Night Agent = Matthew Quirk

 Night Agent belongs to the thriller sub-genre pioneered by TV series 24 and Homeland, in which the deep state - supposedly the upholders of order - turn out to be the enemy, the enablers of chaos.   Night Agent itself is now the heavily promoted season headliner on Netflix.  I neither have nor especially want Netflix, so the book is all I can comment upon.

It's a great read, well-written and extremely well constructed, the twists coming at regulat intervals.   Yes, like so many contemporary books, it goes on a tad too long for my taste.  That said, the plot is so high-concept that I do feel some explanation was necessary after the denouement.   I don't want to give too much away, but the concept is a high as it can get in the sub-genre.   Does the rot rise all the way to the highest office?

Peter Sutherland of the FBI is the night agent in question.  His job is to sit overnight in the White House Situation Room in case the phone rings.   If it rings, there is a code to be confirmed, then Peter passes it on to either his FBI boss, James Hawkins, or the White House Chief of Staff, Diane Farr, end of involvement.   It was Farr picked Sutherland for the job.  She knows he can be relied on because of his father's sins.   Sutherland senior was a high-ranking FBI official who turned traitor and killed himself.   Sutherland also suspects he was chosen because he is a permanent outsider; if he messes up, well, you know, the sins of the father...

Peter came to Farr's attention because he was the hero of a Metro crash a year or so earlier.   Peter suspects the crash was not entirely an accident, and is quietly looking into it in his downtime, which is considerable.   The phone is only going to ring if something goes badly wrong.  And the vasr majority of the time, nothing goes that awry.

Until it does.   The phone rings.  It is a young woman, panic-stricken.   She is hiding in an empty house.   Armed men have come to the house she lives in and killed her aunt and uncle.   They are now coming for her.   She knows the pass code.   Her uncle told her before he died.   He also told her to mention a red ledger.   Peter passes her on as instructed.   But he can't resist going by her place on his way home.   He can't stay away from the funeral.   After the funeral, the girl approaches him.   She heard him speak earlier.   She recognised his voice from the phone call.   Who is he?  What is going on?   Why were her aunt and uncle executed by men speaking Russian?

As I say, it is perfectly done.   Quirk keeps the writing simple and straightforward because the plot is so complex.   The characters are well-rounded.   The good guys have flaws, the bad guys can behave reasonably.    I don't find (especially after Trump and January 6) the central concept too far-fetched.   And I absolutely devoured the book.   Great entertainment done wondrously well.   Almost makes me want Netflix, but I will continue to resist the temptation.