Customer Reviews

Judas Horse: An FBI Special Agent Ana Grey Mystery

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Daring, resourceful FBI Agent Ana Grey has been in some pretty tough scrapes (North of Montana, Good Killer). However, the situation she's in with her latest adventure is more than a scrape - it's a wound that could prove fatal.

Still emotionally fragile following a shooting incident Ana has been through what is called "critical incident training, psychoanalyzing with other agents who have been through a life-changing trauma," and is deemed ready to return to duty. But she hardly has time to fall into step again when fellow agent Steve Crawford is blown to pieces while undercover investigating FAN (Free Animals Now).

Solution? Send in Ana. First she undergoes rigorous (an understatement) training at the FBI's undercover school from which she will eventually emerge as Darcy DeGuzman, a feisty, broke animal lover in a sixties leather jacket that "looks like Jackie Kennedy on the skids."

Her task is to infiltrate FAN, a cover for a terrorist group based in Oregon led by an unstable megalomaniac, Julius Emerson Phelps. She first hooks up with Megan Tewsbury whom she considers to be a warm hearted woman who will be her entree into the group. She's right - partially. Megan is an alias for a former Berkeley professor driven out and into the arms of Julius who is actually former FBI agent Dick Stone. Living with them on an isolated farm are Sara, a waif-like runaway and Slammer, an addicted miscreant. All are looking forward to what Stone calls "the Big One."

Actually, penetrating the group was the easy part for Ana because she soon discovers that Stone knows far too much. She is sure that someone, perhaps even a powerful figure at the Bureau is feeding him information. Who can she trust, if anyone? Perhaps more importantly who will protect her?

April Smith's dialogue is sharp, cutting like a knife as the story builds to its inexorable conclusion. Judas Horse is not only an action packed thriller but an imagined story so plausible, so current that it could be tomorrow's bold headline.

- Gail Cooke

Recently returned to duty at the LA office of the FBI, Special Agent Ana Grey struggles to put a shooting fatality behind her, still in thrall to sweat-soaked nightmares but ready to return to the career she loves. Offered an undercover assignment in Portland, Oregon, Ana quickly agrees, anxious to be temporarily free from the weighted glances of her colleagues. Gathering for the special service of her friend, Steve Crawford, Ana learns that the young man's death was not an accident, but deliberate. Going to Portland to pick up where Steve left off, Ana is charged with the importance of her mission: uncovering the mastermind behind Steve's death. But first she must endure rigorous undercover training, a tough preparation for deep cover of indefinite determination: "In undercover work, it is always midnight in the universe, and you are always alone."

Infiltrating a local group, FAN (Free Animals Now), is of paramount importance and for this Ana adopts the identity of Darcy deGuzman, making friends with a local animal rights activist, Megan, and her ageing hippie "man-of-many-faces", Julius Emerson Phelps. Julius controls the small faction of dissidents who participate in local demonstrations against the BLM and the recent slaughter of wild mustangs. Pretending to be an activist with a shady past, "Darcy" manages to move into the ramshackle farmhouse where Phelps is known as Allfather, his every command obeyed, even when he lapses into the mindless mania that occasionally occurs. While Megan welcomes Darcy and her commitment, Julius is far more suspicious, patrolling the farm, plotting for his greatest anti-government coup, "The Big One".

Despite my doubts about how easily Darcy is accepted into the eco-terrorist group, Smith covers the quick-paced drama from every angle, circles within circles: from the disaffection of youth who join the cause du jour and follow Julius' fatherly directions to the stubborn, cost-conscious bureaucrats who betray their positions as keepers of the public trust; from passionate loyalists in search of change to the righteous anger of field agents who see their brothers cut down, victims of needless violence; from the heady fraternity of the FBI to life on the edge in deep cover; and from the security of loyalty and dedication to the possibility of treason. Ana's naïve arrogance turns to cold fear as she finds herself in a conundrum with no way out, facing the consequences of pivotal decisions. Ana must consider treachery from the most unexpected place, wild mustangs, wild men and the deadly manipulation of power. For she is "the single animal who betrays the herd": the Judas horse. Luan Gaines/ 2008.

I was unaware of April Smith's television credits when I bought North of Montana in hardcover. There was something about the book and its author that drew me to it. Since then I have watched her steady rise to the top of contemporary crime writing. Judas Horse is, broadly speaking, 'FBI procedural' and a 'thriller', but it is primarily a study in character. Ana Grey is on the ropes, psychologically, and takes on a very difficult challenge--going undercover in a terrorist 'family' that has been responsible for the death of a man she loved. We learn about her new identity and the mental twists and turns that she undergoes as she goes in and out of character, her undercover persona taking on a complete life of her own.

The sense of place is excellent and the plot never wavers. The ending is particularly strong. I won't give it away, but suffice to say it is a ripple-effect ending that 'isn't over until it's over' and then some. The cast of characters is somewhat stereotypical--northwest tree huggers, bikers, meth customers and souls lost in the rain, but they work well together and serve as the perfect context for Ana's pursuit of the case and simultaneous pursuit of her own deeper self.

Her television writing has taught April the rules of plotting and she follows them exquisitely. The wildlife in the story are also attractive--from wounded horses to some nasty rattlesnakes. This is a don't miss novel. And note Amazon's get-North of Montana-also deal if you haven't read April's smash debut.

I have to agree with the other reviewer of the audio version. It is simply awful. I read the first book in the series and listened to the second, narrated by Kathe Mazur. They were both good. The author narrates this book herself. Her voice is grating and whiny, and her delivery is flat. I can't imagine why she and the publisher allowed this to be released. I may read the book sometime in the future, when that voice is out of my head.

I notice that amazon is selling this book in print form, but not marketing the audio-version. That is a wise choice.

I fell in love with April Smith's writing style while listening to "Good Morning, Killer" as a book-on-disk.

Ever since then I have been waiting eagerly for the next installment in the series, and hoping that "North of Montana" would also be released in audio-book formate.

When "Judas Horse" was released as a book-on-disk, I drove across town to purchase it...

However, shortly after I began listening, I became sorely disappointed. Where was the voice of Kathe Mazur?

Kathe Mazur's dulcet tones were a perfect compliment to the exquisite prose of "Good Morning, Killer. But this book is "read by the author."

April Smith's voice lags and drags:
- Weighting down the words that she has written
- Making the quick banter of her character sound whiny

The ultimate effect of having April Smith be the voice of this audio-book is that the character of Ana Grey seems to have prematurely aged between one installment of this series and another.

My only hope is that the publishers will consider re-releasing the audio-version of this book with Mazur's voice...

Ana Grey is an FBI Special Agent in Los Angeles, just returned to duty after several months following a shooting incident in which she killed a detective. Cleared of any wrongdoing, she is asked to take on an undercover assignment infiltrating a terrorist cell after the remains of the agent formerly working the case were found.

The story takes her to special training at Quantico, and then into the field, where she performs quite well. The objective is to find out the leader's plans. He is a former FBI agent turned renegade. The descriptions of the psychology of an undercover agent, the problems and subterfuges, are graphic and telling.

The twists and turns in the plot are sometimes confusing, although they make perfect sense after it all comes together. But the plot thickens. In the end Ana is given short shrift, or is she moved aside to come back another day? It is a well-told story, even with the confusing conclusion, and is recommended.

Seven months ago, FBI Special Agent Ana Grey was forced to shoot "a crazed detective on a suicide mission". Her badge and weapon was confiscated as is normal procedure while the Office of Professional Responsibility works with the agent on administrative leave to cope with the psychological trauma of a life changing incident; they determine when an agent returns to duty. When the agent does another agent escorts them back to the office. For April that was her friend Steve Crawford.

Soon afterward he vanished leaving the insomniac April with another reason not to sleep. Now Steve's remains was found scattered by a hiker on Oregon's Cascade Mountains; apparently a victim of a homemade bomb. Ana goes undercover to infiltrate the anarchist most likely to have perpetrated the execution, Free the Animals (FAN) so as to obtain evidence of who killed Steve and how big of terrorist threat this group is. She quickly realizes that former FBI agent Dan "Allfather" Stone has something horrific in mind that he dubs "the Big One".

The third April Smith FBI thriller (see GOOD MORNING, KILLER and NORTH OF MONTANA) is a fabulous tale in which the heroine has a difficult task to obtain information re The Big One while staying alive. The difficulty in what she does is simply that the FAN members distrust everyone even themselves; as Stone especially knows the Feds will be back with a new infiltrator now that they have learned what happened to Crawford. In this milieu of obsessive behavior Ana remains calm as she deals with brilliant lunatics over the edge.

Harriet Klausner

I eagerly cracked the cover on this one right after mowing down the first two...

...and quickly lost interest. The characters annoyed me to death. I finally gave up from exhaustion.

Sorry to say, I loathed this book.

This book by April Smith is a good read and the title is aptly made. It has an interesting finish that could not be anticipated but which also leaves you wondering how the series can continue. I enjoyed it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

This is the first April Smith book I ever read.It's quite an excellent read.The book has Anna Grey, a troubled FBI agent, who has been assigned as an undercover agent to infiltrate a eco-terrorist group. She is also trying to determine how and why her former lover was killed.Overall, it's a great fast-moving book.I strongly recommend it.