Inside Threat

We loved Matthew Quirk’s novel – The Night Agent – which garnered so many great reviews when it was published in 2019 that it was immediately snapped up to be made into a Netflix series. It’s a brilliant political thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. 'Inside Threat' is Quirk’s latest book and it’s cast in the same mould: fast-paced, interesting characters and a belter of a plot.

Eric Hill is a Secret Service agent working at the White House. He’s doing a desk job to atone for a mis-step when he’d been protecting the Secretary of the Treasury. As one of the longest serving Secret Service agents in the White House he has everyone’s respect, even if they’re a bit wary now that he’s been busted down to administrative duty.

The reader knows from page one that there are traitors in the White House, serving at the highest levels of the Secret Service. Along with Hill you follow an attack as it unfolds, which causes the President, the First Lady and a small group of close protection agents to be evacuated to Raven Rock, a mountain complex in Pennsylvania that’s designated as the USA’s continuity-of-government site in the event of nuclear attack.

Shortly after arriving it becomes apparent that the bad guys are part of the group in Raven Rock, and that getting the President there has been part of their plan all along. So Eric Hill and a few of his colleagues must not only identify the traitors but outwit them too. And of course, it stands to reason that if you’re locked in, other people are locked out.

Our verdict:
Helpfully, there are clear maps and diagrams at the beginning of the book which show you the layout of the various tunnels and buildings in Raven Rock. Without those it could be difficult to work out where the action was happening at any particular time.

Matthew Quirk writes terrific action sequences which convey the speed, detail and importance of what’s happening without hyperbole. In 'Inside Threat' he builds things slowly. You get to know the main characters and their situations bit by bit, from Hill’s own fall from grace to the background of newbie agent, Amber Cody. By the time these two are engulfed in the crisis that’s unfolding you’re willing them to succeed and survive. (And it’s quite easy to imagine they might not survive, because other characters are being picked off by the bad guys one by one.)

Of course it’s not all one-way traffic, some of the bad guys die too. But it isn’t easy to spot the villains, so you’re kept on your toes. As with all good thrillers it’s a race against the clock. Can the good guys in Raven Rock survive until help arrives? Is help even on its way? Like Hill and Cody, the reader battles on! We found the ending a bit of an anticlimax. The book is billed as a standalone novel but we thought it ended with a very small question mark, so we’re not sure if another Eric Hill story might follow at some stage.

It's quite unusual for our book group to give identical scores to a book but every single one of us who read 'Inside Threat' awarded it 4 Stars, which must give you an indication that if you like reading action thrillers, this is one you might enjoy.
Review by: Oundle Crime