If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, it’s hardly surprising that you will see me recommending a book like Agent Storm on my blog.

But here’s the thing about Agent Storm: some people think that he’s not real.

Yes, I’m not kidding about that. I did see someone was asking a long time ago whether Agent Storm was real or not.

Well, I get why someone would ask that kind of question. The name Agent Storm sounds more like it’s a Hollywood movie rather than being a real thing.

Funnily enough, the question that people asked about Agent Storm somehow influenced me a little bit to the point that I was skeptical when I came across the book for the first time.

For all I know, it could be a thriller novel since most thriller novels tend to look like that.

It was only when I looked at the author bio on the Amazon book page that made me realize that Agent Storm is real and the book is a nonfiction book, not a novel.

Yes, people. Agent Storm isn’t a work of fiction. He does exist and the guy on the cover is him, in case you’re wondering what he looks like.

If this is the question that you’ve been pondering all this time, that should already answer the question by now.

What Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda And The CIA is all about

Here’s the book description that I got from Amazon.

Standing over six feet tall with flaming red hair, Morten Storm was an unlikely jihadi. But after a troubled youth in his native Denmark, Storm found peace and purpose in his conversion to Islam. His absolute devotion only grew after he attended a militant madrasa in Yemen, named his son Osama, and became close friends with American-born terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Then, after a decade of jihadi life, he not only rejected extremism—he began a quest for atonement, becoming a double agent for the CIA as well as British and Danish intelligence agencies.

Agent Storm takes readers inside the fanatical jihadist mindset and into the shadows of the world’s most powerful spy agencies in an action-packed account that “reads like a screenplay for a James Bond movie written by Joel and Ethan Coen” (The Washington Post).

What got me to read the book

To be honest, I already had in my mind that I would introduce the concept of a double agent in the Trigger Locked series somewhere around Book Four at the earliest.

Since I already had this idea for the longest time, it makes perfect sense for me to use this book as a reference.

If I want to make the character to be as realistic as possible, I should learn from someone who used to become one, don’t you think?

The last thing I want is I end up creating an unrealistic portrayal of being a double agent.

And while we’re at it, can you guess which character from the Trigger Locked series turns out to be a double agent?

This isn’t hard to guess if you already read the third book from the Trigger Locked series, The Virtual Mass Murder.

But hey, let me know which character you think turns out to be the double agent in the comment below. I’m curious if you can guess it right.

What makes Agent Storm worth reading

It’s not surprising at all to see an organization like the CIA is recruiting civilians to infiltrate a specific organization or even their own government.

This isn’t unusual if you read Jason Hanson’s book, Survive Like a Spy.

For the most part, you tend to hear operations like these from a former CIA or from those who are still on active duty under a pseudonym.

But you never hear any of those operations from the assets’ perspective.

Well, it makes sense that none of the assets would open up for the sake of their safety. And some of them were likely killed during the operation.

This is what makes Agent Storm an interesting read. Not only that you get to hear from an asset who doesn’t just work for the CIA. But you also get to hear from someone who has a close tie to the people in terrorist groups and understand the inner working of how they operate.

What’s more, many of them happen to be on the CIA’s target list too. That makes Morten Storm the go-to person because of his connection with those people and how much they trust him.

While the operation tends to focus on putting a bullet on Awlaki’s head, for the most part, you still get to see the inner working of other operations to kill those people on the CIA’s target list as well.

Sure, those operations may seem like a sideshow on the surface. But it still leads the CIA back to tracking down Awlaki and killing him in the process.

What I dodn’t expect when I read the book

If you read Survive Like a Spy, you probably notice that the handlers in the book treat their assets with respect. They even do what they can to reward their assets no matter how hard it is to obtain the reward for them.

Just like those assets in Survive Like a Spy, Morten Storm did get rewarded handsomely for his contribution. He even gets recognition from the higher-ups in the CIA and the president for what he did.

But little that he expects that the CIA would eventually abandon him someday. They even arrange for him to be killed on his way to deliver the item that Al Qaeda requested.

Well, the telltale sign was already there when the CIA already did something that he wasn’t aware of. It’s a good move for him to distrust, not just the CIA but also the Danish intelligence agency, PET.

Another thing that I don’t expect is how guilty Morten Storm felt after finding out that the CIA was successful in killing Awlaki.

You may think that someone like him may not have any sense of guilt at all since he was the reason that the CIA was able to kill Awlaki in the first place.

But the truth is, he felt guilty to the point that he had to resort to using cocaine to cope with the guilt.

Well, it makes sense considering that Awlaki wasn’t just his mentor. He was also his friend and Awlaki trusts him with all his life.

I bet that Awlaki must be cursing him in the afterlife when he finds out that Morten Storm ratted him out to the CIA.

Who should read the book

If you’re curious about the inner working of being a double agent and the terrorist group in general, then this book can be an interesting read to you.

Where to buy Agent Storm book

As always, you can buy the book in digital or in print on Amazon. I got the Kindle version of the book, in case you’re wondering.

Buy Agent Storm book on Amazon

Over to you

What do you think about Agent Storm? Are you interested in giving this book a try after reading about it on my blog?

Let me know in the comment below.

P.S Do you enjoy reading original light novels, particularly in the thriller genre? If that’s you, then you’re going to enjoy reading my Trigger Locked series.

Yes, it’s the same series that I mention briefly in this blog post.

Curious about the book? You can take a look at the first book from the series right here on my Payhip store:

Trigger Locked Book 1: The Mind Control Assassins

Don’t forget to use the coupon code SEKINAMAYUBLOG during checkout to receive 25% off on your order.