The Temporary Agent

The Agent Series, Book 1

By: Daniel Judson

Narrated by: Pete Simonelli

Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Scarred by war, former Navy Seabee Tom Sexton vows to leave his violent past behind, only to be drawn back into that life when a deadly conspiracy forces him to face an agonizing choice no man should ever have to make.

Five years after his life was saved in Afghanistan by Marine Force Recon Leader Charlie Cahill, Tom lives a bleak, nomadic existence, haunted by the debt he can never repay. Salvation appears in Stella - a woman as damaged, and resourceful, as he. But when a coded distress call from his former CO leads him to a shadowy NSA operative, Tom is recruited for a "black op" to bring back the now-rogue man who saved his life.

As he searches for Cahill, Tom quickly uncovers a much larger web of treason and betrayal that calls his entire world into question - and forces him into the ultimate no-win scenario.

©2016 Daniel Judson. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Unexpected Pleasure!

I consume many books monthly; both written and on audio. As a result I often find myself with nothing new to read from my favorite authors; Lee Child, Brad Thor, Stuart Wood, Ben Coe, just to name a few. That leaves me in a position of relying on the reviews of similar minded readers or calculated recommendation from Amazon based on my past purchases. This book popped up on this list. It had few reviews, but the summary sounded interesting, so I thought why not. Great decision. The narrator is perfect. The author has written a tightly woven plot with interesting complex characters. I also didn't figure out the ending, which was a pleasure. I how this turns into a series and I look forward to the next installment as I'm not ready to let these characters go. If you are undecided about this book, go fir it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Tom Clancy without all the words

This was a very good read and will definitely be reading more by this author!

Excellent choice for this venue

Perfect for my treadmill time. Very violent but very patriotic. Mostly plausible characters. Will look for another book by the author.

Great character development

Enjoyed the espionage and crime/terrorist drama with multiple threads to lead my conclusions switching antagonists until the very end. Well done in the style of Baldacci.

Great book. Barely okay narration..

So, this was a free read and free listen and I really enjoyed it. It was about a traitor but no one knew for sure who it was so there was a lot of finger pointing.

I thought the hero was going to be Cahill because he was in the beginning of the book but then he sorta disappeared and Tom was there, with Stella his girlfriend.

Tom was asked to find Cahill because he had gone off the rails and since Tom had saved Cahill’s life in the war they thought it would be easier if someone he knew found him.

It was a very exciting story from beginning to the end.

There was no sex and the F-bomb was used 20 times.

As to the narration: *sigh*….. Pete Simonelli (aka Sebastian York) Soooo good and yet soooo bad. His reading voice is just awesome but his women’s voices are horrible and he really does read without any feelings whatsoever, no excitement, no threat, no sadness, no anger, no laughter, no love when he says “I love you, Stella,” no nothing; unlike Napoleon Ryan or Luke Daniels or Eric Dove, or any number of male narrators who seem to put their ‘all’ into their reading. Having said all that, I do have another free read and free listen that’s also narrated by him and I’ll listen to and bitch about it when I’m done. What can I say? I have a love-hate relationship with Simonelli/York.

Great listen

I got this because of the narrator, he's a favorite, under any name. The story was well done, and I enjoyed it very much. The characters kept me intrigued, and the story unfolded in a way that kept me listening and wanting more. Recommended Listen.

Great Thriller, Great Writer, Great Characters

This book is a real find! I hadn't heard of the author before. This is odd since read a lot of thrillers about agents using their honed skills in defeating some very bad enemies, enemies to our country, enemies of our good American values of caring, courage, striving toward higher ideals, in a phrase, enemies to the ethos of our country when it holds to its values.
I am real glad I came upon this book when web-surfing. It is not just a cut-above the other thrillers which cover similar ground, it is a mile above the rest due to the fine writing, on target and clear descriptions, dealing with ordinary human sentiments like love, loyalty, fidelity, fragility of our health, and others. This writer Daniel Judson creates fascinating characters and situations and composes sentences that accurately describe what is going on, externally to the character, as well as internally in terms of a constant inner struggle between the honorable and altruistic against whatever drags us down into selfishness and disloyalty. Moreover, the author is quite clever with his surprising plot shifts and insights into humans in extremis.
I can't wait to start on the second and third in this series which I just ordered. Bravo to Daniel Judson!

Strong start

Good introduction to the series. Nothing revolutionary but it swerves some of the standard tropes.

An enjoyable thriller

I enjoyed this thriller. I liked that you never knew quite whom to trust. Since I listened to it on audio, I did find myself lost a time or two because I became distracted, but overall I could follow the story easily. I would listen to more book in this series.

Couldn’t Finish It

Narration was great. But the book wasn’t. It was difficult to get into the story. It was disjointed. One minute we’re hanging upside down in a car that has been attacked by the bad guys, and the next we’re watching tv with our girlfriend—who is surprising okay with the abrupt jump from Regular Joe to secret agent. I restarted it three times to try and like it, but I couldn’t. I returned it without getting past the first hour.

A must read.

Jack Reacher with more morals . Good read , pacey at times and good descriptions of characters and surroundings