What do readers think of Agent X by Noah Boyd? Write your own review.

An above average espionage thriller. The reader may sometimes have to suspend belief about how fast the Bricklayer, Steve Vail, and his colleagues can make meaning from the most hidden of clues that no one else can decipher. And while the banter between them sometimes is a bit too much, overall it is a solid read that will have you turning the pages. I will go back and read the first in the series, "The Bricklayer", which I have on the shelf but had not read. US counterterrorism agencies could use a few dozen Steve Vails with his analytical abilities and street sense.

An entertaining action thriller/mystery. Many twists and turns to keep you guessing. If you enjoy Dan Brown and Lee Child type books, you will like this one. Noah Boyd seems to have great potential as an author. I look forward to reading more of his work.

I really enjoyed this book. It is one of the better FBI-CIA intrigue books that I've read over the past couple of years. I found the book to be similar to Nelson DeMille's - John Corry character. In fact, I had to remind myself a couple of times that it was not indeed the same character. I enjoyed the constant turns and could not put the book down once I hit the second half of the book.

Agent X is a real page turner. I debated between rating this a 4 or 5 and lean towards 4.5. I love a good thriller. And this story is engrossing, albeit improbable - a 21st Century spy thriller involving the Americans and Russians and moles. The narrative is extremely well written. I found the dialogue flat -somewhat stilted. That is why I rated this a 4. Steve Vail is an engaging hero, a talented, complicated man who disdains the authority and red tape laden, political maneuvering of his former employer, the highly bureaucratic FBI and prefers to work as a bricklayer in Chicago. I like Vail, who has similar characteristics of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, and will now go back and read The Bricklayer.

There are different kinds of books...instructional, spiritual, intellectual and then there is the "good read". Agent X is in the last category..the characters are implausible, the plot hard to believe, but the story is full of action and it's hard to put the book down. I enjoyed this book. If you love spy thrillers you will too.

Another cold war, Russia vs. U.S., novel with a mole high up in one of the U.S. spy agencies. Although this has been done many times, I was hoping for a a fresh perspective. Unfortunately, I found this book to be tiresome and, frankly, boring much of the time. The plot was implausible to the point of being difficult to follow. I had to keep reminding myself what the point was of all the chasing around and dead bodies. I enjoy books where the plot is complex and challenging but the clues are there. However, I am not an Agatha Christie fan because the clues are available only to one of the characters - no chance to figure it our for your self. This book follows that formula.

I have not read the first book in this series so perhaps I was at a disadvantage in terms of character development. My belief is that books should generally stand on their own, providing enough character development to flesh out the characters so they become real people that you have some feeling about - either liking or disliking them. In my opinion, this book failed to accomplish that. Both of the main characters, Steve Vail and Kate Bannon, seemed very one dimensional. In particular, Steve Vail would make a great romance novel hero. He is perfect, never does anything wrong and is the only one capable of figuring out and finding the bad guys. If you enjoy those types of heroes, this will be a good read for you. It might make a good airplane or beach book but would not be high on my list of recommendations.

Noah Boyd, pen name for Paul Lindsay, needs to focus. Is he using Dan Brown's plot construction model? Perhaps Lee Child's? The tedious plotting through way too many puzzles suggests Brown. The rogue main character suggests Childs. I suggest Boyd/Lindsay find his own legs.

His main character's attitude about management-level agents in the Bureau, while somewhat over-stated, are nevertheless quite accurate.

The writing mechanics are careful for the most part, but awkward and amateurish in many places.

I plodded through this book. I wanted to skip.

I did not read THE BRICKLAYER which was the first book in the series and that may have influenced my opinion here, but I found that the main characters lacked development. They were witty and intelligent, but I didn't feel as though I knew them. They were also able to solve clues and puzzles at a moment's notice. The book was exciting and fast paced, but I was not able to keep up with their findings. Reading is more fun if I can keep up with the story.