what do you suggest

Hi Theo, and welcome. Sometimes we are our own best editors, and sometimes we're not. Why don't you post a piece on the SYW (Share Your Work) section of the boards and look at the responses? That's a good way to tell if your writing needs a little tweaking or a lot of tweaking before jumping into the agent game.

After everything is smooth and ready, querying agents is next. Don't get me started on querying. For me, writing a query is the equivalent of shooting up arsenic. But there are plenty of threads on this board to help you write queries, and even a place in SYW to have people crit them. Good luck!

As well as SYW here, you could also consider posting either an excerpt or the synopsis here:-

YouWriteOnline

These are certainly far better places to get beta feedback than family or friends.

Oh...and perhaps the worst place to get feedback is you local writer's group who will agonise over pedantic details and not cover bigger issues like 'is the book a compelling tale'.