Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: The Agent’s Thief
AUTHOR: Este Holland
SERIES: Westwood Agency
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 206 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 20, 2020
BLURB:
An adventure with a disenfranchised special agent, a former thief, and a group of highly trained misfits.
Fielding Dukakis is a tease, a flirt, a twink, a millennial, and…oh yeah, he’s in love with Special Agent Luke Kairo. It’s no secret—everyone knows. Having shamelessly chased after Luke until he caught him, Fielding begins working with Luke and his band of merry agents at the Westwood Agency. He’s happy with his new boyfriend and his new life…until his past comes calling.
Luke Kairo lives life from one mission to the next, never looking back. Then he meets a young man who tempts him into acting without thinking—unacceptable. Suddenly, Luke’s narrow world expands with light and laughter he never expected. When Fielding goes missing, Luke and his agents leave no stone unturned as they race to pick apart Fielding’s past to find him in the present.
Luke soon realizes he doesn’t know Fielding as well as he thought he did, but his need to find Fielding grows with every passing hour. State to state, town to town, Luke will not rest until he finds his little field mouse. Together, they’ll put Fielding’s past to rest, once and for all.
REVIEW:
Sometimes I’m in the mood for angst, or adventure, or rom-com. When I’m hankering for something light and fun for when real life is less than ideal, I know to look no further than an Este Holland novel. Silly me. I based that judgement on her last three fantastic books – the only Holland books I’ve read – and didn’t realize she also delves into a bit of action adventure and crime, which is what she delivers here. I was not expecting the adrenaline rush and near constant action, and it was a delight.
Luke is a freelance Homeland Security Agent of sorts, running the Westwood Agency in Los Angeles. Fielding is his lover and employee. When Fielding doesn’t show up to work one day, Luke engages all of his agency’s assets and quickly ascertains his lover has been abducted. What follows is a pursuit to Carson City, Nevada, where Luke’s genius hacker, Juno, tracks Fielding down. I loved reading about the team’s fast-acting operations. Juno, Rainy Daye, Perry, and Lily are fun characters, likable not only because of their quirky personalities, but for their devotion to both Luke and Fielding. The latter is clearly well-liked beyond being the boss’ boyfriend. The team works together like clockwork to rescue Fielding.
While this is a standalone book as far as the action is concerned, I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was missing a whole lot of backstory on Luke’s business and operatives, and particularly between Luke and Fielding. I read the free short story, The Agent Meets the Thief, to which a link is provided at the beginning of The Agent’s Thief. I strongly recommend you do that before proceeding with this book. But I still felt like I was missing something between the two leads. If you know if Luke and Fielding appeared together in another book, could you please leave a comment to this review? There’s a reference to Fielding chasing Luke from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and I would enjoy reading that. Anyway, I feel dissatisfied as if I’m missing something. Your mileage may vary. The only other thing that bothers me is not knowing their ages of if there’s an age gap.
The Agent’s Thief is told with the use of flashbacks. The protagonists spend most of the present timeline apart while Fielding is combating his abductors and Luke is racing to find him. Their time together is found mostly in the frequent flashbacks. I’m not always a fan because they can break the continuity, but they work in this offbeat tale. The back and forth between the past and present prevents the crime component from getting too heavy and overpowering the book, while the action portions keep the pace lively. But the best part is the interesting perspective we get into the depth and extent of Luke’s love for Fielding through Luke’s realizations the longer they are apart. When they are together, they have an intense connection with each other, both emotionally and sexually, but they’re playful and affectionate, too.
They have a great dynamic, which when combined with an adventurous story and zany characters – both good and bad – results in a pleasurable story that I solidly recommend, particularly to readers who want their romance with some action that’s not too heavy.
RATING: 
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