The Night Agent: A Novel

Written by Matthew Quirk

Narrated by Chris Andrew Ciulla

NOW ON NETFLIX! Starring Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan

“Matthew Quirk moves into David Baldacci and John Grisham territory with The Night Agent, a paranoid, pulse-pounding thriller that could not be more prescient. If you’re wondering where the best of the next generation of suspense talent is headed, look no further.” — Joseph Finder

To find a Russian mole in the White House, an FBI agent must question everything. . . and trust no one.

No one is more surprised than FBI Agent Peter Sutherland when he’s tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. When Peter was a boy, his father was suspected of selling secrets to the Russians—a breach that cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life. Now Peter’s job is monitoring an emergency line for a call that has not—and might never—come.

Until tonight.

At 1:05 A.M. the phone rings. A terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that two people have just been murdered and that the killer might still be in the house with her. One of the victims gave her this phone number with urgent instructions: “Tell them OSPREY was right. It’s happening...”

The call thrusts Peter into the heart of a conspiracy years in the making, involving a Russian mole at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Anyone in the White House could be the traitor. Anyone could be corrupted. To save the nation, Peter must take the rules into his own hands, question everything, and trust no one.

The Night Agent marks the return of the classic conspiracy thriller, a Three Days of the Condor for today’s chaotic world. With incredible twists and heart-stopping action, this electrifying novel pulls back the curtain on Washington power and confirms Matthew Quirk as a new master of suspense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jan 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062890467

Matthew Quirk

Matthew Quirk is the New York Times bestselling author of Red Warning, Hour of the Assassin, The Night Agent, The 500, The Directive, Cold Barrel Zero, and Dead Man Switch. He spent five years at The Atlantic reporting on crime, private military contractors, terrorism prosecutions, and international gangs. He lives in San Diego, California.

Reviews for The Night Agent

[Kimmi Adair · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Need to read this book, listened to the audio book and it was hard to concentrate because the narration was soooo bad. It really was not good. I need to read this with my own impression of what the voices should sound like, because this made everyone seem weak and whiney and pathetic. Screwed with the content and context of the novel itself.

[Tyrios · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The voice actor is phenomenal. Lots of emotion even in the narration, not just in the words of the characters. The story is exceptionally clever. It could even suggest how the Russians could do more than just meddle in our social media to influence ejections and policy.

[beth jackson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Story a little slow at first, but soon the suspense pulls you in. Chapter after chapter, what is going to happen next. Suspenseful.

[Lynn Cochran · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book, held my attention , I liked the characters . Well written

[Beth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It just didn't have the writing style that pulls you into the story. Instead of listening longer then I should I was making myself try to finish.

[Joe DalSoglio · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good plot and unexpected ending. Hard to stop listening

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this more: it moved quickly and there was no gory torture. I assume the plot was coherent, but I started skimming at too early a point to be sure. The ending seemed a little unlikely to me, and I found the hero and heroine likeable, but not sufficiently deeply characterized for me to be fully drawn in.

[jarratt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Night Agent" is about Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent tasked with sitting near the Situation Room in the White House and manning a phone. Only people who are in real trouble call that phone, and Peter is simply to verify they're legitimate, then pass them off to his superiors.The phone rarely rings, but on this one occasion, a young woman calls and is very distraught. Peter's not supposed to converse with the callers, but for this call, he does so, finding out her aunt and uncle have just been killed. This begins a series of events in which Peter ignores the orders of his superiors and bends, then breaks, the rules—something he swore he'd never do. This is because Peter's father, also an FBI agent, died under a cloud of suspicion that he was spying for Russia.This is a decent book. The protagonists' characterization was good; the antagonists, pretty cookie-cutter. There were a few nice twists and turns. I'd read more of Matthew Quirk's books.

[pomo58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Night Agent from Matthew Quirk is an interesting story, one that at first glance I would have expected to be drawn into. But it never gripped me, and I can't say for sure why.The plot is not something that is especially new or unusual. That is not as big of a negative as one might think, espionage, political thrillers tend to revolve around a handful of basic plots with variations thrown in to make each distinct. Such is the nature of any genre. That said, even familiar plots can be engrossing because of the characters or some other element. In this case, I think the protagonist was supposed to be that variation and while it worked it didn't work as well as I would have liked.An aside here for people who make complaints about how some events in a book like this are "unrealistic" or "hard to believe." Seriously? The bad guys almost always have numbers, firepower, and other advantages, yet the underdog protagonist manages to win out. If you like this genre you know many instances will be a bit of a stretch. To make it sound like those things are what makes the book less appealing to you is asinine. You disliked something else and fell lazily back into sophomoric genre criticism rather than think about what you actually didn't like. If a scene here seems unlikely but you buy into Bourne or Reacher situations, maybe your issue isn't the situation but the character simply didn't connect with you. But unrealistic situations? In this genre that is the norm and criticism of it is disingenuous.Also, if you happen to read a review from the people who always claim every writer they don't like "doesn't know how to write" and "should take a course," well, ignore them. They offer no concrete stylistic criticism, they just think because they didn't like it then the writer, no matter how many decades they have made a living as a writer, can't write. And in these "reviewer's" infinite wisdom they can spot all of these bad writers. This is far below nonsense, it borders on Trumpian overblown self-worth and ignorant projection of one's own obvious shortcomings.While I would recommend this book, I would probably do so primarily to readers who read enough books that they don't expect each one to be a masterpiece. Fans of the genre will be able to enjoy this even with its weaknesses while casual readers will be able to zip through the book fairly quickly.Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads.

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Peter Sutherland, an idealistic FBI agent, is surprised at his selection to work in the White House Situation Room. He’s a surveillance specialist, an agent who works by the book, an agent determined not to break the rules. He’s seen the repercussions of a choice such as that: when he was a boy, he watched his own father’s downfall as he came under suspicion of selling secrets to the Russians. The aftermath of the accusation was catastrophic for the FBI counterintelligence section chief . . . and Peter never forgot it.Now, vigilance is his watchword as he monitors a silent emergency phone. And then it rings. A young woman named Rose says her murdered aunt and uncle gave her the number and a message: “OSPREY was right. It’s happening . . . .” Interesting, believable characters people this tense political thriller that keeps ramping up the suspense. Peter and Rose, caught up in the treachery reaching far into the government, aren’t certain who can be trusted. The reader is in the same quandary. It’s a pulse-pounding, suspense-filled, timely narrative that readers will find difficult to set aside before turning the final page.Recommended.

[susan.macura · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

FBI agent Peter Sutherland has the overnight shift in the White House Situation Room where he waits night after night for any important phone call to come in. Nothing generally happens until one night when everything changes. He takes a call describing the murder of two people that leads to a national conspiracy involving Russia and its attempts to take over the USA and the world. There are twists everywhere as Peter struggles to find the evidence of an international plot where he never is sure who to trust. This is a very timely and entertaining read!

[ewhatley_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An FBI agent assigned to night phone duty goes a little rogue when he decides to become personally involved in a case rather than passing it up the chain. The tip is that there is a Russian mole in the White House, appropriate considering the current political environment. The book is fast paced and suspenseful, thoroughly enjoyable.