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Agent G #1
Infiltrator
“Black Technology has made murder a billion dollar industry.”
The International Refugee Society has twenty-six cybernetically enhanced “Letters,” and for the right price, they’ll eliminate anyone. They’ve given up their families and their memories for ten years of service with the promise of a life of luxury awaiting them.
Agent G is one of these “Letters,” but clues to his past are starting to emerge while he’s on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the Society’s most dangerous competitor. In the midst of all the violence, subterfuge, and deceit, he’ll need to keep his wits about him and trust sparingly.
After all if an organization will kill for money, what would they do to keep the truth hidden?
The International Refugee Society has twenty-six cybernetically enhanced “Letters,” and for the right price, they’ll eliminate anyone. They’ve given up their families and their memories for ten years of service with the promise of a life of luxury awaiting them.
Agent G is one of these “Letters,” but clues to his past are starting to emerge while he’s on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the Society’s most dangerous competitor. In the midst of all the violence, subterfuge, and deceit, he’ll need to keep his wits about him and trust sparingly.
After all if an organization will kill for money, what would they do to keep the truth hidden?
9 pages, Audible Audio
First published March 29, 2017
58 people are currently reading
408 people want to read
About the author
C.T. Phipps
91 books671 followersC.T Phipps is a lifelong student of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. An avid tabletop gamer, he discovered this passion led him to write and turned him into a lifelong geek. He is a regular reviewer on Booknest.EU and for Grimdark Magazine.
He's written the Agent G series, Cthulhu Armageddon, the Red Room Trilogy, I Was A Teenaged Weredeer, Lucifer's Star, Psycho Killers in Love, Straight Outta Fangton, The Supervillainy Saga, and Wraith Knight.
Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blog...
Website: https://ctphipps.com/
C.T. Fanclub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14917...
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctphipps
He's written the Agent G series, Cthulhu Armageddon, the Red Room Trilogy, I Was A Teenaged Weredeer, Lucifer's Star, Psycho Killers in Love, Straight Outta Fangton, The Supervillainy Saga, and Wraith Knight.
Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blog...
Website: https://ctphipps.com/
C.T. Fanclub: https://www.facebook.com/groups/14917...
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ctphipps
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
January 2, 2019
This was a fun fast paced action sci-fi. Like all of Phipps' books the story was quite dark at times but it never got too bleak as there was plenty of sarcastic humour to balance things out as well as a few morally grey characters that were still easy to root for.
Agent G is an assassin for the mysterious International Refugee Society (IRS for short, queue death and taxes jokes). He has no memories of his life and has his body enhanced by secret futuristic technology. His goal is to keep his head down for the remaining 5 years of his contract so he can get his memories back. Which is what is promised to all agents who complete their ten years of service. Unfortunately for him his life gets complicated when he is asked to infiltrate a rival organisation and rescue a scientist, with links to the secret futuristic technology, who has been abducted.
The story was a lot of fun. There was plenty of action and intrigue and plenty of surprise twists and turns as G could trust absolutely no one and had to rely on his skills as a deadly assassin to get him out of all sorts of tight spots.
The story had a few flaws. The old Phipps trope of all the female characters throwing themselves at the male lead was in full effect in this one but I guess I can forgive a bit of wish fulfilment when the story does not take itself too seriously and is fun and exciting.
I've always found Phipps writing to be quite engaging and I think this time he delivered his best bunch of characters and world since the The Supervillainy Saga. Agent G was a likeable and intriguing main character, despite his lack of empathy, and the world was a fun one with the assassins stuffed full of futuristic upgrades.
All in all this was a really enjoyable read and its few flaws were easy enough to overlook. I'm looking forward to the next instalment of this series already!
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: Jeffrey Kafer did a good job with this audio. He narration style is a perfect match for Phipps books as he just gets the sarcastic humour of the stories. His only really flaw is that sometimes his character voices are not diverse enough and it can make it tough to know which character is saying what.
Reread Update: Wrapped up my reread of this one in anticipation of reading the second book. I felt like it was just as fun the second time around though I admit my concentration was not fully in it as I read this in fits and starts over the New Year!
Agent G is an assassin for the mysterious International Refugee Society (IRS for short, queue death and taxes jokes). He has no memories of his life and has his body enhanced by secret futuristic technology. His goal is to keep his head down for the remaining 5 years of his contract so he can get his memories back. Which is what is promised to all agents who complete their ten years of service. Unfortunately for him his life gets complicated when he is asked to infiltrate a rival organisation and rescue a scientist, with links to the secret futuristic technology, who has been abducted.
The story was a lot of fun. There was plenty of action and intrigue and plenty of surprise twists and turns as G could trust absolutely no one and had to rely on his skills as a deadly assassin to get him out of all sorts of tight spots.
The story had a few flaws. The old Phipps trope of all the female characters throwing themselves at the male lead was in full effect in this one but I guess I can forgive a bit of wish fulfilment when the story does not take itself too seriously and is fun and exciting.
I've always found Phipps writing to be quite engaging and I think this time he delivered his best bunch of characters and world since the The Supervillainy Saga. Agent G was a likeable and intriguing main character, despite his lack of empathy, and the world was a fun one with the assassins stuffed full of futuristic upgrades.
All in all this was a really enjoyable read and its few flaws were easy enough to overlook. I'm looking forward to the next instalment of this series already!
Rating: 4 stars.
Audio Note: Jeffrey Kafer did a good job with this audio. He narration style is a perfect match for Phipps books as he just gets the sarcastic humour of the stories. His only really flaw is that sometimes his character voices are not diverse enough and it can make it tough to know which character is saying what.
Reread Update: Wrapped up my reread of this one in anticipation of reading the second book. I felt like it was just as fun the second time around though I admit my concentration was not fully in it as I read this in fits and starts over the New Year!
June 10, 2017
Agent G: Infiltrator by C.T. Phipps is a terrific and intriguing story sci-fi novel that I loved completely. It involves a secret society that trains assassins, mobsters, and technology that involves making cybernetics. Very exciting with lots of twists, turns, and secrets. The plot, characters, and premise is all super exciting and had my full attention. I was given this book to read and the review is voluntary.
August 14, 2017
If the agencies behind Johnny Mnemonic and Jason Bourne merged their R&D departments, the result would be Agent G: a highly trained, technologically enhanced, and emotionally detached secret agent.
And nobody you want to mess with.
Unless of course, you have your own stable of cyberpunk assassins. In that case, it's on and you better fasten your seatbelt.
I really enjoyed this story. The ending felt a little abrupt, but I see that there is a finished sequel ready for publication so maybe we can get back into G's adventures soon.
Fans of Burning Chrome will like this book. I know I did.
And nobody you want to mess with.
Unless of course, you have your own stable of cyberpunk assassins. In that case, it's on and you better fasten your seatbelt.
I really enjoyed this story. The ending felt a little abrupt, but I see that there is a finished sequel ready for publication so maybe we can get back into G's adventures soon.
Fans of Burning Chrome will like this book. I know I did.
March 2, 2018
If, as I have, you have done any RPGing in the past you will likely be familiar with games like D&D and Shadowrun. This is very much like Shadowrun for me. Futuristic assassins jacked up to their eyeballs with cyber-tech.
Agent G (the main protagonist of this tale) is an assassin with multiple mind and body enhancements but who has been conditioned not to remember his true identity. (Kind of makes it easier to do your job without the guilt of a conscience pricking at you all the time). There are a lot of sub-plots going on in this book but I won't go into them all and spoil the story. Basically, G doesn't know who he really is at the start of the book and he wants to find out by the end.
The assassins are given identities of Letters of the alphabet (a nice touch, easy for their organisation to keep track of 26 agents). G is just one such assassin but he is the one integral to the plot. He is the one who questions what is really going on and begins to wonder if his superiors have a much darker agenda for their operatives.
If you like assassins and cyber-tech, Government conspiracies and espionage you will more than likely enjoy this book. It isn't meant as a stand-alone and is open-ended but it does tie up most of the main plot. In short, there will be a sequel, if not more than one.
I enjoyed this and look forward to the next instalment.
Agent G (the main protagonist of this tale) is an assassin with multiple mind and body enhancements but who has been conditioned not to remember his true identity. (Kind of makes it easier to do your job without the guilt of a conscience pricking at you all the time). There are a lot of sub-plots going on in this book but I won't go into them all and spoil the story. Basically, G doesn't know who he really is at the start of the book and he wants to find out by the end.
The assassins are given identities of Letters of the alphabet (a nice touch, easy for their organisation to keep track of 26 agents). G is just one such assassin but he is the one integral to the plot. He is the one who questions what is really going on and begins to wonder if his superiors have a much darker agenda for their operatives.
If you like assassins and cyber-tech, Government conspiracies and espionage you will more than likely enjoy this book. It isn't meant as a stand-alone and is open-ended but it does tie up most of the main plot. In short, there will be a sequel, if not more than one.
I enjoyed this and look forward to the next instalment.
November 29, 2017
Well what else was I going to give it? Agent G is a special book to me because I've always been fond of spy fiction but with this novel, I wanted to combine it with my love of cyberpunk. It's a pre-cyberpunk novel in the first book, taking place a few years from today but over the series we'll see it become a proper Gibsonian dystopia.
I had the idea for the protagonist from two sources: those well-dressed henchmen of corporations in the various cyberpunk stories I've read over the years. The corporate samurai who serve the villain and would be the job I'd want to have if I lived in them--and also the original James Bond of the novels (minus the sexism). I hope people enjoy this. They're meant to be short and enjoyable novels which still have a bit of edge and sci-fi social satire to them.
I had the idea for the protagonist from two sources: those well-dressed henchmen of corporations in the various cyberpunk stories I've read over the years. The corporate samurai who serve the villain and would be the job I'd want to have if I lived in them--and also the original James Bond of the novels (minus the sexism). I hope people enjoy this. They're meant to be short and enjoyable novels which still have a bit of edge and sci-fi social satire to them.
December 3, 2017
The very definition of High Octane.
There's a lot of gun violence, other violence, sex, and plot twists packed into a very short book, so if any of that offends you, be prepared. The writing is fast-paced and masterful, and the dialogue and characters are interesting. Audiobook narrator is well-chosen.
My only criticism is that this book is geared to a very specific audience, and I'm not quite it. I tend to like stories with elements that I've never seen before. This one will appeal to fans of James Bond and Bladerunner, I think.
There's a lot of gun violence, other violence, sex, and plot twists packed into a very short book, so if any of that offends you, be prepared. The writing is fast-paced and masterful, and the dialogue and characters are interesting. Audiobook narrator is well-chosen.
My only criticism is that this book is geared to a very specific audience, and I'm not quite it. I tend to like stories with elements that I've never seen before. This one will appeal to fans of James Bond and Bladerunner, I think.
April 13, 2017
Agent G is a cyborg-like assassin (one of 26) who excels in eliminating enemies of the Society, a clandestine organization that seems to have both government and corporate clients. And not only is G an efficient killer, but he's got a witty demeanor to go along with his deadly skills, which makes him (and this book) quite a fun little ride.
Bullets fly. Airports are blown to bits. Fund raisers turn into blood baths. There's espionage and counter-espionage. Black ops and technological warfare and implants that allow operatives to communicate remotely and quietly with one another. All these elements are woven together smoothly as G struggles to carry out missions without getting his head blown off, and maybe even discover the secret of his past.
Dirty deeds, done expensively.
Agent G has his share of love interests, but they're hardly the standard Bond "girls." These women are witty and just as deadly as G, keeping him on his toes and unsure of who to trust at any given time.
One thing I liked about this book (ahead of other books by Phipps) is the action scenes seemed more robust and carried out with an efficacy that kept the story moving. Not to say they weren't done well before, but Phipps's narrative style is usually executed through external and internal dialogue. Agent G : Infiltrator shows a growth in Phipps's style, and I hope it's a continuing trend.
Agent G is perfect for fans of high-action espionage who enjoy a good heaping of technological treachery thrown in. Very enjoyable.
Bullets fly. Airports are blown to bits. Fund raisers turn into blood baths. There's espionage and counter-espionage. Black ops and technological warfare and implants that allow operatives to communicate remotely and quietly with one another. All these elements are woven together smoothly as G struggles to carry out missions without getting his head blown off, and maybe even discover the secret of his past.
Dirty deeds, done expensively.
Agent G has his share of love interests, but they're hardly the standard Bond "girls." These women are witty and just as deadly as G, keeping him on his toes and unsure of who to trust at any given time.
One thing I liked about this book (ahead of other books by Phipps) is the action scenes seemed more robust and carried out with an efficacy that kept the story moving. Not to say they weren't done well before, but Phipps's narrative style is usually executed through external and internal dialogue. Agent G : Infiltrator shows a growth in Phipps's style, and I hope it's a continuing trend.
Agent G is perfect for fans of high-action espionage who enjoy a good heaping of technological treachery thrown in. Very enjoyable.
April 30, 2018
The year is 2018. Assassins no longer wear snappy suits and use funky gadgets. Well, maybe a little. Now, they're cybernetically enhanced, both physically and mentally. Agent G is such an assassin. Having had all his memories wiped alongside such impediments as morality and empathy, G turns out to be a bloody good assassin. Five years into his required service, he starts to ask questions of his chosen career. Memories start to come back, although G isn't sure if they're real or implanted. When he's sent on a mission that could make or break him, G's world threatens to unravel. Can he discover his true identity, and can he save the day?
I like the author's style. He writes fast-paced, fun, action-driven plots, peppered with sarcastic humour and pop culture references abound. In this he takes you down a rabbit hole that would make Wonderland look normal. Have fun!
I like the author's style. He writes fast-paced, fun, action-driven plots, peppered with sarcastic humour and pop culture references abound. In this he takes you down a rabbit hole that would make Wonderland look normal. Have fun!
March 30, 2017
When I heard this was coming out, I checked the blurb, being a big fan of this author. I got super excited about the premise, and couldnt wait to get it. Well, I got a copy and listened to it in one sitting. It blew me away, it was that good.
The story revolves around Agent G, an assassin who works for the Society, a charity front that arranges high tech assasinations for large sums of money. If you have the money, they have the assassin for you! Assasins, named A to Z, are mindwiped, and are told they will be well paid and get their memories back after 10 years of service to the Society. This is the scenario G finds himself in. All the agents are cybernetically enhanced, both mentally and physically, and have beyond imagination black technology, real secret squirrel stuff.
This is the situation G finds himself. After he is ambushed at the Boston airport by a rival organization, the Carnivale, during a recall of all Society agents, it is discovered the Society has a mole in its midst. The mole is uncovered, and G is tasked with infiltrating the Carnivale and assassinating its leader, the Caesar and his daughter, a killer assassin in her own right. What commences is a wild ride of betrayals, plans within plans, gunfights, killer cyborg duels, torture and discovery for G, as he discovers more about the past that was wiped from his mind. In the end, he finds who he can really trust, and it's not who he expected. He has to decide what he really wants to be, and if the price for being that person is worth paying.
As always with a CT Phipps book, the story is very character driven. Whether its G, who is conflicted on many levels, his handler Marissa, with a shady past G is only becoming aware of, Persephone, the shadowy ice queen director of the Society or even the Caesar and his children, the characters are well defined, their actions making sense in context with their characters. They are fleshed out in subtle but important ways, being much more than just two dimensional cardboard cutoouts sterotypes of spies, assassins and villains. The setting is interresting, with locations and action occurring around the world. The dialogue is also crisp, swinging between serious and snark easily, depending on the situation. The story never lags with unneeded exposition, keeping a taut thriller feel.
As far as narration goes, Jeffery Kafer was definitely at his best for this one. Whether the voices were male or female, cyborg, computer, Italian or a variety of American accents, Jeffery nailed them all. He brought each character to life, giving them a vibrancy you get really attached to. His narration of the story never lags, keeping a good flow and is never monotonous. Overall, I would have rated the whole effort six stars if they had that rating. As it is, get this book if you like sci fi or thrillers!
The story revolves around Agent G, an assassin who works for the Society, a charity front that arranges high tech assasinations for large sums of money. If you have the money, they have the assassin for you! Assasins, named A to Z, are mindwiped, and are told they will be well paid and get their memories back after 10 years of service to the Society. This is the scenario G finds himself in. All the agents are cybernetically enhanced, both mentally and physically, and have beyond imagination black technology, real secret squirrel stuff.
This is the situation G finds himself. After he is ambushed at the Boston airport by a rival organization, the Carnivale, during a recall of all Society agents, it is discovered the Society has a mole in its midst. The mole is uncovered, and G is tasked with infiltrating the Carnivale and assassinating its leader, the Caesar and his daughter, a killer assassin in her own right. What commences is a wild ride of betrayals, plans within plans, gunfights, killer cyborg duels, torture and discovery for G, as he discovers more about the past that was wiped from his mind. In the end, he finds who he can really trust, and it's not who he expected. He has to decide what he really wants to be, and if the price for being that person is worth paying.
As always with a CT Phipps book, the story is very character driven. Whether its G, who is conflicted on many levels, his handler Marissa, with a shady past G is only becoming aware of, Persephone, the shadowy ice queen director of the Society or even the Caesar and his children, the characters are well defined, their actions making sense in context with their characters. They are fleshed out in subtle but important ways, being much more than just two dimensional cardboard cutoouts sterotypes of spies, assassins and villains. The setting is interresting, with locations and action occurring around the world. The dialogue is also crisp, swinging between serious and snark easily, depending on the situation. The story never lags with unneeded exposition, keeping a taut thriller feel.
As far as narration goes, Jeffery Kafer was definitely at his best for this one. Whether the voices were male or female, cyborg, computer, Italian or a variety of American accents, Jeffery nailed them all. He brought each character to life, giving them a vibrancy you get really attached to. His narration of the story never lags, keeping a good flow and is never monotonous. Overall, I would have rated the whole effort six stars if they had that rating. As it is, get this book if you like sci fi or thrillers!
August 29, 2021
Like most of us, I grew up with James Bond and therefore love the good old 007 in all his incarnations (although my favorite always will be Sean Connery). But I also love sci-fi and cyberpunk in particular.
Agent G - Infiltrator offers the perfect mix of both.
The book is told like a classic spy adventure, filled with action, conspiracies, sexy women and plot twists. However, what makes this story special is its sci-fi/cyberpunk flavor. This fantastic mixture makes the book a hit and page-turner.
Everything starts with a routine mission for Agent G. He's a so-called "Letter", a member of an elite squad of professional killers. Cybernetically enhanced and with their memories wiped they fulfill contracts for the mysterious "Society" and its stone-cold boss Persephone.
G is the best of the troop. He never fails but somehow managed to keep himself an unusual amount of humanity.
But soon after the story starts things get a dramatic turn with the Society being betrayed and attacked. G must travel to Italy where his mission is to infiltrate Italy's biggest syndicate and rescue a scientist who's not only valuable to his boss but who also could hold the key to G's true identity...
I won't tell more because I don't want to spoiler anything. Just so much: the story is very well crafted, kept me engaged from the first minute and managed to surprise me with its twists a couple of times.
And the ending...holy sh**!
I listened to the audio version and highly recommend it to everyone. Once again, Jeffrey Kafer does a fantastic job bringing this story to life. His very masculine voice if perfect for a badass secret agent like G, but he also performs the female voices extraordinarily well. Often, this is a problem for male narrators but Kafer never tries to make them sound unnaturally high-pitched and therefore succeeds in making all female characters believable.
This book was great fun and I highly recommend it to fans of James Bond, technothrillers and scifi/cyberpunk.
I'll be definitely picking up book 2 and am looking forward to seeing how the story continues!
Agent G - Infiltrator offers the perfect mix of both.
The book is told like a classic spy adventure, filled with action, conspiracies, sexy women and plot twists. However, what makes this story special is its sci-fi/cyberpunk flavor. This fantastic mixture makes the book a hit and page-turner.
Everything starts with a routine mission for Agent G. He's a so-called "Letter", a member of an elite squad of professional killers. Cybernetically enhanced and with their memories wiped they fulfill contracts for the mysterious "Society" and its stone-cold boss Persephone.
G is the best of the troop. He never fails but somehow managed to keep himself an unusual amount of humanity.
But soon after the story starts things get a dramatic turn with the Society being betrayed and attacked. G must travel to Italy where his mission is to infiltrate Italy's biggest syndicate and rescue a scientist who's not only valuable to his boss but who also could hold the key to G's true identity...
I won't tell more because I don't want to spoiler anything. Just so much: the story is very well crafted, kept me engaged from the first minute and managed to surprise me with its twists a couple of times.
And the ending...holy sh**!
I listened to the audio version and highly recommend it to everyone. Once again, Jeffrey Kafer does a fantastic job bringing this story to life. His very masculine voice if perfect for a badass secret agent like G, but he also performs the female voices extraordinarily well. Often, this is a problem for male narrators but Kafer never tries to make them sound unnaturally high-pitched and therefore succeeds in making all female characters believable.
This book was great fun and I highly recommend it to fans of James Bond, technothrillers and scifi/cyberpunk.
I'll be definitely picking up book 2 and am looking forward to seeing how the story continues!
January 8, 2018
Welcome to the future! Except it's not the future, it's now. Except the technology is so dangerous, the public doesn't know it exists. Download data files into your brain implant. Transplant human identities into super robots. Facial reconstruction is digitally enhanced with no healing time needed. For Agent G, it's all part of a typical day on the job.
Phipps does a great job of keeping the mood lighthearted. Even though the main character is a scientifically enhanced assassin, he is still relatable. The "Letters" agents have their memories swiped before entering 10 years of service, after which, they'll be reinstated to their former lives and their memories returned. Agent G seems to have a few straggling memories, though. The promise of finding out his true past is constantly driving him to fulfill his contracts. His emotional detachment from the nature of his job brings in some irony and dark humor, and occasional moments of poetic clarity.
G has to think quickly and constantly reevaluate his situation as he works through an assignment that might bring him to the truth of his past. The plot grows satisfyingly more intricate as he pushes deeper into his enemy's lair. He finds out emotions can be detrimental to a hired assassin's work. It becomes impossible to know whose motives he can depend on, whether he'll end up betrayed and imprisoned, or worse, deemed non-essential by his employers.
This story is told through a single point of view, in first-person past tense. It's a fun, quick read. I felt like it ended a little abruptly, but it is the first book of a series and I'm interested to see where this is going. It's entertaining and well worth checking out. If this sounds like it's right up your alley, there's a lot here to look forward to.
Phipps does a great job of keeping the mood lighthearted. Even though the main character is a scientifically enhanced assassin, he is still relatable. The "Letters" agents have their memories swiped before entering 10 years of service, after which, they'll be reinstated to their former lives and their memories returned. Agent G seems to have a few straggling memories, though. The promise of finding out his true past is constantly driving him to fulfill his contracts. His emotional detachment from the nature of his job brings in some irony and dark humor, and occasional moments of poetic clarity.
G has to think quickly and constantly reevaluate his situation as he works through an assignment that might bring him to the truth of his past. The plot grows satisfyingly more intricate as he pushes deeper into his enemy's lair. He finds out emotions can be detrimental to a hired assassin's work. It becomes impossible to know whose motives he can depend on, whether he'll end up betrayed and imprisoned, or worse, deemed non-essential by his employers.
This story is told through a single point of view, in first-person past tense. It's a fun, quick read. I felt like it ended a little abruptly, but it is the first book of a series and I'm interested to see where this is going. It's entertaining and well worth checking out. If this sounds like it's right up your alley, there's a lot here to look forward to.
February 21, 2018
Three stars... why three and not five?
That's the kind of question that usually arises, doesn't it?
So why three stars? Is Infiltrator good? Yes it is! Big but coming in... but it's too short. It's like the real cool intro to a James Bond movie, you know, the one before the credits, shit blowing up, people dying in droves, that sort of thing, and then the credits... in the movies the actual story then begins. With Infiltrator it... ends.
Great intro, now gimme the entire book!
That's the kind of question that usually arises, doesn't it?
So why three stars? Is Infiltrator good? Yes it is! Big but coming in... but it's too short. It's like the real cool intro to a James Bond movie, you know, the one before the credits, shit blowing up, people dying in droves, that sort of thing, and then the credits... in the movies the actual story then begins. With Infiltrator it... ends.
Great intro, now gimme the entire book!
May 16, 2018
Here is the newest set of books I read by C.T. Phipps. In book one, we find agent G sitting in a Mercedes Benz S-Klasse scoping out his next assassination assignment by his employer ‘International Refugee Society’. This International Refugee Society is a Black Opt business working in the shadows controlling the movers and shakers in the world governments. They recruit their agents and to make the agent the best they stripe the agent not only of their memories they take all emotions away as well. Then the company enhance the agent with IRD implant in the brain and other enhancements like quick healing and faster reflexes. Lastly the company takes their names replacing it with only a letter.
The company gives each agent an assistant to help control and complete the assignments. Agent G’s assistant is Marissa Sanchez, a recruited computer hacker from the Banio Maya or Los Mayans, the Mexican-American gang. G’s new assignment is to assassinate the head of rival ‘business’ the Carnevale in Italy, Caesar Lucio Biondi and his daughter, Lucita then rescue Dr. Marcus Gordon, lead researcher at Karma Corp Special Project Division. Dr. Gordon is the creator of ‘Black Technology’. Agent G is informed there is a mole in the company. He and his assistant is plunged into the unknown of who to trust.
The company gives each agent an assistant to help control and complete the assignments. Agent G’s assistant is Marissa Sanchez, a recruited computer hacker from the Banio Maya or Los Mayans, the Mexican-American gang. G’s new assignment is to assassinate the head of rival ‘business’ the Carnevale in Italy, Caesar Lucio Biondi and his daughter, Lucita then rescue Dr. Marcus Gordon, lead researcher at Karma Corp Special Project Division. Dr. Gordon is the creator of ‘Black Technology’. Agent G is informed there is a mole in the company. He and his assistant is plunged into the unknown of who to trust.
May 6, 2018
Ok, so, it's taken me a hell of a long time to finish this book (4 months in fact) and for that I can only apologise - my work-life balance right now absolutely sucks and I've got a ton of other commitments I'm trying to keep to on top of it.
But hey, it's my first book of 2018 down, and it was an enjoyable one so let's jump into what I liked about it.
So this is the only real non-fantasy book I've read since like 2013 I think, and to be honest, spy-thrillers ain't really my thing, I've read a bunch of others in the past and they just didn't tickle the literary pickle so to speak.
Agent G actually did manage to though, which I've got to say was a pleasant surprise.
The characters are uniformly morally-grey, the technology was pretty interesting and not so far advanced it wouldn't be conceivable in the present day (cyber-brains notwithstanding). The titular Agent G himself is essentially a stedded-up American James Bond that kills people for a shadowy enterprise while hopping round the world getting laid and making things go kablammo.
It's a fairly simple premise, but with the moral-questioning of G-Unit throughout the story driving home some hard points I found it a pretty cerebral read.
My only real criticism of the book would be the use of '?!' and '!?' in dialogue punctuation, it's not something I'm a fan of myself (English student days rearing their head, it's just my personal taste in writing) but it is something I see more and more authors doing these days, so I'm probably the one whos lagging behind the times.
Anyway, that one personal niggle aside, I thought it was a great book, it was pretty much 200 pages of non stop action, hot chicks and dubious personal agendas with some scathing commentary on coporatism - GDAF, you could say! I'll be picking up the next instalment of the Agent G series, and hopefully I'll get it read quicker than 4 months once work settles down somewhat.
Thanks, Phippo! :)
But hey, it's my first book of 2018 down, and it was an enjoyable one so let's jump into what I liked about it.
So this is the only real non-fantasy book I've read since like 2013 I think, and to be honest, spy-thrillers ain't really my thing, I've read a bunch of others in the past and they just didn't tickle the literary pickle so to speak.
Agent G actually did manage to though, which I've got to say was a pleasant surprise.
The characters are uniformly morally-grey, the technology was pretty interesting and not so far advanced it wouldn't be conceivable in the present day (cyber-brains notwithstanding). The titular Agent G himself is essentially a stedded-up American James Bond that kills people for a shadowy enterprise while hopping round the world getting laid and making things go kablammo.
It's a fairly simple premise, but with the moral-questioning of G-Unit throughout the story driving home some hard points I found it a pretty cerebral read.
My only real criticism of the book would be the use of '?!' and '!?' in dialogue punctuation, it's not something I'm a fan of myself (English student days rearing their head, it's just my personal taste in writing) but it is something I see more and more authors doing these days, so I'm probably the one whos lagging behind the times.
Anyway, that one personal niggle aside, I thought it was a great book, it was pretty much 200 pages of non stop action, hot chicks and dubious personal agendas with some scathing commentary on coporatism - GDAF, you could say! I'll be picking up the next instalment of the Agent G series, and hopefully I'll get it read quicker than 4 months once work settles down somewhat.
Thanks, Phippo! :)
August 2, 2021
My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.
Agent G is an assissign for the International Refugee Society (there are comments about it have the same initials as the IRS, and because of this, it is always referred to as the full name in the book. There is also a death and taxes joke, because it is needed). He doesn’t have a name and they wiped his memories. After ten years of service, assuming that he survives the full ten years, he will be able to get him memories back and go back to the family that he dreams about. He kinda like a cyborg. He has brain implant that can download information, much faster than learning the old fashion way, among other things.
So, G is sent on a mission to infiltrate the Carnevale, a rival to the International Refugee Society. He has to have surgery to change his looks, so that he can be undercover for Agent F, who G killed when G figured out that F had turned traitor. G has a hard time figuring out who to trust. There is his wife (at least in name, but not really in heart), S. He also has a girlfriend, who happens to be his assistant, Marissa. Oh, and then there is the adult daughter (and assissign in her own right), of Carnevale leader, Lucita.
“The Letters”, as they are called, all are programmed to suppress their emotions. This is to make it easier for them to do their jobs. G has issues because he has formed an attachment to S and Marissa, though in different ways. He also has been searching for his elusive past, though that is forbidden. He even gets attached to Lucita. He has a really hard time knowing who to trust, as they all come under suspect at one point or another. Everyone seems to turn on everyone else.
James Bond type stories really aren’t my thing. But, when the author offered me a review copy of this book, I decided to give it a shot. I’m a huge fan of the narrator and I really like the author’s supervillain series. I never would’ve picked this up on my own. I did enjoy it, but not as much as the supervillain books (I think it more because that is more my genre, than this book is any less than the others). I will continue the series, especially want to learn where G goes from here. He finds out quite a few things at the end of this book (I think “cliffhanger” is too strong of a word, but maybe leaning towards that direction).
Narration
Jeffrey Kafer has really cemented himself as one of my favorite narrators. He continues to nail every piece that I listen to. He continues to do a great job with this book. What can I say, that I haven’t already said about him. He always picks the best voices for each character. His women’s voices are great. I think he does dry tones really well, which is great for an assissign who suppresses emotion. If you’ve never listened to a book with Jeffrey Kafer, you are really missing out.
**I like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Agent G is an assissign for the International Refugee Society (there are comments about it have the same initials as the IRS, and because of this, it is always referred to as the full name in the book. There is also a death and taxes joke, because it is needed). He doesn’t have a name and they wiped his memories. After ten years of service, assuming that he survives the full ten years, he will be able to get him memories back and go back to the family that he dreams about. He kinda like a cyborg. He has brain implant that can download information, much faster than learning the old fashion way, among other things.
So, G is sent on a mission to infiltrate the Carnevale, a rival to the International Refugee Society. He has to have surgery to change his looks, so that he can be undercover for Agent F, who G killed when G figured out that F had turned traitor. G has a hard time figuring out who to trust. There is his wife (at least in name, but not really in heart), S. He also has a girlfriend, who happens to be his assistant, Marissa. Oh, and then there is the adult daughter (and assissign in her own right), of Carnevale leader, Lucita.
“The Letters”, as they are called, all are programmed to suppress their emotions. This is to make it easier for them to do their jobs. G has issues because he has formed an attachment to S and Marissa, though in different ways. He also has been searching for his elusive past, though that is forbidden. He even gets attached to Lucita. He has a really hard time knowing who to trust, as they all come under suspect at one point or another. Everyone seems to turn on everyone else.
James Bond type stories really aren’t my thing. But, when the author offered me a review copy of this book, I decided to give it a shot. I’m a huge fan of the narrator and I really like the author’s supervillain series. I never would’ve picked this up on my own. I did enjoy it, but not as much as the supervillain books (I think it more because that is more my genre, than this book is any less than the others). I will continue the series, especially want to learn where G goes from here. He finds out quite a few things at the end of this book (I think “cliffhanger” is too strong of a word, but maybe leaning towards that direction).
“Well, I’ll find out soon enough”, I muttered. “Dead men tell no tales, but the about-to-die are remarkably chatty.”
Narration
Jeffrey Kafer has really cemented himself as one of my favorite narrators. He continues to nail every piece that I listen to. He continues to do a great job with this book. What can I say, that I haven’t already said about him. He always picks the best voices for each character. His women’s voices are great. I think he does dry tones really well, which is great for an assissign who suppresses emotion. If you’ve never listened to a book with Jeffrey Kafer, you are really missing out.
**I like to thank the author for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
May 28, 2017
Audiobook Narrated by Jeffrey Kafer
Unexpected.
OK, maybe not totally unexpected, but Cyberpunk meets Hitman is the best correlation I can come up with at the moment. What starts out as a secret agent feel, turns into something on an even grander scale that involves not just the agent and his agency, but countries. We get to travel the world and by the end of this first book in the series, begin to question what is actually real. Layers and layers of half-truths and lies that could be real, make figuring out the real bad guys before the end of the book.
But wait! There’s more! This is only the first book of the series. It’s my guess that the rabbit hole goes deeper and things get even more convoluted than expected. If you don’t like intrigue or action, then this book is not for you. However, if you find a super powered James Bond with secrets even he doesn’t know about, then you are in for a real treat.
I’m a tech person by profession and really enjoyed the research Phipps had to do in order to come up with some of this stuff. The same techie side was slightly disappointed there was no techno-jargon. Not a real negative, just me. The scariest part is some of this tech is not too far off in the horizon. That’s what makes the story so believable. Dark Tech. Yes, the question is a viable one. Does this tech exist today?
When an author challenges a reader to think beyond the normal realms, it creates a desire to continue the series. It’s true in this case as well. This would make an excellent Netflix series. Phipps appears to be a master world builder from how laws, corporations and even countries work along with complex character interactions. And why not? He has had quite a bit of experience with the amount of novels he’s been cranking out. This spy-thriller-mystery is just the start of a series that has a pretty good start. Can the next book in the series match this one?
Above and beyond the obvious, G (our main ‘letter’) is as much a hero as a victim. Without going through details, G and everything he knows is challenged, proven a lie, proven a truth and twisted on its side. Trust is as situational as there are grains of sand on a beach…. A really big one. No character comes out of the story unscathed or unchanged. Isn’t that sort of like real life? The story keeps the reader guessing every chapter and most often, that guess is wrong. Admittedly, I did guess right a few times, but it was rare enough that it was ‘unexpected.’ Even by the end, we don’t know what G is going to really do. That’s why it leaves you really wanting more.
Now, a moment for my favorite narrator, Jeffery Kafer. Either by fate or chance, Kafer was the perfect choice for this particular series. Although I’ll admit to being a bit slanted towards Kafer in this comment, I stand by my statement.
I recommend both the book as well as the narrator.
Unexpected.
OK, maybe not totally unexpected, but Cyberpunk meets Hitman is the best correlation I can come up with at the moment. What starts out as a secret agent feel, turns into something on an even grander scale that involves not just the agent and his agency, but countries. We get to travel the world and by the end of this first book in the series, begin to question what is actually real. Layers and layers of half-truths and lies that could be real, make figuring out the real bad guys before the end of the book.
But wait! There’s more! This is only the first book of the series. It’s my guess that the rabbit hole goes deeper and things get even more convoluted than expected. If you don’t like intrigue or action, then this book is not for you. However, if you find a super powered James Bond with secrets even he doesn’t know about, then you are in for a real treat.
I’m a tech person by profession and really enjoyed the research Phipps had to do in order to come up with some of this stuff. The same techie side was slightly disappointed there was no techno-jargon. Not a real negative, just me. The scariest part is some of this tech is not too far off in the horizon. That’s what makes the story so believable. Dark Tech. Yes, the question is a viable one. Does this tech exist today?
When an author challenges a reader to think beyond the normal realms, it creates a desire to continue the series. It’s true in this case as well. This would make an excellent Netflix series. Phipps appears to be a master world builder from how laws, corporations and even countries work along with complex character interactions. And why not? He has had quite a bit of experience with the amount of novels he’s been cranking out. This spy-thriller-mystery is just the start of a series that has a pretty good start. Can the next book in the series match this one?
Above and beyond the obvious, G (our main ‘letter’) is as much a hero as a victim. Without going through details, G and everything he knows is challenged, proven a lie, proven a truth and twisted on its side. Trust is as situational as there are grains of sand on a beach…. A really big one. No character comes out of the story unscathed or unchanged. Isn’t that sort of like real life? The story keeps the reader guessing every chapter and most often, that guess is wrong. Admittedly, I did guess right a few times, but it was rare enough that it was ‘unexpected.’ Even by the end, we don’t know what G is going to really do. That’s why it leaves you really wanting more.
Now, a moment for my favorite narrator, Jeffery Kafer. Either by fate or chance, Kafer was the perfect choice for this particular series. Although I’ll admit to being a bit slanted towards Kafer in this comment, I stand by my statement.
I recommend both the book as well as the narrator.
May 31, 2017
Agent G is one of 26 hitmen for hire, working for the International Refugee Society (IRS). His memories of his previous life were wiped away even as cyber enhancements were installed. With the promise of restoring his memories, Agent G patiently works off his time for the IRS. His current mission is to infiltrate the opposition, the Carnivale, which is run by Caesar and his family. However, a mole within the IRS is making this a tricky, and possibly deadly, assignment.
Once again, Phipps brings me quality entertainment. This was a very fun read that had just enough seriousness to make me care about the characters and their fates. As Agent G wonders what kind of man he was before his time with the IRS, I too hoped he would find out and that it would be good for him. Each agent is assigned a handler (or personal assistant) and Marissa is assigned to Agent G. The two have a connection on a personal level. Marissa, like the Agents, has also had her memories wiped and has been enhanced to some extent by the IRS. However, she is much more replaceable than Agent G, so he sometimes worries about jeopardizing her life.
Besides the great characters, there’s plenty of fancy tech for us cyberpunk fans. Weapons, drugs, and criminal intrigue permeate this story. Agent G has plenty of mods and many of them come into play as he tries to wend his way through this double crossing, mole infested plot.
I also really enjoyed the ‘bad guys’, some of which are truly bad guys. Caesar and his adult kids bring out another side to Agent G, especially when he has to allow himself to be seduced. Yep, there’s a few sexytimes scenes sprinkled throughout the book. They were fine though not terribly erotic. That’s OK because Agent’s G’s sex appeal is written all over him with his competency and focus.
All around, it was a very fun listen and I look forward to seeing where Phipps takes this story next.
I received a free copy of this book.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer is still one of my favorite narrators. He has the perfect voice for Agent G. It’s a touch gravelly but still sounds like a man in his 30s. I liked his mild Italian accent for the Casesar. Also his voice for Persephone (one of the people in charge at the IRS) was clipped and domineering, just like I pictured her.
Once again, Phipps brings me quality entertainment. This was a very fun read that had just enough seriousness to make me care about the characters and their fates. As Agent G wonders what kind of man he was before his time with the IRS, I too hoped he would find out and that it would be good for him. Each agent is assigned a handler (or personal assistant) and Marissa is assigned to Agent G. The two have a connection on a personal level. Marissa, like the Agents, has also had her memories wiped and has been enhanced to some extent by the IRS. However, she is much more replaceable than Agent G, so he sometimes worries about jeopardizing her life.
Besides the great characters, there’s plenty of fancy tech for us cyberpunk fans. Weapons, drugs, and criminal intrigue permeate this story. Agent G has plenty of mods and many of them come into play as he tries to wend his way through this double crossing, mole infested plot.
I also really enjoyed the ‘bad guys’, some of which are truly bad guys. Caesar and his adult kids bring out another side to Agent G, especially when he has to allow himself to be seduced. Yep, there’s a few sexytimes scenes sprinkled throughout the book. They were fine though not terribly erotic. That’s OK because Agent’s G’s sex appeal is written all over him with his competency and focus.
All around, it was a very fun listen and I look forward to seeing where Phipps takes this story next.
I received a free copy of this book.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer is still one of my favorite narrators. He has the perfect voice for Agent G. It’s a touch gravelly but still sounds like a man in his 30s. I liked his mild Italian accent for the Casesar. Also his voice for Persephone (one of the people in charge at the IRS) was clipped and domineering, just like I pictured her.
August 21, 2021
I had to break my gaze away from the stunning neon cover before opening up the book. Agent G is a high tech assassin. No, he’s not much like Orphan X, though they have the alphabet in common.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Ratta tat tat tat tat! POW! POW!!
I have fond memories of my dad and I shooting tin cans and stuff at the junk yard when I was just a little snot. I’m a pretty good shot, but I could never shoot two pilots in a helicopter, from the ground, two shot only, and without looking. And that is just close to the beginning of the book. This book is what my dad would have called a “shoot ‘em up Pete.” There is a heck of a lot of shooting going on. And I hope I don’t have to clarify that the targets are people and that the assassins don’t miss.
I think the whole enhanced assassins gives a bit of an unfair advantage. It seemed like new adult super heroes wreaking mayhem and letting loose with phases kids think are hip like “No kidding, Captain Obvious” rather coming across as dangerous men with a menacing edge. In addition, the cool high tech augmentations were laid on thick in the first couple of chapters and just simply dumped in as descriptions. All of the heavy duty augmentation seemed to turn the recipient into God Mode. How can anyone compete against that?
Some shooting fans will love the writing, but I thought the action had too many simple declarative statements in a row, combined with descriptions that seemed clunky. Sentences like “S then put a bullet in the back of his head, causing F to fall to the ground, dead.” Are as dry as assembly sheet instructions from IKEA. However, the book is quick and easy to read.
Though this book isn’t to my taste and I’m sorry I can’t recommend this to friends, I’m certain it will find an ardent fan base.
Thank you NetGalley for a peek at this book in exchange for my honest opinion and best wishes to the author. Note that the ISBN here doesn’t match.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Ratta tat tat tat tat! POW! POW!!
I have fond memories of my dad and I shooting tin cans and stuff at the junk yard when I was just a little snot. I’m a pretty good shot, but I could never shoot two pilots in a helicopter, from the ground, two shot only, and without looking. And that is just close to the beginning of the book. This book is what my dad would have called a “shoot ‘em up Pete.” There is a heck of a lot of shooting going on. And I hope I don’t have to clarify that the targets are people and that the assassins don’t miss.
I think the whole enhanced assassins gives a bit of an unfair advantage. It seemed like new adult super heroes wreaking mayhem and letting loose with phases kids think are hip like “No kidding, Captain Obvious” rather coming across as dangerous men with a menacing edge. In addition, the cool high tech augmentations were laid on thick in the first couple of chapters and just simply dumped in as descriptions. All of the heavy duty augmentation seemed to turn the recipient into God Mode. How can anyone compete against that?
Some shooting fans will love the writing, but I thought the action had too many simple declarative statements in a row, combined with descriptions that seemed clunky. Sentences like “S then put a bullet in the back of his head, causing F to fall to the ground, dead.” Are as dry as assembly sheet instructions from IKEA. However, the book is quick and easy to read.
Though this book isn’t to my taste and I’m sorry I can’t recommend this to friends, I’m certain it will find an ardent fan base.
Thank you NetGalley for a peek at this book in exchange for my honest opinion and best wishes to the author. Note that the ISBN here doesn’t match.
December 12, 2017
Hi again, folks.
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.
I haven’t read a non-Fantasy book in a very long while.
I’ve come to expect the feeling of being dumped into a world that has little in common with my life.
Reading a book full of contemporary cultural and geographic landmarks was a bit… disconcerting, but in a good way, I must admit. This is a relatively short book, all told. Fast-paced, witty, first-person narrative.
The first chapter
No prologue! One point!
Where we get to meet the MC, Agent “G”, and get a brief introduction on his life as a killer, as he completes his latest mission. High-tech lingo galore. This is sci-fi for sure, even if it seems to be set in our timeframe.
The writing style is simple, without being simplistic. It doesn’t draw attention to itself. The action is a bit confusing at times. Nothing too glaring.
My eye is twitching, though, and I don’t know why yet.
The good
Deep intrigue, with lots of plot twisters. And a very satisfying climatic moment (don’t snigger, you perv!), the seeds of which have been cleverly sowed throughout the development, so that it doesn’t come totally out of left field.
The utterly cynical vision of the global world order is also quite enjoyable. Who doesn’t love a conspiracy theory?
The magic system… err… tech system… was fun. I enjoyed the ideas behind it, even though it required a LOT of suspension of disbelief, since, well, tech is kinda my job. But the world references were entertaining. Which brings me to how real world events and people are subtly tied into the narrative. I really really liked that.
But my eye is twitching, still… starting to itch…
The… less good
The fight scenes.
This may be because I’ve gorged myself on so much “manual” slaughter lately, that I’ve lost any ability to enjoy a good gun fight. And I may be underestimating the abilities of cybernetic ally enhanced fighters. Or yet again because the pace of the scenes was so fast. But I couldn’t get rid of the “Rambo” smell it all gave off.
The supporting cast.
Unfortunately, they lack enough depth. They talk funny considering their setting. Their interactions are a bit superficial, all seemingly aimed at smoothing the MC’s path. I wasn’t able to feel the, how can I say it, weight? of the organisations vying for control. That bothered me quite a lot towards the middle of the book. .
We also have a few continuity issues, but that’s only me nitpicking.
But my eye’s still twitching… none of the above is what’s itching.
Finally Digging a Nail in that Itchy Spot
This book, while doing it’s utmost best to be cynical, is actually full to the brim with morally tortured individuals. Everyone and their grandma is talking about it: Right and bloody Wrong!
How many times has the MC questioned his feelings and moral compass and come up with supposedly nothing, all the while making profuse usage of morally suffused syntax? I lost count. And it got to me, slowly.
If you really felt nothing, you wouldn’t be spending so much time pondering how stuff makes you feel, you hypocrite!
So what I believe to be a big chunk of the driving idea behind the story, a killer awakening to his emotions, was lost to me because I never believed it, not a single second. It was forced and it showed.
Conclusion
I don’t know yet where in CT Phipps’ timeline as an author this book is, but it looks like it belongs at the beginning. I can see all the shapes of what makes me like GD as a genre, but there’s still some refining to do on shading.
My mark: 3.5
Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.
I haven’t read a non-Fantasy book in a very long while.
I’ve come to expect the feeling of being dumped into a world that has little in common with my life.
Reading a book full of contemporary cultural and geographic landmarks was a bit… disconcerting, but in a good way, I must admit. This is a relatively short book, all told. Fast-paced, witty, first-person narrative.
The first chapter
No prologue! One point!
Where we get to meet the MC, Agent “G”, and get a brief introduction on his life as a killer, as he completes his latest mission. High-tech lingo galore. This is sci-fi for sure, even if it seems to be set in our timeframe.
The writing style is simple, without being simplistic. It doesn’t draw attention to itself. The action is a bit confusing at times. Nothing too glaring.
My eye is twitching, though, and I don’t know why yet.
The good
Deep intrigue, with lots of plot twisters. And a very satisfying climatic moment (don’t snigger, you perv!), the seeds of which have been cleverly sowed throughout the development, so that it doesn’t come totally out of left field.
The utterly cynical vision of the global world order is also quite enjoyable. Who doesn’t love a conspiracy theory?
The magic system… err… tech system… was fun. I enjoyed the ideas behind it, even though it required a LOT of suspension of disbelief, since, well, tech is kinda my job. But the world references were entertaining. Which brings me to how real world events and people are subtly tied into the narrative. I really really liked that.
But my eye is twitching, still… starting to itch…
The… less good
The fight scenes.
This may be because I’ve gorged myself on so much “manual” slaughter lately, that I’ve lost any ability to enjoy a good gun fight. And I may be underestimating the abilities of cybernetic ally enhanced fighters. Or yet again because the pace of the scenes was so fast. But I couldn’t get rid of the “Rambo” smell it all gave off.
The supporting cast.
Unfortunately, they lack enough depth. They talk funny considering their setting. Their interactions are a bit superficial, all seemingly aimed at smoothing the MC’s path. I wasn’t able to feel the, how can I say it, weight? of the organisations vying for control. That bothered me quite a lot towards the middle of the book. .
We also have a few continuity issues, but that’s only me nitpicking.
But my eye’s still twitching… none of the above is what’s itching.
Finally Digging a Nail in that Itchy Spot
This book, while doing it’s utmost best to be cynical, is actually full to the brim with morally tortured individuals. Everyone and their grandma is talking about it: Right and bloody Wrong!
How many times has the MC questioned his feelings and moral compass and come up with supposedly nothing, all the while making profuse usage of morally suffused syntax? I lost count. And it got to me, slowly.
If you really felt nothing, you wouldn’t be spending so much time pondering how stuff makes you feel, you hypocrite!
So what I believe to be a big chunk of the driving idea behind the story, a killer awakening to his emotions, was lost to me because I never believed it, not a single second. It was forced and it showed.
Conclusion
I don’t know yet where in CT Phipps’ timeline as an author this book is, but it looks like it belongs at the beginning. I can see all the shapes of what makes me like GD as a genre, but there’s still some refining to do on shading.
My mark: 3.5
January 29, 2018
Agent G is a cyber-enhanced Jason Bourne, an international assassin with a wiped memory. G does not trust anyone, least of all his shady employers, but they have the one thing he really wants: his memories .
It's a brisk thriller in the James Bond mould, with plenty of fast cars, shootous, awesome gadgets, exotic locations and beautiful women - except that, unusually, the female characters are just as kick-ass as their male counterparts, including Marissa, G's technical support/hacker, and gangster heiress Lucita (who happens to be a cyborg assassin herself).
The plot is twisty, starting with a betrayal inside G's organisation, and after that the double-crosses and double-agents pile up. Nobody can be trusted...G cannot even trust himself, as he has reason to fear that he might not like what he finds out about his own hidden past.
It's not just crash-bang action though; there's a level of thought behind the story which is unusual for the genre. G is under no illusion that he is simply a good guy as he leaves a trail fo death and destruction, and there's a deep cynicism about politics (G seems to be something of a nihilist). Moral ambiguity is everywhere.
Agent G:Infiltrator is good noisy fun, and would look great on the big screen -- though they'd probably cut out all the intelligent stuff...
.
It's a brisk thriller in the James Bond mould, with plenty of fast cars, shootous, awesome gadgets, exotic locations and beautiful women - except that, unusually, the female characters are just as kick-ass as their male counterparts, including Marissa, G's technical support/hacker, and gangster heiress Lucita (who happens to be a cyborg assassin herself).
The plot is twisty, starting with a betrayal inside G's organisation, and after that the double-crosses and double-agents pile up. Nobody can be trusted...G cannot even trust himself, as he has reason to fear that he might not like what he finds out about his own hidden past.
It's not just crash-bang action though; there's a level of thought behind the story which is unusual for the genre. G is under no illusion that he is simply a good guy as he leaves a trail fo death and destruction, and there's a deep cynicism about politics (G seems to be something of a nihilist). Moral ambiguity is everywhere.
Agent G:Infiltrator is good noisy fun, and would look great on the big screen -- though they'd probably cut out all the intelligent stuff...
.
March 24, 2017
Agent G is a man with no state, no ideology, or creed. He is an assassin for the International Refugee Society. The twenty-six agents are called Letters. (Think alphabet, twenty-six, and all). Someone on the inside is a mole. Information on Letters is being fed to Carnevale --the only other Assassin-for-hire business. Competition is murder!
Letters volunteer for a ten year position with the Society. Their memories are wiped, and stored. Once they have successfully completed their time, the memories are restored, and a high-life retirement will ensue. A paradise is the dangling carrot offered for the sacrifices assassins are forced to make.
Now, Agent G is tasked with going undercover. The Society has plans for him. Once inside Carnevale, he is to tear them apart. Divide and conquer. Although expected to go it alone, he has his loyal assistant, and lover, Marissa, radioed in. Their communication is the key to his success. Only problem is --with an unidentified mole in the Society, Agent G has no idea who he can trust. With the promise of his missing past hanging in the balance, his freedom . . . it becomes a race against time to figure out what is what and escape with not just his life, but his sanity!
C.T. Phipps has put out an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Read this in two sittings. Hated putting it down the first time. With geneticists, cybernetics, cloning, political plots, and high-tension suspense, AGENT G: INFILTRATOR is non-stop action. The characters are well-crafted, the dialogue crisp, and witty, and the plot plausible! Trust me, this is not a book you want to miss. Do yourself a favor. Add it to your to-be-read list today!
Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire Series,
and The Vaccination Trilogy
Letters volunteer for a ten year position with the Society. Their memories are wiped, and stored. Once they have successfully completed their time, the memories are restored, and a high-life retirement will ensue. A paradise is the dangling carrot offered for the sacrifices assassins are forced to make.
Now, Agent G is tasked with going undercover. The Society has plans for him. Once inside Carnevale, he is to tear them apart. Divide and conquer. Although expected to go it alone, he has his loyal assistant, and lover, Marissa, radioed in. Their communication is the key to his success. Only problem is --with an unidentified mole in the Society, Agent G has no idea who he can trust. With the promise of his missing past hanging in the balance, his freedom . . . it becomes a race against time to figure out what is what and escape with not just his life, but his sanity!
C.T. Phipps has put out an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Read this in two sittings. Hated putting it down the first time. With geneticists, cybernetics, cloning, political plots, and high-tension suspense, AGENT G: INFILTRATOR is non-stop action. The characters are well-crafted, the dialogue crisp, and witty, and the plot plausible! Trust me, this is not a book you want to miss. Do yourself a favor. Add it to your to-be-read list today!
Phillip Tomasso
Author of the Severed Empire Series,
and The Vaccination Trilogy
February 9, 2021
CT Phipps sets up his "sci-fi assassin story" quite well with this first book of 3 to date. G is a cybernetically enhanced assassin who is damned good at his job. He's also a bit on the snarky side. This reads like RoboBond, and is entertaining throughout. I enjoyed it greatly.
May 1, 2017
I really liked this audio when I think ahead to the future I can see this being it. The story goes into the aliens and the issues they had and have with them. When I think about the time they come to earth I really hope I am not here to see it. I do not see any good coming out of it. The author goes into issues that could be touchy from the dead to being a live, the world is not as we know it today. States may or may not be there. The things they do with items we hold precious will blow your mind. Really the whole story is wonderful planned down to the last detail the whole book is mind blowing. I have no trouble picturing this as our future.
Mr. Kafer does a great job in his narration he has an agent voice that really pulls you in as he becomes part of his characters. His voice at first I didn’t care for because it sounded so agent like but I came to understand that is how it needed to be and grew to love it. It is a very strong voice that pulls you in making you forget you are listening as it becomes more of a movie. There are no background noise, no volume changes, and no repeats of working. His character voices are wonderful from his males to his females. His computer voice is so real just like you would picture it. He really brings the danger alive, as well as the excitement from each new obstacle that is overcome. Mr. Kafer puts a lot of emotion into his audio’s giving the reader a wonderful listen. His voice and tones never leaving you guessing you know just what each character is feeling from their excitement to their anger. His performance is outstanding giving you a clear, clean crisp audio you get lost in.
My heart went out to Agent G what it must feel like not to know who you are. Having to overcome so much and learn everything all over again. Than as he felt he was part of the military at one time I really felt for him and what he had become. There is a love interest as well as confusion on his part and on the computer chip in his mind. The world this author built seemed so real as well as the characters. This was an audio I couldn’t put down from the many different things the future holds and the new things it brings as well as the danger, excitement of all the twist and turns that are just so thrilling and at times chilling. You will never see California or Tennessee along with a few other states the same again. As I listened to this it remind me of the movie V where the aliens wanted and took what they wanted. This is how I see the future if they ever make it here.
I was a little confused at first of what a walk about was but it wasn’t long before the author brought to life just what it entitled and the danger it brings. This is a story of starting over, meeting your past and future head on, reality as well as the danger it brings. It is a story of hope and death, making a difference and just what the military means. What if there was no military who would save us? People become to set in their ways over looking issues but one man sees the future and knows the day will come when we must fight with all we have to keep everyone alive. There are those that feel this fight will never come as they wear their rose color glasses they are in for a rude awaking.
I was drawn from the first page as G is born, how he felt, his confusion and his fight to stay alive and bring justice to a world he doesn’t know. There are things one should never forget, one is how to fight keeping your love ones safe. One man gives his all and may die to save us all. It is setup for the next book in the series at least I hope there is another one. It really hit home for me how easy one gets use to the life we live and forget what we need to remember. I totally was invested and loved this plot, the characters that seem so real. I can hardly wait for the next book I wonder who it will be. There are others on the walk about will they be as interesting as G? I can’t wait to find out what this author has in store for us.
Mr. Kafer does a great job in his narration he has an agent voice that really pulls you in as he becomes part of his characters. His voice at first I didn’t care for because it sounded so agent like but I came to understand that is how it needed to be and grew to love it. It is a very strong voice that pulls you in making you forget you are listening as it becomes more of a movie. There are no background noise, no volume changes, and no repeats of working. His character voices are wonderful from his males to his females. His computer voice is so real just like you would picture it. He really brings the danger alive, as well as the excitement from each new obstacle that is overcome. Mr. Kafer puts a lot of emotion into his audio’s giving the reader a wonderful listen. His voice and tones never leaving you guessing you know just what each character is feeling from their excitement to their anger. His performance is outstanding giving you a clear, clean crisp audio you get lost in.
My heart went out to Agent G what it must feel like not to know who you are. Having to overcome so much and learn everything all over again. Than as he felt he was part of the military at one time I really felt for him and what he had become. There is a love interest as well as confusion on his part and on the computer chip in his mind. The world this author built seemed so real as well as the characters. This was an audio I couldn’t put down from the many different things the future holds and the new things it brings as well as the danger, excitement of all the twist and turns that are just so thrilling and at times chilling. You will never see California or Tennessee along with a few other states the same again. As I listened to this it remind me of the movie V where the aliens wanted and took what they wanted. This is how I see the future if they ever make it here.
I was a little confused at first of what a walk about was but it wasn’t long before the author brought to life just what it entitled and the danger it brings. This is a story of starting over, meeting your past and future head on, reality as well as the danger it brings. It is a story of hope and death, making a difference and just what the military means. What if there was no military who would save us? People become to set in their ways over looking issues but one man sees the future and knows the day will come when we must fight with all we have to keep everyone alive. There are those that feel this fight will never come as they wear their rose color glasses they are in for a rude awaking.
I was drawn from the first page as G is born, how he felt, his confusion and his fight to stay alive and bring justice to a world he doesn’t know. There are things one should never forget, one is how to fight keeping your love ones safe. One man gives his all and may die to save us all. It is setup for the next book in the series at least I hope there is another one. It really hit home for me how easy one gets use to the life we live and forget what we need to remember. I totally was invested and loved this plot, the characters that seem so real. I can hardly wait for the next book I wonder who it will be. There are others on the walk about will they be as interesting as G? I can’t wait to find out what this author has in store for us.
April 6, 2017
A surprisingly refreshing take on the Hitman concept
I received a free copy of this book as a thanks from the author for prior reviews, but I intend to give a fair and unbiased review despite that.
Stop me if you've heard this one. Inhuman remorseless assassin starts to feel things, maybe even falls in love, and ponders his humanity and whether there is truly more to him than the killing. Pretty typical plot, right? A few chapters into this book, I was ready to provide a polite review indicating that it was a slightly hackneyed concept that was competently executed, but then Agent G started truly pondering his humanity and came to a surprising conclusion. He really is nothing but a remorseless killer, someone who enjoys his work and is satisfied with that, without a trace of humanity. This was truly a twist given how this is usually handled. That, by itself, made this book worth finishing, and makes me curious about further installments.
Actual meat of the book, the plotting and pacing is steady. Agent G hits setbacks, but perseveres through a combination of luck, skill, and sheer determination. The action is an interesting combination of stylized (cybernetically enhanced assassins can do all sorts of things that would otherwise be the province of action movies) and simply brutal (outside of a few cases where characters with specific augmentations soak bullets, deaths tend to be a matter of one shot hitting a vital spot and that just ends it). The characters are a bit outlandish, a bit cartoony, but it actually kind of fits in that the high technology of the setting is outstripping human ability to intelligently manage it, which means imagination is as much a part of it as anything.
There are a few odd editing bits that made me reread passages to be certain who was speaking, but otherwise, the copy-editing is good on this one.
I received a free copy of this book as a thanks from the author for prior reviews, but I intend to give a fair and unbiased review despite that.
Stop me if you've heard this one. Inhuman remorseless assassin starts to feel things, maybe even falls in love, and ponders his humanity and whether there is truly more to him than the killing. Pretty typical plot, right? A few chapters into this book, I was ready to provide a polite review indicating that it was a slightly hackneyed concept that was competently executed, but then Agent G started truly pondering his humanity and came to a surprising conclusion. He really is nothing but a remorseless killer, someone who enjoys his work and is satisfied with that, without a trace of humanity. This was truly a twist given how this is usually handled. That, by itself, made this book worth finishing, and makes me curious about further installments.
Actual meat of the book, the plotting and pacing is steady. Agent G hits setbacks, but perseveres through a combination of luck, skill, and sheer determination. The action is an interesting combination of stylized (cybernetically enhanced assassins can do all sorts of things that would otherwise be the province of action movies) and simply brutal (outside of a few cases where characters with specific augmentations soak bullets, deaths tend to be a matter of one shot hitting a vital spot and that just ends it). The characters are a bit outlandish, a bit cartoony, but it actually kind of fits in that the high technology of the setting is outstripping human ability to intelligently manage it, which means imagination is as much a part of it as anything.
There are a few odd editing bits that made me reread passages to be certain who was speaking, but otherwise, the copy-editing is good on this one.
May 6, 2017
Up front, I was given an audiobook copy by CT Phipps for an honest review. As well, I am not a "spy guy" when it comes to my pleasure reading.
Agent G is first and foremost, a fun action-adventure novel which plays in both the spy genre and sci-fi.
G is a Letter, one of 26 special agents conditioned and trained by the shadowy International Refugee Society (IRS). Once accepted into the letter program, an agent is augmented with cybernetics and advanced training to complete certain tasks, usually assassination, supposedly for the betterment of the country/world. What’s the catch? Your entire past prior to becoming a Letter is removed. After your 10 years of service a Letter has his or her memory returned and gifted a large sum of money to retire in peace.
The titular G is returning from his most recent mission when forces begin moving against the IRS. G undergoes a secretive mission to infiltrate a rival organization, and remove key members along with a wayward scientist who may have information to G’s past.
Along for the ride are a cavalcade of supporting characters who assist, and hinder, G for the course of the novel. But being a spy novel in the vein of James Bond meet Johnny Mnemonic, who can G trust?
My only issue with the story as a whole is that the book straddles Spy and Cyberpunk genres, but never really commits to one or the other. The result is a story you will enjoy, but die hard fans of either genre might find Agent G a bit wanting. However, the story culminates in a very satisfying ending with the opening for more story to come. And if what CT told me is true, I am very interesting in what’s to come.
Overall, I recommend reading this, or if you have the opportunity, listen to it as I did. Jeffrey Kafer’s gruff voice brings G to life for its 6 hour run time.
4.5/5
Agent G is first and foremost, a fun action-adventure novel which plays in both the spy genre and sci-fi.
G is a Letter, one of 26 special agents conditioned and trained by the shadowy International Refugee Society (IRS). Once accepted into the letter program, an agent is augmented with cybernetics and advanced training to complete certain tasks, usually assassination, supposedly for the betterment of the country/world. What’s the catch? Your entire past prior to becoming a Letter is removed. After your 10 years of service a Letter has his or her memory returned and gifted a large sum of money to retire in peace.
The titular G is returning from his most recent mission when forces begin moving against the IRS. G undergoes a secretive mission to infiltrate a rival organization, and remove key members along with a wayward scientist who may have information to G’s past.
Along for the ride are a cavalcade of supporting characters who assist, and hinder, G for the course of the novel. But being a spy novel in the vein of James Bond meet Johnny Mnemonic, who can G trust?
My only issue with the story as a whole is that the book straddles Spy and Cyberpunk genres, but never really commits to one or the other. The result is a story you will enjoy, but die hard fans of either genre might find Agent G a bit wanting. However, the story culminates in a very satisfying ending with the opening for more story to come. And if what CT told me is true, I am very interesting in what’s to come.
Overall, I recommend reading this, or if you have the opportunity, listen to it as I did. Jeffrey Kafer’s gruff voice brings G to life for its 6 hour run time.
4.5/5
November 19, 2017
I listened to this book on audible. Audiobook was the perfect format to listen to a spy thriller. First the book. The basic premise is there is a war brewing between the two preeminent spy/assassin agencies in the world. An American based group called the International Society for Refugees and the Italian based Carnivali. The Society has 26 agents whose memories are wiped and they are then given letter names. Agent G is our narrator and he is tasked with taking down the Carnivali. His goal is also to regain his memories along the way. Both sides’ agents are enhanced with various degrees of super soldier technology. Several of the Carnivali assassins are just brains in cyborg bodies. It has a few twists and turns as any good spy book should but it’s mostly about things getting blown up.
Now to the narration since that’s how I consumed the book. The narrator reminded me of Sterling Archer from the Archer cartoon and I really liked that. His voice was clear and easy to understand. Where he did struggle a bit was with accents. I’m not entirely convinced he’s ever heard a British accent based on the ever changing range from vaguely Australian to vaguely Russian that Agent S sounded like even though she’s supposed to be British. This could be because he had a very deep voice and was trying to do an accent and lighten his voice for a woman’s dialogue. This distracted me for about an hour and then I just didn’t notice it again. The story really felt like a cool 1930’s radio show. I’d recommend listening to this book! All in all a fun way to pass a day at work.
Now to the narration since that’s how I consumed the book. The narrator reminded me of Sterling Archer from the Archer cartoon and I really liked that. His voice was clear and easy to understand. Where he did struggle a bit was with accents. I’m not entirely convinced he’s ever heard a British accent based on the ever changing range from vaguely Australian to vaguely Russian that Agent S sounded like even though she’s supposed to be British. This could be because he had a very deep voice and was trying to do an accent and lighten his voice for a woman’s dialogue. This distracted me for about an hour and then I just didn’t notice it again. The story really felt like a cool 1930’s radio show. I’d recommend listening to this book! All in all a fun way to pass a day at work.
April 19, 2017
Sum up this book in just a few words: Total Recall meets James Bond.
This book was a great adventure. It starts off with a literally nameless spy/assassin working for the International Refugee Society while he's on a mission. His name, or designation, is G, and he's one of 26 "Letters." They've had their minds wiped and are killers for hire...except G wants to know who he was before he was a Letter.
The plot takes off from there, and we get a lot of spy stuff, magic, and adventure that introduces us to sexy ladies, redefines the term double-agent, and asks the question of whether or not a person can be more than they've been programmed to be.
I loved the missions the most. CT Phipps is great at action and adventure scenes, and this comes out the greatest during the early Airport scene, and again as soon as G meets the daughter of the head of the Carnivale. When you don't even know who you are, how do you know who to trust? I'm excited to see where this series goes.
This book was a great adventure. It starts off with a literally nameless spy/assassin working for the International Refugee Society while he's on a mission. His name, or designation, is G, and he's one of 26 "Letters." They've had their minds wiped and are killers for hire...except G wants to know who he was before he was a Letter.
The plot takes off from there, and we get a lot of spy stuff, magic, and adventure that introduces us to sexy ladies, redefines the term double-agent, and asks the question of whether or not a person can be more than they've been programmed to be.
I loved the missions the most. CT Phipps is great at action and adventure scenes, and this comes out the greatest during the early Airport scene, and again as soon as G meets the daughter of the head of the Carnivale. When you don't even know who you are, how do you know who to trust? I'm excited to see where this series goes.
April 26, 2017
I've enjoyed several of C.T. Phipps' other stories, and Agent G: Infiltrator has been my favorite so-far. Here we follow G (just G) an elite assassin for hire much in the Same vein as Agent 47 from the Hitman video game franchise(which I'm also a huge fan of). In order to become the perfect killer, G's memories have been wiped, giving him no loyalties to anyone outside his employer.
Phipps gives us a lot of action, double-crossing, and shootouts as we follow our hero across the world. G and the other assassin of his kind are enhanced with cybernetic upgrades, making them even more than human. Mix that with their moral blank-slate, compliments of the Agency's mind-wipe, and we have a cast of very lethal and superhuman killers. (As a huge Cyberpunk fan, I found this much to my liking.)
The ending for me was my favorite part. I enjoy a good twist.
Phipps gives us a lot of action, double-crossing, and shootouts as we follow our hero across the world. G and the other assassin of his kind are enhanced with cybernetic upgrades, making them even more than human. Mix that with their moral blank-slate, compliments of the Agency's mind-wipe, and we have a cast of very lethal and superhuman killers. (As a huge Cyberpunk fan, I found this much to my liking.)
The ending for me was my favorite part. I enjoy a good twist.
November 25, 2017
Agent G
On occasion, I stumble across an author whose work draws me in and gets me to reading every book they’ve written. It’s a rare event. Usually they stick to one genre. I came across Lucifer’s Star (Space Opera) on a recommendation and then read Wraith Knight (Fantasy) and listened to Straight Outta Fangton (Vampire). Three books, three genres. Each of them brilliant in their way. I was a bit apprehensive of Agent G. Cyberpunk is one of my favourite genres but is as often done poorly as it is done well. I shouldn’t have worried. From a brilliant twist on the setting to a mind-blowing finale, this book delivered. Let’s break it down:
Setting
Not a spoiler but the biggest twist on the normal Cyberpunk setting is time. As in Agent G is set in the present day. [Insert expletives here] What? Am I joking? No. It’s a cyberpunk story with cyborgs and associated tech but written in a modern setting with events taking place in the ‘real world’. I didn’t believe that the idea could work but as I listened to it, I was proved wrong. There is a huge dose of grit and the right amount of reference to current issues such as terrorism etc. It’s very much a high-stakes technothriller but with the elements that make a good cyberpunk setting - hacking, implants, a ton of attitude etc. In some ways, the worldbuilding is less of a feature of this book compared to Lucifer’s Star and Wraith Knight - but given the genres of those books, that’s hardly surprising. What worldbuilding is required to make a present day thriller land is delivered here with aplomb. The core conceit works - the whys and wherefores of how cyborg technology appears in the story fits and I never found it jarring. Assassins codenamed as letters of the alphabet, memories that can’t be trusted. Exciting stuff.
9/10
Characters
They’re all a%%^**^s! Well, not quite. The morality of this book is definitely complex. Who is and isn’t a villain is far from clear-cut. The main character - G - is a killer for hire working for the IRS (nothing to do with tax, International Refugee Society). He is a very likeable character who I found myself quickly rooting for even though he does some pretty horrible things. Like the other novels I’ve read by Phipps, the moral complexity applies to the supporting characters and the villains. Like those novels, the characters go through a degree of evolution throughout the story. Twists and turns abound in the plot (see below) but many of those twists are used to reveal different sides of the characters rather than just to advance the plot and grip the reader. That’s quality.
9.5/10
Plot
Complex. Action packed. Fast paced. I can’t really comment on this without spoilers but let’s say all is not what it seems. The mission G is sent on that gives the subtitle ‘Infiltrator’ to the book is interesting and would probably be enough for most technothrillers. But there is a whole other layer to the story which is bound up with who G is and why he is what he is. It kept me guessing until the end and was both surprising and deeply-satisfying.
10/10
Prose/Narrator
Prose - Over the last three books, I’ve seen some common threads in Phipps’s writing. The dialogue is sharp and witty with plenty of pop-culture references, though this has been focused in to the more serious tone befitting a tale of espionage and assassination. Where it was humorous in Straight Outta Fangton, here it just adds an extra ‘sparkle’ to the dialogue. The narrative style itself is clean and crisp. Very readable and up there with a top-tier thriller. Written in 1st person. Could easily be James Patterson-esque back when he still wrote his own books. Oops, I didn’t say that aloud, did I?
9/10
Narration - reminds me of the narrator for Altered Carbon which is no bad thing. Great voice for capturing the Noir feel of this book. Enjoyed the narration a lot.
9.5/10
Overall rounds out to 9.5/10
Verdict - Two thumbs up. A wild-ride that seamlessly combines cyberpunk and technothriller. Thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.
On occasion, I stumble across an author whose work draws me in and gets me to reading every book they’ve written. It’s a rare event. Usually they stick to one genre. I came across Lucifer’s Star (Space Opera) on a recommendation and then read Wraith Knight (Fantasy) and listened to Straight Outta Fangton (Vampire). Three books, three genres. Each of them brilliant in their way. I was a bit apprehensive of Agent G. Cyberpunk is one of my favourite genres but is as often done poorly as it is done well. I shouldn’t have worried. From a brilliant twist on the setting to a mind-blowing finale, this book delivered. Let’s break it down:
Setting
Not a spoiler but the biggest twist on the normal Cyberpunk setting is time. As in Agent G is set in the present day. [Insert expletives here] What? Am I joking? No. It’s a cyberpunk story with cyborgs and associated tech but written in a modern setting with events taking place in the ‘real world’. I didn’t believe that the idea could work but as I listened to it, I was proved wrong. There is a huge dose of grit and the right amount of reference to current issues such as terrorism etc. It’s very much a high-stakes technothriller but with the elements that make a good cyberpunk setting - hacking, implants, a ton of attitude etc. In some ways, the worldbuilding is less of a feature of this book compared to Lucifer’s Star and Wraith Knight - but given the genres of those books, that’s hardly surprising. What worldbuilding is required to make a present day thriller land is delivered here with aplomb. The core conceit works - the whys and wherefores of how cyborg technology appears in the story fits and I never found it jarring. Assassins codenamed as letters of the alphabet, memories that can’t be trusted. Exciting stuff.
9/10
Characters
They’re all a%%^**^s! Well, not quite. The morality of this book is definitely complex. Who is and isn’t a villain is far from clear-cut. The main character - G - is a killer for hire working for the IRS (nothing to do with tax, International Refugee Society). He is a very likeable character who I found myself quickly rooting for even though he does some pretty horrible things. Like the other novels I’ve read by Phipps, the moral complexity applies to the supporting characters and the villains. Like those novels, the characters go through a degree of evolution throughout the story. Twists and turns abound in the plot (see below) but many of those twists are used to reveal different sides of the characters rather than just to advance the plot and grip the reader. That’s quality.
9.5/10
Plot
Complex. Action packed. Fast paced. I can’t really comment on this without spoilers but let’s say all is not what it seems. The mission G is sent on that gives the subtitle ‘Infiltrator’ to the book is interesting and would probably be enough for most technothrillers. But there is a whole other layer to the story which is bound up with who G is and why he is what he is. It kept me guessing until the end and was both surprising and deeply-satisfying.
10/10
Prose/Narrator
Prose - Over the last three books, I’ve seen some common threads in Phipps’s writing. The dialogue is sharp and witty with plenty of pop-culture references, though this has been focused in to the more serious tone befitting a tale of espionage and assassination. Where it was humorous in Straight Outta Fangton, here it just adds an extra ‘sparkle’ to the dialogue. The narrative style itself is clean and crisp. Very readable and up there with a top-tier thriller. Written in 1st person. Could easily be James Patterson-esque back when he still wrote his own books. Oops, I didn’t say that aloud, did I?
9/10
Narration - reminds me of the narrator for Altered Carbon which is no bad thing. Great voice for capturing the Noir feel of this book. Enjoyed the narration a lot.
9.5/10
Overall rounds out to 9.5/10
Verdict - Two thumbs up. A wild-ride that seamlessly combines cyberpunk and technothriller. Thoroughly entertaining from start to finish.
April 11, 2017
My original Agent G: Infiltrator audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
Agent G is an assassin with no name, just a letter; no past, just assignments. But he has dreams. One day when his ten years are served, he’s promised to get his memories and his former life back. That is if he can survive. Agent G works for a secret society that hires him out to kill high-profile targets. He lives a life of wealth and excitement, but questions haunt him. Who was he and could he have been something more than a hired killer.
G’s world is dangerous. Black technology has created super-beings with augmented strength, armor, and mental abilities. Just shooting a target is no longer enough. Carnavale, the brutal Italian crime family, wants to take over the assignation business. They have kidnapped the scientist who invented the mind-wipe technology. But they want more – the agents he has trained – including G.
The secret agent who loses his memory is not a new idea, but Phipps manages to put enough original ideas into his book to keep it fresh. G has a moral base which contradicts everything he does, yet does it anyway. The listener is ready to forgive his violence and blame the system and the corrupt institutions that have created it. The story is flippant, not taking itself too seriously, creating a mood of light satire behind the facade of violence. The technology is over-the-top versions of spy-craft, exploding pens, sub-vocal communications, super-strong androids and brain implants. It’s fun and irreverent.
The audiobook is performed by Jeffrey Kafer, whose voice is just right for the killer with a conscience. Sarcasm oozes through his voice and characterization of Agent G. If the listener can find any complaints, it would be that Mr. Kafer doesn’t differentiate the female voices enough to determine who is speaking at times. It is a minor issue and Kafer delivers an outstanding performance.
Agent G is a quick-paced spy novel full of gadgets and violence. It is lightly satirical and highly entertaining, short enough to listen in one go. The story mostly wraps up, but seems to leave the door open for a sequel. There is also a very nice twist at the end. Recommended.
Audiobook was provided for review by the author.
Agent G is an assassin with no name, just a letter; no past, just assignments. But he has dreams. One day when his ten years are served, he’s promised to get his memories and his former life back. That is if he can survive. Agent G works for a secret society that hires him out to kill high-profile targets. He lives a life of wealth and excitement, but questions haunt him. Who was he and could he have been something more than a hired killer.
G’s world is dangerous. Black technology has created super-beings with augmented strength, armor, and mental abilities. Just shooting a target is no longer enough. Carnavale, the brutal Italian crime family, wants to take over the assignation business. They have kidnapped the scientist who invented the mind-wipe technology. But they want more – the agents he has trained – including G.
The secret agent who loses his memory is not a new idea, but Phipps manages to put enough original ideas into his book to keep it fresh. G has a moral base which contradicts everything he does, yet does it anyway. The listener is ready to forgive his violence and blame the system and the corrupt institutions that have created it. The story is flippant, not taking itself too seriously, creating a mood of light satire behind the facade of violence. The technology is over-the-top versions of spy-craft, exploding pens, sub-vocal communications, super-strong androids and brain implants. It’s fun and irreverent.
The audiobook is performed by Jeffrey Kafer, whose voice is just right for the killer with a conscience. Sarcasm oozes through his voice and characterization of Agent G. If the listener can find any complaints, it would be that Mr. Kafer doesn’t differentiate the female voices enough to determine who is speaking at times. It is a minor issue and Kafer delivers an outstanding performance.
Agent G is a quick-paced spy novel full of gadgets and violence. It is lightly satirical and highly entertaining, short enough to listen in one go. The story mostly wraps up, but seems to leave the door open for a sequel. There is also a very nice twist at the end. Recommended.
Audiobook was provided for review by the author.
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