Amazon Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: P L Crompton ISBN-10:  1453828478 Type: Fiction Pages: 312 Copyright: Jan 4, 2011 ISBN-13: 9781453828472 In 2033, governments worldwide are bankrupt. There is no unemployment insurance, no social services or welfare, no pensions, and no health care subsidy. Unemployment sits at close to 60 percent, and those with jobs are the new elite. Sheila Davenport owns a successful employment agency. When other agencies begin to go out of business, she attributes it to their inability to compete. Then she hears a hellish rumour: Sign with Davenport; they'll find you a job even if they have to kill someone. Other agency owners are murdered and the Davenport Agency comes under police scrutiny. Sheila investigates and uncovers a sinister plot.

This one's a keeper.
I do a lot of beta-reading for authors, checking that their books hold together plot-wise, pointing out possible problems and just giving a general opinion on what works and what doesn't. So when Ms Crompton asked for a quick read-through, I was delighted to oblige her.

Very few of the books I beta-read come up to this standard. Not only am I buying a copy for myself, I'm getting copies for several friends as well, and I rarely get that enthusiastic.

Crompton's vision of a dark near-future in my own town of Calgary is chillingly possible. Her characters are real, people you and I meet every day. The plot and pacing will keep you turning pages to find out what happens next, for it is all too believable. It would take so little for circumstances to give us this world and put us all in Sheila's place... and we have to wonder if we would do as well as she does under those conditions.

This one is a keeper and I look forward to reading her next release.

What's a serious businesswoman to do in a dystopian future? Kick butt!
The Agency has a great premise, cast of characters, and most importantly a main character that holds it all together. We root for Sheila as she navigates through the crazy Calgary of the future. Watch out for the great after-dark espionage scene!

Wow!
WOW! is the only single word I can use to describe this book while Holy! Good Gosh! Jumpin' Geehosafats! comes closer to describing how blown away I was reading The Agency. IT IS A THRILLER set in the not too distant future in a world none of us would like to live. The energy Pam has given her characters and the situations she has written for them has elevated this book into one of the best I have read in the past five (5) years. Many of the NYTimes best sellers can not hold a candle to this book, it is that good.