Assassin Suspense That Would Make Helen Mirren Proud

 

Image copied from Bookshop.org

I have long been a fan or Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series. A mystery series set in Victorian England that features a strong, fiercely independent and unconventional female lead. I was naturally intrigued when I heard that Raybourn had created a stand alone thriller that featured a squad of female assassins who are equally fierce and unconventional. The reason I think this book would make Helen Mirren proud is the fact that she played just such a character in the movie Red, which I've included an IMDB link to for those of you unfamiliar with that film. Mirren's character of Victoria from the movie was what I thought of when I first read the blurb for this book. However, instead of a group of different assassins both male and female being targeted for a hit, this book features all female assassins. 

So, let's get right into it. These women are all mature women who have mastered the art of being underestimated and used that to their advantage their whole career. Being retirement age and seen as outdated, while maddening, is not really that shocking for them. As the first group of women to be trained as professional assassins for the clandestine organization they work for, they are very used to being either overlooked, underestimated, or both. At the start of the novel they've each retired from their agency and have been offered an all-expenses-paid vacation as a reward for their 40+ years of service. Unfortunately, during their cruise they realize that the organization they've worked for has set them up to be taken out on their vacation. A kill order has been initiated and if they want to survive they're going to have to figure out who put out this kill order and why. They're also going to have to take down the people behind it to put a stop to it.

From there the suspense and action take off and I was here for all of it. The book is largely told from Billie's point of view in the contemporary timeline. But there are a few chapters interspersed that take place in the past and give readers a window into why these four women, Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie and Helen were recruited and how. Those chapters are told from a distant third-person viewpoint. I found this to work very well. It gives us backstory but in a fun and interesting way as the stories for each of the women and the woman who trained them is fascinating in part because it is given in small doses from this more distant lens. Also, it adds to what we know of each of them now, setting them apart personality wise as distinctive characters. Later ,when we learn about their training it also augments what we already know as each of them also have different aptitudes and skillsets as assassins as well. Though, as this becomes important to the story as it unfolds, I won't spoil that for anyone who hasn't read the book.

The action in this novel was fast-paced and each chapter was just long enough to keep my interest. Sometimes, even with action suspense books, I can find myself paging through to see where a chapter might end. I didn't find myself doing that with this book. Each chapter cut off in just the right place and with just the right cliffhanger for me to want to turn that page. Also, each time one of the women has to take someone out, Raybourn is careful not to make it too easy for them. As Billie notes, even the best plans can get derailed or have unexpected problems crop up, making it important to be able to pivot and improvise when needed. One of the things I really appreciated about that was the way that the author used that in not only the plot of the novel, but also used that as an example of how one's everyday life can unfold. Each of these women has had to learn how to pivot or adjust when life threw them curveballs all while largely being seen as expendable by society as a whole rather than appreciated for the strong and competent people they are, especially, as they became women of a certain age. Hats off to Raybourn for conveying that in a fun action-adventure story. Making her fierce heroines assassins also created an excellent vehicle for portraying female rage in general without it being trite, preachy, or heavy-handed. I think women of any age who love fast-paced suspense featuring strong female main characters should give this book a try. You might be surprised by how much you'll enjoy the ride!

Stay tuned for my next review and read. Whatever I choose from my extensive TBR pile it will have some sort of mystery element and also feature a strong female main character in honor of Women's History Month. 

New Dark Academia Urban Fantasy

 

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Half City by Kate Golden is a new urban fantasy series that was just released this past February and offers a fun spin on the dark academia trope. I thought it was unique in that it was set in our world but one in which a chasm exists where demons or deviants were unleashed on the world in some alternate past. Lymantrians, or supernatural beings, then came down to Earth from an upper plane of existence to fight them and seal the chasm. That is the world in which the made up city of Astera is located. So, our world with some alternate history twists. 

The main character Viv is a born hunter, unlike her sister and mom. Therefore, she's been forced to live in the mortal world while keeping her abilities and hunting of deviants a secret from her own family since her father (who was the parent she inherited her gifts from) was killed by demons years ago. In this world hunters mainly hunt and kill demons but other forms of deviants exist such a vampires, werewolves, warlocks, etc. As a lone hunter since her father died, Viv has developed her own code of conduct in who she hunts and kills to protect mortals. Much of her ethics revolve around what her father taught her, but some have evolved as she has. I thought this was an excellent way to portray her as a character. She loves her family but cannot be fully herself with them. She abhors deviants that prey on humans, but only hunts and kills them if she feels they're posing an actual threat to someone, not just because she recognizes them as a deviant or something other than human.

As such, Viv is tough, cynical, conflicted, isolated, and very lonely at the start of the novel. Her conflict, backstory and the backstory of this world are all introduced well through action and dialogue right from the beginning. I was immediately drawn in and left wanting to read on to figure out what might happen with her next. She was a very relatable and well-drawn heroine. While defending herself from yet another deviant encounter after showing up late for her best friend's birthday party, Viv meets a recruiter for a university for hunters, Reid Graveheart from Harker Academy. What a fun name! 

Intrigued that there might actually be a university for demon hunters, Viv decides to check it out. While she isn't sure she'll want to enroll, it would mean more lying to her mortal family and friends after all, another hunter who befriends her encourages her to give it a day. Viv is surprised to find she feels at home at Harker and decides to enroll. She also realizes that attending college there might give her more of a chance to figure out who her dad really was and what might have led to his death. 

The description of the campus and of Viv's classes and training were all fun and rich in detail. I felt that I was discovering this world Viv never knew existed right along with her. She is able to form friendships with other hunters where she can finally be herself and not have to hide all of who or what she is. The mystery about what happened to her dad and the events as they unfold on campus  throughout the story were intriguing and intertwined well. The romance that develops between Reid and Viv was also tense and believable. Even though he's Viv's instructor, which I would normally find icky for a love interest, the backstory for both characters and the fact that Viv is of age made it less of a problem for me. 

My only complaint, and it's not really a big one, was the cliffhanger ending. While the threads of the mystery for this novel were wrapped up, the ending leaves you wondering how Viv or Reid might survive. So, many questions and so much action still lie ahead for both. I'll be eagerly anticipating the sequel to this one! I hope it isn't released too long after this book.

The next book I'll be reviewing in a couple of weeks is Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. It is a suspense thriller about a group of women who worked as assassins and have to figure out a way to avoid being retired by the company they worked for permanently. The cover and book blurb below have both been copied from Bookshop.org.

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire—it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.  

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death. 

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.