THE SHADOWS OF AGENT J by Daniel Lowell Placiszewski-Plazek volleys across different periods of time: from Ancient Rome in 99 BC and 1817 in Glasgow, Scotland to 1862 during the American Civil War and 2023 at the Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France—and Super Secret Agent J and his associate Natasha seem to be in all of them. These US government detectives are working their way through the globe to try and track down their adversaries, who stem from an organized crime group called “The Syndicate.” They want to use classified information and technology to sell to “the highest bidder, the DOD, Big Energy, the Ruskies, Red China, George Soros, and just about any global bad guy with deep pockets.” Each chapter—which can be read as a standalone—features one of their cronies either chasing Agent J and Natasha down or hurting their allies to steal information, with a man named Dr. Ignaz Capaletsio leading the charge.
The chaotic structure of THE SHADOWS OF AGENT J is purposeful and innovative, from cinematic worldbuilding and extensive historical research to crafting each chapter like a vignette that can stand alone but still be part of the Agent J universe. It’s no wonder that the author starts off his introductory note by calling it an “unorthodox book.” Unfortunately, what sounds like an intriguing premise falters in delivery, and the unusual nature of the book rings true for its plot development. There is little to no buildup to what is happening; instead, readers are thrust into the middle of what seems to be an epic saga of J and Natasha fighting bad guys since the beginning of time. The duo’s chemistry and partnership have potential to be more, but stagnate under the pressure of the cycle of vignettes. The author warns readers that the story is a “paean to the Adjective,” which rings true because the vignettes grandiloquently set the scene and richly describe every element of the settings to make readers experience the same emotions as the characters. In one chapter, Agent J is running through slushy snow. Trying to remain sentient, he starts running through facts about porridge and listing the many variations of it. But due to a lack of character establishment (as well as stakes), it gets increasingly difficult to remain invested in the story if readers can’t connect to the characters beyond the setting descriptions and streams of semi-consciousness.
Each chapter is structured to be like a TV series where each episode stands alone from its predecessor, and we learn this from the beginning when the author notes that it’s “a series of unrelated vignettes.” Except in THE SHADOWS OF AGENT J, the installments are not moving the story forward; and it’s difficult to successfully use this structure in literary form. If one chapter ends on a cliffhanger of someone following Agent J when he’s on his way to a railway station, or he’s caught by the Syndicate henchmen in a cave, the next chapter starts in a different time and place (sometimes even POV)—not offering closure to what happened previously. Even though readers are told that stakes are high for J and Natasha (as well as for the rest of mankind), THE SHADOWS OF AGENT J doesn’t offer enough context for their mission to defeat the Syndicate. Instead, it feels like the story is going in circles by having J meet his adversaries and only miss them by a nick of time—thus restarting his mission and leaving many questions unanswered.
THE SHADOWS OF AGENT J is an opaque and mysterious series of disparate vignettes. It starts with an interesting premise, but lacks focus to make the story cohesive and satisfying.
~K. Nesa for IndieReader