Hunting Zero (Agent Zero #3) ★☆☆☆☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Hunting Zero
Series: Agent Zero #3
Authors: Jack Mars
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 293
Words: 102K

Synopsis:

From the Publisher

“You will not sleep until you are finished with AGENT ZERO. A superb job creating a set of characters who are fully developed and very much enjoyable. The description of the action scenes transport us into a reality that is almost like sitting in a movie theater with surround sound and 3D (it would make an incredible Hollywood movie). I can hardly wait for the sequel.”--Roberto Mattos, Books and Movie ReviewsIn HUNTING ZERO (Book #3), when CIA operative Agent Zero finds out his two teenage girls have been kidnapped and are bound for a trafficking ring in Eastern Europe, he embarks on a high-octane chase across Europe, leaving a trail of devastation is his wake as he breaks all rules, risks his own life, and does everything he can to get his daughters back.Kent, ordered by the CIA to stand down, refuses. Without the backing of the agency, with moles and assassins on all sides, with a lover he can barely trust, and being targeted himself, Agent Zero must fight multiple foes to get his girls back.Up against the most deadly trafficking ring in Europe, with political connections reaching all the way to the top, it is an unlikely battle—one man against an army—and one that only Agent Zero can wage.And yet, his own identity, he realizes, may be the most perilous secret of all.

My Thoughts:

I am so done with this series now. Agent Zero acts like an angry dad without one ounce of professionalism and breaks every rule even though he knows the rules are his best bet. He acts stupid, emotional and the man I read about would never in a million years have become a top agent of the CIA, or an agent for anything other than a Jihad. His emotionally driven reactions reminded me EXACTLY of jihadi's in other books I've read.

So goodbye Kent Steele, you've wasted enough of my time with your lying ass claims to be a secret agent. You're a dumbass, that's it.

★☆☆☆☆

• Not Even Going to Link to the Other Books So You Don't Waste Your Time On This Garbage

Target Zero (Agent Zero #2) ★★★☆☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Target Zero
Series: Agent Zero #2
Authors: Jack Mars
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 285
Words: 97.5K

Synopsis:

Kent Steele, aka Reid Lawson, aka Agent Zero, is trying to piece his life back together after the events of the last book. He hasn't made a decision about returning to the CIA or not, his relationship with his oldest daughter is getting rocky as she is smart enough to realize things don't add up and Lawson continues to get back old memories, all of which throw doubt on everything he thought he knew about himself and his wife.

A terrorist group weaponizes a small pox strain and it's up to Agent Zero and his team to stop it. At the same time, the assassin from the previous book escapes and goes hunting after Zero's daughter to use as bait.

Zero stops the plague from destroying the world but the book ends on a cliffhanging concerning his daughters and the assassin. We also find out there is yet another vast and worldwide conspiracy about “something”, again and that Zero's current love interest might be involved.

My Thoughts:

This has some really nice action scenes, but there are a couple of jarring notes that I suspect will doom this series for me.

First, stupid actions by smart people to drive the plot on. For example, the team needs one of the terrorists alive to interrogate him (enhancedly if need be) but one of the other team members shoots him dead “because he might have been a threat”. Oh my goodness. These are supposed to be highly trained professionals but they act more like characters on a tv show, sigh.

Second, the family drama. Lawson has been hiding his secret identity as Zero all these years and it's only NOW, in the worst imaginable time, that he begins to wonder how to deal with it? And he's stymied by his 16 year old daughter? Should have thought of the future Mr Agent Man before getting married and trying to pretend to be normal. Once again, it came across as Hollywood'esque.

Thirdly, the liberal guilt tripping and gun hate. Every time Zero can't save everyone in a situation, he starts bad talking himself and blaming himself. Now, guilt is a natural thing but the phrases used and the word choices are straight out of Liberal Guilt Tactics 101. The person doing the killing isn't the bad guy, YOU are the badguy because you didn't stop them. It is the most illogical and stupid piece of rhetoric and it makes me angry, because it is deliberately dishonest. The gun thing is all about Zero having memories of his wife finding one of his hidden safe guns (he had 11 around the house) and she totally trashes the very concept of gun ownership. Couple that with his daughter's question about her learning to shoot after the incident in the previous book and Zero's active avoidance to teach her, well, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

With all of that, the book was still really interesting. Like I said at first, the action is really good and that is what carried me through despite everything else I've mentioned. I'm going to read the next book but if any of those 3 things I mentioned above show up, I'll be done. If I want to watch a tv show, with all the attendant weaknesses, I'll go do that. I don't need that in my books, thank you very much.

★★★☆☆

• Agent Zero (Book 1)

Agent Zero (Agent Zero #1) ★★★☆☆

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Agent Zero
Series: Agent Zero #1
Authors: Jack Mars
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 322
Words: 115.5K

Synopsis:

Kent Steele is getting over the death of his wife and is doing his best to provide stability for his 2 daughters. One night he is kidnapped and told he's a secret agent for the CIA, the most lethal agent the world has ever known. Kent, a history professor, knows this isn't true and is convinced the kidnappers have the wrong man. Then they remove a small module from his head and suddenly he's having memories that seem impossible.

Turns out Steele WAS a secret agent going after a organization that was so scattered that no 3 members knew more than 3 other members. They had penetrated governments and security agencies and it was obvious to Steele that the CIA had a mole or 3. So he chose to have his memory suppressed, faked his death and was trying to hide in plain sight.

Now that he's back, Steele means to see the job done. He hunts down the organization and puts a stop to them killing hundreds of world leaders and business moguls. Now Agent Zero is back.

My Thoughts:

Jason Bourne meets John Wick, with kids. This was a decent story. However, this was originally published in 2019 and right now, in 2022, the series has ended at book 12. That's 4 books a year. I know that output doesn't HAVE to indicate quality (as evinced by the Galaxy's Edge series by Anspach and Cole) but it usually is a good indicator. This was well written and I really hope the quality stays this high.

While I did enjoy this, we'll have to see if the author has the imagination to keep the story interesting for 11 more books. What concerns me is that Kent Steele has a dead wife, 2 young daughters and in this book gets a potential love interest from his past. That's a LOT of drama potential. The kids especially worry me because most authors either kill them off OR end up making them non-entities. Neither of those options is enjoyable to read about nor does it ever indicate a skill level that is above average in terms of story telling.

I realize I'm being pessimistic here but sometimes it is hard not to be. I'd like to end this by saying I did enjoy the story and the main characters name just made me laugh. If you're a comic fan, you might have already picked up on it. Kent is the last name of Clarke Kent, who is also known as the Man of Steel.

★★★☆☆