Reviewed by: MichaelThal
Genre: Action/Adventure
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: NO Smashwords: NO Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
Adam Oster enjoys exploring his hometown, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, with his wife and three children. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Oster loves to travel, write books, and dream up tales and adventures. You can learn more about him on his website.
Description:
Cyrus is a runner working for Agora, a black market company supplying the needs of the people who can afford their services. Cyrus lives in the near future where the government has curtailed all civil liberties in an effort to protect its people from terrorists.
In exchange for losing their rights promised by the Constitution, Americans now have guaranteed employment when they come of age at eighteen. However, they are restricted to their homes during evening curfew hours and are subjected to the intrusive Street Patrols (SP), who act more like Gestapo than defenders of the American people.
When a person wants something they can’t find on the bare shelves of their markets, they turn to Agora. Cyrus and others like him transport those goods by foot, for public transportation, private ownership of vehicles, and air transport are off limits.
Alvin Alexander is a leader of the resistance movement. He wants Cyrus to run from San Francisco to Boston with an important document that could turn the tables on the fascist U.S. government. Offered a huge sum of money, Cyrus’ twelve-year-old brother and manager, The Geek, accepts the job.
The Geek, aka Billy, is a brilliant finagler that would make any Ferengi proud. It’s the Geek’s job to lead Cy to his destination via an earpiece with as few obstacles as possible.
On this run, Cy’s biggest obstacle is Eve—a fellow runner and member of the rebel movement who has a way of plucking Cy’s heartstrings.
Appraisal:
From start to finish, I had trouble putting The Agora Files aside. Adam Oster has a talent to keep pulses racing as Cy and Eve encounter life-threatening obstacles traveling between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts on foot. SP officers hunt them at every turn as well as citizen informants looking to score a huge bounty award. Drones and spies seem to be everywhere.
My only negative regarding The Agora Files is the probability of a seventeen-year-old boy running three marathons a day with little food, water, and rest.
With that said, it’s easy to ignore the feasibility of a 3000 mile run in 15 days because the excitement and intensity of Oster’s prose is riveting.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five Stars
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