch to think that the worst outcome could actually happen, but the track taken by the CIA uncovers just enough evidence to raise their eyebrows. And what do they do with this information? The President-elect has already said the current CIA chief will one of the first heads to roll when he takes power. Any statements by the CIA will look like sour grapes by the lame duck director. Is their only option to wait until Hardin in President and try to catch his act of treason? It’s an interesting quandary, isn’t it?
There are a lot of typos in the book, but they're easy to ignore, if annoying. A character doesn't "wreck havoc;" he "wreaks havoc." A character doesn't make a "hallow resolution;" he makes a "hollow resolution." And an articulate character would not think that his "conscious was clear," but rather that his "conscience was clear."
And thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy!
February 22, 2017
The book is a pretty dense read for what it is. I'm not sure that all of the detailed history is necessary, but it is interesting. The characters are alright. There's virtually no character development. The ending is very far away from where the book begins and some of it is a little unrealistic.
The ending seems like a grab for a second book and I'm not sure I buy it. Debatable whether I'll read it.
The ending seems like a grab for a second book and I'm not sure I buy it. Debatable whether I'll read it.
June 5, 2013
Thanks to Mr. Russell Hamilton and Goodreads for the opportunity to preview "Agent of Influence".
I appreciated "Agent of Influence" for its creative plotline, characters, and blending of modern national security issues. However, I had trouble suspending disbelief for many aspects of the novel. While it was clear that the novel was well researched, the blending of alternate history and dramatized national security operations only served to highlight that the novel was fiction, as opposed to blending seamlessly into something I as the reader could accept. When reading a thriller, I want the book to be a window into a world that I don't understand, whether that world is police procedure or US national security operations. The fictionalized elements should be transparent. Instead, due to elements of implausibility, I felt like the story was already being told by an outsider looking in, which only served to further distance me from it. It was a jarring distraction for me.
Still, even though I had trouble with the plausibility of the story, Mr. Hamilton's story-telling and authorship is fairly solid and entertaining. I think if you enjoy action thrillers, you would like this novel.
**POST-EDIT: After posting my review, I read others. I would agree that this novel would make a fun movie if done well.
I appreciated "Agent of Influence" for its creative plotline, characters, and blending of modern national security issues. However, I had trouble suspending disbelief for many aspects of the novel. While it was clear that the novel was well researched, the blending of alternate history and dramatized national security operations only served to highlight that the novel was fiction, as opposed to blending seamlessly into something I as the reader could accept. When reading a thriller, I want the book to be a window into a world that I don't understand, whether that world is police procedure or US national security operations. The fictionalized elements should be transparent. Instead, due to elements of implausibility, I felt like the story was already being told by an outsider looking in, which only served to further distance me from it. It was a jarring distraction for me.
Still, even though I had trouble with the plausibility of the story, Mr. Hamilton's story-telling and authorship is fairly solid and entertaining. I think if you enjoy action thrillers, you would like this novel.
**POST-EDIT: After posting my review, I read others. I would agree that this novel would make a fun movie if done well.
September 14, 2014
Unbelievable. This story is so poorly written, with both grammatical and spelling errors, not to mention the entirely implausible retelling of events in our country's history that just never happened. The author's ludicrous conflation of Blair House and the Naval Observatory is just one example of a detail he could have easily have researched to get right. That he didn't, or that he decided the detail wasn't important removed all possible willingness to suspend disbelief. If Hamilton wanted to tell a fictional story about a Middle-eastern plot involving a U.S. president, why not set it in the future so the details cannot be so easily dismissed? Does Hamilton not understand the need for readers willingly to suspend disbelief? Unbelievable.
Read
February 10, 2016Cairo, Egypt, 1953 - A secret sect calling itself the Brotherhood of the Caliphate splinters off from the Muslim Brotherhood as the storm clouds of revolution gather.
Louisville, KY, 1973 - Political power broker and multi-millionaire Aman Kazim's Derby contending thoroughbred is slaughtered just hours before the race.
Las Vegas, Nevada, 2004 - An unusual joint FBI/CIA operation goes horribly wrong as CIA agent Anna Starks vanishes in the glittering lights of sin city while attempting to track down a potential threat to the country.
Washington DC, 2005 - Zachariah Hardin, a politician with a mysterious past has reached the zenith of his power as the first foreign-born president.
Louisville, KY, 1973 - Political power broker and multi-millionaire Aman Kazim's Derby contending thoroughbred is slaughtered just hours before the race.
Las Vegas, Nevada, 2004 - An unusual joint FBI/CIA operation goes horribly wrong as CIA agent Anna Starks vanishes in the glittering lights of sin city while attempting to track down a potential threat to the country.
Washington DC, 2005 - Zachariah Hardin, a politician with a mysterious past has reached the zenith of his power as the first foreign-born president.
October 27, 2014
It's a great idea for a story and I liked how it played out. However, it's very clunky and slow at times and there are pieces that don't fit and phrases that make the reader stumble. I haven't decided if I will read the sequel it doesn't seem like all that much can happen. The ending was very unsatisfying and left me just feeling like it was rushed. This could have been much more highly paced and a better thriller with some tweaking
November 28, 2012
Awesomely fast book. a young boy an orphan comes to America Zach. Adopted by a rich mob like man Aman. In another part of the states another muslum orphaned boy is brought im to america all with a plan set for 30 years later.
Zach has now just won the election for president and the cia fbi and the out going president know somethings up.....
Zach has now just won the election for president and the cia fbi and the out going president know somethings up.....
July 10, 2013
Great thriller. Engaging right from the off with a story of espionage and terrorism so outrageous it could possibly happen. Chapter by chapter build up of tension with the story of FBI and CIA operatives investigating the murky background of President in waiting with the safety of the US and its people at stake. Hitting barriers at every turn though, can they uncover the truth?
July 16, 2013
Overall, the story is good, but the writing... yikes...was he paid by the word? Nothing was added to the tension or the mystery by his constant descriptions of cars, body size, etc. And, although he writes complete sentences, the grammar sometimes fails. Won't read any more of Mr. Hamilton's writing unless he hires me as his editor.
June 12, 2014
It was a good classic CIA story. I enjoyed it and it was well done. I'm fighting on whether the build up was too long and whether there was a little too much background, the information was cool and how he played it into some actual events. It ended well and it had me gripped and unable to put down by the end.
July 31, 2014
The story line of this book is a good one, but the writing and the development of the story is poor. I considered tossing the book in the early stages of my reading. It chose to stick with it. Part of the problems with it are that the author chose to use the ever present cliches and. to try to discover his own. This book had so much promise and fell so far short that I gave it two stars.
January 15, 2014
Not really finished, but I just can't deal with it anymore. Too many editing errors, and the wrong date for the 9/11 attacks just rankles every time I read it. Probably could have been a good story, but the author seriously needs an unrelated editor/proof-reader.
June 10, 2016
Arabs in charge
Action packed, believable characters, story that emphasized the tension and made me ask for more. The ending racked up the excitement and emphasized the threats to the characters I had developed emotional attachments for.
Action packed, believable characters, story that emphasized the tension and made me ask for more. The ending racked up the excitement and emphasized the threats to the characters I had developed emotional attachments for.
August 6, 2014
I enjoyed this from beginning to end. This wasn't a book with bare minimum details that moved along at high speed. The detailed writing takes the reader into each setting and makes the book come alive. Looking forward to the 2nd book in the series.
April 1, 2015
I felt the book had some very pertinent conjecture and read it quickly . The characters were developed and believeable. It meandered a bit, but came back to the story. Decided to go on to his second book of the series.
October 12, 2015
Keeping everybody straight at the beginning was a problem. 10/01/00 - what????? And I don't know what the issues with publishing online are, but the paragraph indents were all over the place. That sort of thing makes me crazy.
November 18, 2022
Excellent book!!!
August 27, 2016
A well researched book, but the story didn’t make me forget everything else so as to keep on reading. That aside I’ll keep an eye out for this author’s next book.
July 17, 2013
The last third of this book was quite compelling. However, getting to that point was most painful at times and caused me to plod slowly through.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews