The Agent Runner is an espionage thriller written by Simon Conway. Ed Malik, recruited by MI6, was running an agent in Pakistan for five years. The agent, code-named Nightingale, was the government's installed spy in ISI, Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's espionage agency. When Nightingale revealed the location where Osama Bin Laden was hiding, the US forces that killed Bin Laden refused to take Malik’s agent with them. His wife and family were taken into custody and Tariq, the Nightingale, was eventually apprehended by the ISI and executed. Malik is infuriated that his agent was left out in the cold, and head-butts the CIA station chief after his callous remarks about the agent's death. To all intents and purposes, Malik's career with MI6 is over. He's suspended while waiting for a disciplinary hearing, and then fired.

Reading Simon Conway's espionage thriller, The Agent Runner, brought to mind the excitement I felt as a teenager reading my first LeCarre novel. After all the hype of James Bond movies, LeCarre's spies seemed like they were the real thing, and the work they did was not the glamorous stuff shown on the big screen. Conway's plot is compelling, and his characters are marvelous, especially Ed Malik and his counterpart, the Pakistani Chief Norman Butt. Conway drops the reader right into Pakistan and makes him/her privy to the cultures and the political tensions of that country and the surrounding region. I turned to a friend when I was about halfway through the book and started telling him about the incredible book I was reading. As I finished it, I was even more impressed and am planning on reading Conway’s other novels as well. Simon Conway has written a remarkable modern espionage thriller. The Agent Runner is most highly recommended.

The Agent Runner by Simon Conway is a modern thriller about Ed Malik, an MI6 agent-runner who has been running an agent code-named Nightingale inside Pakistan’s Hydra-headed spying agency for four years. After the death of Bin Laden, Nightingale is exposed and Ed is dismissed from MI6. He returns to London, finds a job at a freight forwarding office, and unexpectedly falls in love. But he couldn't escape his past that easily. Ed knows too much and he has come to the attention of Major-General Javid Aslam Khan, Pakistan’s legendary spy.

As a former British Army officer and international aid worker, Conway definitely has made the most of his past experience in his writing. He lends some integrity and interest to the story. The Agent Runner is filled to the brim with espionage and terrorism with Pakistan and Afghanistan serving as perilous backgrounds. It gives readers insight into the dark side of international politics. There are moments where the pace is slow moving, yet the frequent suspense elements and action scenes hurry readers along. Characterization is also the story’s main strength, particularly Ed Malik. He’s realistically a complex man, flawed but adequately honorable.

On the whole, this is another solid spy thriller from Conway, showing his talent through his vivid storytelling yet again. I may still prefer Conway’s other work, The Loyal Spy. That said, The Agent Runner is no doubt a compelling spy story that can give readers a roller-coaster ride. Conway’s fans won’t be disappointed.

The Agent Runner by Simon Conway introduces us to Ed, who has always felt a strong loyalty to Britain even if he was not able to say why he felt that way. This loyalty leads him to a life as an MI6 agent runner, and for the last four years he has been running an agent code-named Nightingale; this spy is inside ISI, a hydra-headed agency in Pakistan. Problems pile up when Nightingale is found out and Ed's entire world falls apart. Edward restarts his life in the East End and even finds love, that is until his past comes to find him.

Love, espionage and a look at Pakistan sweeps you into this book and sets a fantastic story in motion. It has been a while since I read a spy novel that managed to keep my attention as well as this one did. The characters that have been created are well fleshed out and entertaining. I found Ed an interesting character and the pace of this book is breakneck, to say the least. If you love spy thrillers and seeing a man having to deal with a past he thought he left behind, then this is going to be the read for you. I have not read any of Simon Conway's previous works, but this one was intense, interesting and it turned me onto his writing style. This story shines a light into the dark places of the world and allows us to safely and enjoyably view them. I will be looking forward to more work by this author!

In The Agent Runner by Simon Conway, MI6 agent Ed Malik had a good mission going for four years. He had a valuable double agent within Pakistan's top spy agency, who provided him with worthy information on what was going on within Pakistani intelligence. The latest assignment for the double agent was watching a secret safe house. What Ed was not told, however, was that the guest in the safe house was none other than the world's number one most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. After an American raid on the safe house that left Osama dead, things quickly took a bad turn for Ed. First, his double agent was killed, and then he was on a plane back home where he was told his spy career was no more. Ed accepted his fate and started rebuilding his life. However, just when he was starting to settle into his new life, he got a reality check - just because he was not working for MI6 anymore did not mean that the enemies from his past had forgotten about him.

The Agent Runner by Simon Conway is an exciting story about British intelligence in the Middle East, events surrounding the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, and one MI6 agent's role in this whole saga. The story has a new plot with a fresh Bin Laden theory that I found very easily believable. The story takes you to the heart of foreign intelligence gathering and highlights the challenges, betrayals and double-crossings that rule the spy world, especially when the game involves double agents. It shows how the spy game is one which you cannot do alone but you will never know who you can trust. The Agent Runner by Simon Conway is an interesting read for fans of spy fiction.