Special Agent

Angels & Imperfections #2

by Daniel Roland Banks

When Private Investigator John Wesley Tucker is sent to locate a young man forced into hiding after rescuing a helpless woman from the leader of a vicious street gang, he finds himself in mortal danger and in need of help from an old friend.
Whether trying to avoid a firefight in the belly of a cyprus bayou, apprehend the killer of an illegal immigrant, or contend with the hidden agenda of a federal agent attempting to thwart a domestic terrorist attack, John confronts the evil dwelling in the shadows of our lives.
Certainly there is more about him than meets the eye, but is he even human?

Fans of Bosch, Davenport, Cross and Reacher will love this fast paced detective Thriller, filled with intrigue, action, betrayal and a distinctly spiritual twist. The setting is in East Texas, offering a unique cultural point of view not often depicted.

Genres: Fiction

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2014

About the author

Born in Bakersfield, California and abandoned by his parents in Seattle, Washington, Mr. Arnold lived in the foster care system for some years, He’s traveled internationally, lived in Idaho, Washington, California, Virginia, and now makes his home in Texas with his wife Lora. They have four grown children, one grandson, and another grandchild on the way.
Dan writes westerns using the name Dan Arnold and contemporary Christian thrillers under the pen name; Daniel Roland Banks.
A member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Western Writers of America, he’s a writer, a painter and a sculptor. At one (brief) point Dan was one of the 3% of fine visual artists who earned their entire income from sales of their art.
In 2013, after 40+ years of searching, He found and got reacquainted with his half-brother and a host of relatives from his mother’s side of the family.
Dan can’t sing or dance, but he’d like to think he’s considered an engaging public speaker and an excellent judge of single malt Scotch.

Reviews

[Valicity Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I’ve never read a Christian crime novel before. I was definitely interested in it because I’m a Christian and because I (sometimes) enjoy crime books. This was different and surprising. It pulled in religious aspects while keeping an entertaining undertone and managed to find a good balance between faith and fiction. Being a Christian myself may make me bias in my review but I still think anyone could enjoy this read regardless of their belief system. Though, if you don’t have any interest in religion and don’t want to hear about it, then I’m not really sure why you’d pick up a copy and then complain about the religious aspects of it.

The main character, John Tucker, was a little dry for me. He seemed almost robotic but I think it worked for the story, in that sort of position you kind of have to be removed to a certain degree to get any real work done. I just wanted more humor or personality from him.
The action was excellently written and the pacing was spot-on. It was faster in the thrilling scenes but the details and dialogue really carried readers through the chapters which helped explain a lot of the important parts of the investigation. It all reads like an old detective novel but it’s got enough oomph to pack a roller coaster punch.

I have to remember that this is the second book in the series so I was a bit confused on some parts that may have related to the first book but the writing was strong enough to keep me interested regardless. The editing was well done, I appreciated the fact that I didn’t stumble through the book, hopping over misspelled words or missing words altogether. The overall concept pulled together tightly which gave me enough interest to consider grabbing the first copy so I can keep up with the series.

I hope that Christian fiction continues in this direction. This book serves as a great example that religious reads can stand on equal ground with secular novels. Banks may have just opened a new door for this kind of fiction.

[Sonal Panse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the first of the series, and this review is a stand-alone one without prior knowledge of the characters (although I'm starting to suspect that the main character is a Christian angel in human disguise).

John Wesley Tucker is a private investigator and owner of Tucker Investigations in Tyler, Texas. In the beginning of the book, he heads for Magnolia, Arkansas, to find and protect Diondro, a young man who is on a street-gang's hit-list for having saved one of their victims from being assaulted. Later, in the course of another investigation, Tucker stumbles upon a domestic terrorism plot by a Christian fundamentalist group, the Righteous Patriot’s Brigade (RPB), and finds himself smack in the middle of an FBI-organized operation.

I'm in two minds about this book. On the plus side, I found it to be very well-written and edited, apart from a few minor glitches - ex: "stand bye" instead of "stand by". I must mention three scenes in particular that are excellent - John Wesley Tucker's and Diondro's escape from would-be assassins in the bayou, the discussion of Reverend Jefferson's habit of appending 'Amen', 'Bless God', 'Bless the Lord', 'Hallelujah' in every sentence and why this seems odder than some people's habit of peppering swear words in everything (it was something I hadn't considered), and the FBI attack on the old farmhouse where the RPB are meeting.

I also, for most part, liked the character and voice of John Wesley Tucker. He comes across as a kind, caring man. It startled me when, out of the blue, he started spouting Christian religious dogma. It had nothing to do with the story and I thought it was a joke, but, no, he went on and on. And I found myself sympathizing with Diondro's and Special Agent Doug Booker's irritation with him in this matter. Nice Tucker had metamorphized into smug Tucker.

An example (Tucker talking to his assistant, Christina Valakova)-

“We wouldn’t have hope without our faith, would we?” She asked, rhetorically.

“Makes you wonder where the atheist finds hope."

While this might work as a potshot at a delicate-minded atheist, I'm not sure what it has to do with taking the story forward.

This really would have been a better book without the Christian religious topping. It is too overt and disjointed, like it is forced into the narrative rather than being an organic part of it, and it both distracts and detracts from what is otherwise quite an interesting story.

I have no problem with what people want to believe in, but to constantly voice these beliefs in inappropriate situations to people who don't share them and who are not interested in discussing them is rude and insensitive.

Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book for an honest, non-reciprocal review.

[Florian Armas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special Agent, is a book with many aims. Under the cover of a policier story; the author tries to make a radiography of our society; seen with the expert eyes of John Tucker, a former marine turned federal agent, before finding his vocation as private investigator. The author seems to have some real experience in the world of covert operations; the policier part is very well written, fast paced, and the main character has an interesting philosophy of life, at least in the first two thirds of the book - his views are losing their subtlety, becoming too aggressive and preachy, toward the end. Any policier story is a battle between good and evil, but here we venture into spiritual territory too, pitting religion against atheism; society against rulers. I would have preferred agent Doug to be a more worthy intellectual opponent for Tucker, but the author made the settings a bit too much in Tucker's favour, by promoting Doug as a simpleton. In the end, people are different, as one secondary character, Diondro, said: 'Well, obviously I’m different, just like a fish is different from a butterfly.' Sometimes this is forgotten, with some unintended consequences.
At some points, an interesting, unknown entity named as the Shepherd, is mentioned, in relation with Tucker, and the book would have gained from exploring this path at a deeper level. It may happen in the next novel in the series.

[Fanny Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire story had a old detective movie feel to it with a slightly dry narrator of a one John Wesley Tucker. From the start the conversations between charterers seemed a bit forced, even at times inappropriate.
We follow John on a strange case that lands him in the middle of a gang related incident where he's supposed to find and protect Diondro. a man who witnessed and stopped a gang related crime. Simple enough, but soon the entire situation gets out of hand. From there we are led further away and into stranger territory... and conversations. It was here, with the conversations between characters that I started to lose interest in John. Since I've not yet read the first book, I'm a bit lost and am left wondering if his character is some sort of assigned by angels helper to those in need? He was a good sympathetic lead, but the strange dialog at times made it feel like he was too busy on his soap box. This goes for a few other characters as well, who seemed over opinionated on various subjects.
While I did enjoy the book, it's well written, though there were times I felt the author could have left out details (like the drive and directions to some of these locations)it was overall a well constructed story. I'll grab the first in the series so i can find out what mission John is on.

I was given a free copy for an honest review.