The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk

The book opens with an obviously pissed off FBI agent Peter Sutherland walking up the path to a DC mansion carrying a long handle axe.

Got your attention?

Sutherland works the emergency phone desk in the White House’s situation room complex. When someone connected to the White House is in trouble, they call, and these ‘night agents’ direct the call to the best possible source of help. A job with months of nothing until 'that call' comes in.

He was hired by Diane Farr, the chief of staff of President Travers; an outsider whose good fortune (or not, depending on your outlook) ended up winning the job in a colossal upset. Peter had impressed Farr when both were working in Boston and she filed his name away . . . just in case.

Peter has some baggage. Serious baggage. Seems his father was also FBI, but on his watch, some secrets were leaked to the Russians than resulted in a lot of dead assets. The death of his father, under suspicious circumstances, did little to prove innocence or guilt. Peter’s whole life in and out of the FBI has been a race to prove he is not his father’s son.

'That call' comes in. The caller says her aunt and uncle told her to call the number, give a code, and act on instructions given. Turns out auntie and uncle have been undercover assets for the FBI for decades. And dang good at it. So good, that the Russians are at the door, guns blazing, to kill both and obtain a red ledger full of incriminating information on how the Russians were manipulating the US system in order to get assets of their own into power and into the White House.

While specifically told to stay away from the crime scene, Peter goes and stands at the periphery to watch the beginning of the investigation. When headed back to his car, the caller, Rose, intuitively catches his eye and she realizes it was he with whom she talked.

This sets off an ever escalating chain of events as both sides want this red ledger. Over the next week, every safe house, every cop, every Escalade, every fed is a potential threat. No matter who tells Peter to bring her in, he ignores the command and takes her deeper and deeper into the depths of DC to protect her from danger and the multitude of twists and deceptions. His only loyalty is to her safety, not to that which he swore an oath.

Learned about this book from The Real Book Spy who listed it as one of the best political thrillers of 2019. Have to say if I was savvy enough to make up such a list, The Night Agent would certainly be on it. Think of it as a more modern take on the classic Six Days of the Condor. An agent trapped and hunted by both sides with no where to hide from both sides that have reason to stop an innocent from making information public. This books adds a treatment of whether the sins of the father are also the sins of the son. Top drawer political thriller with only one issue: you’ll want to keep reading just one more chapter each night and end up getting too little sleep.

East Coast Don

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