It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for another Indie Feature Friday book review!
I’ve been madly busy the last couple of weeks, scrambling to finish writing Bubbles in Space #4: Spit ‘Em Out while battling a nasty head cold.
Today was the first day I had to sit down and simply read for pleasure for more than half an hour.
And I chose to spend these precious moments of free time with a new-to-me SF writer, C.T. Phipps.
His Agent G trilogy really piqued my interest as I’ve been thinking about tackling a techno thriller series set HoloCity (the setting of Bubbles in Space) as a way of branching out and attracting new readers to my weird little niche series, lol.
But that’s neither here nor there.
What is here and now and painfully cool is Agent G!
Agent G: Infiltrator by C.T. Phipps
The Blurb:
“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?
My Review:
I had a ton of fun with this fast, action-packed, sci-fi thriller.
Agent G is pure style–think cyborg James Bond–a calm, cool killer for hire working for the dubiously moral International Refugee Society. The novel starts off with a bang (literally!) as we get a peek into G’s high-stakes, ultra-rich, no-limits lifestyle as a professionally trained and artificially conditioned political assassin.
Now, I normally shy away from books with invincible action hero types. I tend to prefer underdog characters, people with real life struggles, you know? But this book took me completely by surprise. What starts off as a guilty-pleasure type read, full of car chases and gun-fights and sexy leading ladies, suddenly takes a turn for something much more complicated.
And I dig it.
G’s ultra-cool exterior is slowly chipped away by a series of betrayals and jobs that have him questioning his job, the people he works for, and who he is as a person under the high-tech façade. As more of G’s past is revealed, and he starts to get glimpses of his own unconditioned emotions, G’s character becomes so much more than your standard action-flick super badass and he starts to resemble something much real and human.
And then the twist at the end! Oh my. This is going to be a totally bingeable trilogy.
Phipps tackles some big issues regarding empathy, morality, and transhumanism in a fun, sarcastic, and light way. So you can really read into it with was much or as little depth as you’re feeling at the moment. If you feel like a lightning-paced action thriller with tons of twists and turns to keep you guessing, you’ll love this book. And if you like your SF thrillers with a side of technological catch-22s and transhumanist-flavoured existential dread, Agent G will not disappoint.
I’ll definitely be picking up the next two in this series!
Discussion:
Have you read any of Phipp’s work? What did you think? He has a superhero series that looks really cool, too!
What’s your favourite action movie/book that tackles themes that go beyond fast and easy entertainment?