Agent Zero (An Agent Zero Spy Thriller—Book #1)

This is a great read, twists and turns, characters with depth, great pacing. Loved it! I hope you all do too.

Agent Zero by Jack Mars is a fast-paced, high-stakes thriller that hits the ground running and rarely slows down. The premise—a man with no memory discovering he’s a deadly secret agent—is compelling and well-executed. Mars keeps the tension tight, and there’s no shortage of action. That said, while I really enjoyed this first installment, I’m not sure I’ll continue with the series. The writing is solid, the story engaging, but it didn’t quite hook me enough to commit long-term. Still, for fans of adrenaline-fueled espionage, this is a strong opening shot. Overall: A really good book with a killer concept. Recommended for a quick, gripping read.

A really powerful story that keeps you pinned to the plot! Agent Zero aka Reid Lawson is not Clark Kent or Superman but he is a man of steel aka Kent Steele. Briefly, a simple plot of terrorists bonded together to create havoc and mayhem are foiled by the intense Kent Steele known as Agent Zero. We first meet him as a professor of history at Columbia University. He has family of two daughters, is widowed by the early death of his wife Kate, and is knowledgeable in world history. He is kidnapped at his home, taken to a basement cell in Paris from his home in New York to be tortured and told that he is really Kent Steele, who he does not appear to know. A strange combination of James Bond characters as well as Superman. He is a legend in his CIA role as a special agent whose job is to eliminate persons and threats to national security. He is greatly feared but unfortunately, Reid Lawson believes that he is only a history professor. The main story is solving his identity as both Reid and Kent seem to be one and the same. As Kent Steele he is considered a threat to a group of terrorists who are bent on killing him. His survival makes up most of the plot since he is feared not only by a terrorist body but also his own colleagues at the CIA. He does not know who to trust. Kent Steele has been presumed to be dead. Because there are 20 books written about Agent Zero we know he will survive. How he does it takes a lot of imagination. I don’t know if I will be likely to read any more of these books but this was one I could not put down until I finished reading it. It is a very well planned book which did hold my interest. It has a bit of romance in it but only a bit of a tease. A beautiful blonde agent (spoiler) is trustworthy. However, much time is given to his loyalty to his dead wife. Her death is the cause of his mistrust of the CIA. I recommend this book by Jack Mars.

For those who enjoy early Robert Ludlum novels. Similar to Bourne 3 book series, not writings that followed over the years. Similar angst of character but with a 21st century tech twist. Fight scenes a little drawn as most such are over quickly, as tended to be movie script-ish. Overall, a good fast read.

Stupendous! I couldn’t put the book down! I read it in two days time. I felt as if I was in be of the agents . Certainly recommend this book.

A lot of plots with many turns. Some a little unbelievable but all in all a good read. I’ll have to read reviews of second book before I move on and read it.

Although Agent Zero had some great, fast-paced moments full of tension and intrigue, there are 3 reasons why I downgraded it to 3 stars: **** SPOILERS AHEAD **** 1) I simply do not understand why so many thriller type books rely on a contrived plot vehicle to further the story - it's really annoying! In this case, the amazingly complex and brilliant terrorist organization named AMUN has supposedly taken 2 years to develop an unstoppable terror plan, yet they rely on having one unprotected individual to set the plan in motion - ludicrous! Any Engineer or system planner knows that the key to building a robust, redundant, and reliable system is to avoid an SPOF (single point of failure) that by itself can bring a whole system down! Uh-duh! 2) Waaaaay too much graphic violence! I understand that violence is part of the story, and I accept that, but it does not need to be so graphic and gratuitous! 3) I find it impossible to believe that an organization as sophisticated as the CIA would "not think" of checking an agent's real name when searching for him! Even more ludicrous and uh-duh! I will give Mr. Mars another chance in the second book in the series, but if this pattern continues, then I am done.

‘Agent Zero’ by Jack Mars, the first novel in a twelve book series, is my introduction to this author. I had seen his books on thriller listings for some time, and bought one a while ago. Finally, I had time to read it. What a treat! I thoroughly enjoyed this tale about a university professor and an amnesic covert agent. I also enjoyed the author’s writing style, which reminded me of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books though in a much more contemporary setting. The subject of spies suffering from amnesia has been around for many a year; Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series immediately springs to mind. I was a little worried, when reading the blurb on Amazon for this book, that the premise would be almost a repetition of one that has become almost a standard for this sort of thriller. However, I was pleasantly surprised how the author came up with a new twist and was able to exploit this in the opening chapters in a very original way. Mars lead the readers in completely the wrong direction, thus making the sudden appearance of the terrorist in the protagonist’s home, and his subsequent kidnapping, a hugely successful hook for the rest of the tale. A great fast-paced read especially for fans of Ludlum, Fleming and similar authors. This won’t be the last Jack Mars I read. Highly recommended.

This book was beautifully written and so underrated! I ran through the entire 12-book series no less than 3 times, and was amazed by the plot twists and fast pace. The action rivals that of James Bond and the writing is extremely detailed. This is absolutely a must read for all spy thriller lovers.

Saw some Jason Bourne similarities. Loved it!

Much, much better than the previous book I read from this author. Which just goes to show; it pays to have faith in an author. It is an exciting, "difficult to put down" book, with well described characters and a deceptive plot. Some of it stretches believability for the normal person, but so what - I read a lot of sci-fi so unbelievable is part of my genre - in fact, how Jack thinks some of this up I am not sure. I did manage to predict the ending as soon as the country was mentioned (more by luck than judgement); but still the author kept me reading, which is a good sign. I would definitely 100% recommend, and will, at some time in the future read book 2 (it appears I already have this one in my library - Target Zero), but I think he will struggle to top the first book in this series.

I usually dont bother writing reviews on Amazon as its the word minimum requirement that puts me off. But from the last four years the mention and use of the world economic forum in this book, made for facinating reading. Head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2017: “What we are very proud of, is that we penetrate the global cabinets of countries with our WEF Young Global Leaders… like Justin Trudeau. Now if that doesnt worry you after the last four years....

A great fast moving espionage thriller that is hard to put down after you have started reading it. Some good twists and turns to keep you guessing about the story. I’m already looking forward to reading the next book in the series.