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Double Review: Secret Agent Analyst – Penelope Peters

Secret Agent Analyst - Penelope Peters

Genre: Romantic Comedy, Spy Thriller

LGBTQ+ Category: Bi, Gay

Reviewers: Maryann; Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild

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About The Book

Anthony Dare, Secret Agent Extraordinaire, is going to save the world. Again.

Anthony Dare is suave and sophisticated, cool under pressure and hotter than most supervillains can handle. He never fails to walk away from a mission – even when his field partners fail to come home. However, Anthony’s next mission against the evil supervillain Cicero includes an unwelcome addition – one not even Anthony is sure he can handle. The last thing Anthony needs is a brand-new, untested, rather attractive field partner.

Too bad his boss has another plan entirely…

Elliot Bichler, Analyst and Supervillain Expert, is going to save the world. Maybe.

Elliot Bichler never planned to go into the field; he’s content to sit at his safe desk in his safe cubicle. But he’s spent his entire career watching Anthony save the day without saving the intel Elliot and his fellow analysts need. Being assigned as Anthony’s newest field partner might be dangerous – but Elliot isn’t going to waste the chance to finally point Anthony in the right direction – or maybe secure that intel himself.

Just as long as he doesn’t die in the process…

They’ll save the world. But first, they’ll need to save each other.

Secret Agent Analyst is a m/m novel that’s more romantic comedy than spy thriller. It includes double agents, supervillains with terrible taste in design, and a very hungry Kraken.

The Reviews

Maryann:

Anthony Dare is the super hero agent for the DVM (Department of Villain Monitorization). He’s always welcomed back after an assignment as the hero, whether it goes well or not. He’s lost a few partners along the way, but it doesn’t matter to those in the organization.

Even though Anthony appears pompous, deep down inside it bothers him. With the loss of Enrique, his last partner, he’s feeling angry, disappointed, and guilty. But Anthony keeps up his facade. 

Elliot Bichler is a top notch supervillain analyst, and he’s fine with that. He has his own special way that he helps the actual agents – he reads and analyzes their reports, talks with them face-to-face and he makes friends with them.

Anthony’s arch-nemesis is Cicero, but the codewords of the DVM are “get him next time,” “detain, never eliminate”, and “killing only makes us like them.” Cicero has some wacky ideas on how to take over the world, and has a man named Archibald O’Leary bankrolling him.

Bea is the head of DVM. She decides to send Anthony and Elliot on the assignment to Bulgaria to capture Cicero again. But Anthony and Elliot are already butting heads and don’t see eye-to-eye about anything. And going into the field is just not Elliot’s type of gig!

On the mission, Anthony and Elliot face all kinds of ridiculous danger: jumping from planes; rescuing women; riding ATVs in the desert; facing a kraken; discovering sheep clones, and being chased by Cicero and his henchmen. In the midst of it all, something starts to develop between them. Elliot is smart, but he doesn’t realize he can handle so much more than he lets himself take on, and he becomes someone Anthony can lean on.

And for Anthony, the assignment becomes more difficult as he has to carry out an order that he knows is wrong.

The story does have a serious side, as when Anthony thinks about his former partner and now is concerned for Elliot.

Two other characters that make this tale fun are Daria Halloumi and the scientist Zayna. Daria, especially, brings lots of excitement to the story.

This is my first read by Peters, and it’s a fun, fast, explosive, action packed, adventurous tale. I highly recommend it for those who love comedy and super heroes.

Linda:

Anthony Dare is a super-spy working for the Department of Villain Monitorization Spy Agency (DVM). He’s has been after super-villain Cicero for a long time, and every time he captures him, the villain escapes. He has just returned from a mission, and upon entering HQ, he’s met with cheers, hugs and shouts of “hero” Unfortunately, his partner was killed, but he isn’t even a thought to anyone on the first floor. Fortunately, the top floor also cheers, but expresses sympathy for another agent lost.

When he enters the office of the head of the agency, Bea, expecting his usual drink of ten-year-old scotch, he finds only tea and Elliot Bichler, an agency analyst. His meeting with Elliot is not met with cheers, but with screaming and cursing over Anthony’s failure to use analysts for information that could be important to his missions.

No scotch, no cheers, and the worst is yet to come. Elliot is to be his new partner on a mission to Bulgaria. Cicero has obtained a rocket, and Anthony and Elliot must put a stop to his latest villainous plot.

Elliot has researched Cicero and has found out who is financing him, something Anthony would know if he had consulted with the analyst. The two men travel on a luxury plane that explodes in midair, and while Anthony takes it in stride, Elliot can only see his own potential death. Escaping with parachutes, they land in a field, but not in Bulgaria. They both survive, along with the flight attendant that Elliot had tied to himself. Anthony is determined to find nothera plane so they can continue their mission to Bulgaria, but they find danger instead.

One of Cicero’s headquarters is nearby, and the plan is to sneak aboard one his planes. Until Elliot discovers a lab filled with trouble. Anthony wants to get to the plane, but Elliot insists they destroy the tubes that are a potential danger to the world. They fight over it and get caught.

Elliot is sure he is going to die when Anthony kisses him, the kiss of death, because everyone he has ever kissed is now dead. Will the two survive to break his run of bad luck?

I don’t even want to get into the types of criminal activity that Cicero was involved in, but most of them put a smile on my face.

This was a great book with wonderful characters, suspense, surprises, betrayals, lies and romance, well, Anthony’s kind of romance. The search for Cicero, Mastermind and O’Leary take Anthony and Elliot on a journey filled with danger and a lot of humor. This would make a great movie.

5 stars.

The Reviewers

Maryann: Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California.  Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018.  My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen.  New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.

I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.

My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012.  She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series.  Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book! 

As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.

My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing.  I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.

I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews.  One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group.  Joining her site was such an eye opener.  I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.

But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.

Linda: I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.

The Paranormal Romance Guild was established in 2009 by 8 Indie Authors and one Reviewer to be a constant help for authors. You can be a free author member, submitting your work for review OR become a Premium Author Member for a small yearly fee and enjoy many extra services including Free Beta Reads, Author Giveaways and many others. Your reviews are posted on our 3 FB Sites, Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram. WE REVIEW ALL GENRES LGBTQ+ welcome.

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