Buddy Read
Title: KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE
Author: Deanna Raybourn
ISBN: 9780593550298
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 352
Source: Private Copy
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.
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.
Official Summary
12 October 2022
Zelda’s Review
This book has been all over social media and I was intrigued the minute I saw it. I had to add this one to my TBR. While this was not what I was expecting, I found myself curious to see where it was going. This story looks at friendship, teamwork and the power of being a woman of a certain age.
I am new to Deanna Raybourn. This book was written with a creative flare that might not always be completely realistic, but it is an entertaining read. I enjoyed the jumps between the present and past, revealing the characters’ lives and how they ended up where they are. The characters were brilliant.
After working as assassins for forty years, it is time for Billie, Mary Alice, Natalie and Helen to retire. Sent on an all-expenses paid holiday cruise for their retirement, they find out that a colleague has been sent along, and he is there to terminate them. They have no idea why The Museum would authorise a hit on them. They have been loyal employees. Determined to not spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders they decide to fight back. For the first time, they are on their own. They have no support or backup yet putting their training and forty-year experience to use, they discover that no one pays much attention to four elderly ladies. This is an advantage when you are planning to commit murder.
This thriller was not what I expected. These ladies left me with a smile on my face. They are simply adorable. However, at times some of the hand-to-hand combat was a little unrealistic. Despite that, I found myself enjoying this book. The friendship these women share warms your heart while their passion and determination to remain true to themselves and their cause add a spark to the tale. This book serves as a reminder that women should not be underestimated.
I could not pick a favourite character These ladies crawl into your heart and you are left loving each one of them. Billie was fabulous, even if her physical abilities are a little questionable. She sure is inspirational and I would love to have her strength and stamina at age sixty. I was a little disappointed that Billie never found her happily ever after.
This book is an unusual read that will leave you with a smile on your face. If you are looking for a thriller with a lighter side, then this is the book for you. These unique ladies will leave you inspired to live life to the fullest.
Alicia’s Review:
This book follows four sixty-year-old women, Billie, Helen, Natalie and Mary-Alice. These women are all retiring from being assassins for the last twenty years. As they are about to go on a trip to celebrate their retirement however their old employers, the Museum tries to terminate them. The four ladies must band together to survive and take down the people responsible.
I had seen so many people raving about this book online and I just knew I had to pick it up. However, sadly I think my opinion might be in the minority here. Maybe I just built the book up in my head but I did not love it as much as everyone else did. Don’t get me wrong the concept of this book was amazing and there were a few very funny parts in this. Humour is also very subjective and I don’t think I (a seventeen-year-old) can relate to the humour of sixty-year-old women. However, the concept of the whole book is amazing.
These were very interesting characters and I only wish we could have gotten more backstory on all of them and a little more depth to their characters. My favourite was Billie, I liked how she knew what she wanted and wasn’t going to apologise for it. As I say with almost every book I read I am a sucker for a strong female character. I can only wish I had her strength both mentally and physically.
I found this book played out like a movie and if they ever make a movie I will watch it, if not only just to see a bunch of old ladies kicking ass.
Overall I recommend you check this book out and see if your opinion is different to mine.
Also by Deanna Raybourn
An Impossible Imposter
While investigating a man claiming to be the long-lost heir to a noble family, Veronica Speedwell gets the surprise of her life in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.
London, 1889. Veronica Speedwell and her natural historian beau Stoker are summoned by Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of Special Branch. He has a personal request on behalf of his goddaughter, Euphemia Hathaway. After years of travelling the world, her eldest brother, Jonathan, heir to Hathaway Hall, was believed to have been killed in the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa a few years before.
But now a man matching Jonathan’s description and carrying his possessions has arrived at Hathaway Hall with no memory of his identity or where he has been. Could this man truly be Jonathan, back from the dead? Or is he a devious impostor, determined to gain ownership over the family’s most valuable possessions—a legendary parure of priceless Rajasthani jewels? It’s a delicate situation, and Veronica is Sir Hugo’s only hope.
Veronica and Stoker agree to go to Hathaway Hall to covertly investigate the mysterious amnesiac. Veronica is soon shocked to find herself face-to-face with a ghost from her past. To help Sir Hugo discover the truth, she must open doors to her own history that she long believed to be shut for good.
About The Author
Author bio from the author’s site
New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Deanna Raybourn is a 6th-generation Texan with a degree in English and history from UTSA. Her novels have been nominated for numerous awards including the Edgar, RT Reviewers’ Choice, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, and the Last Laugh. She launched a Victorian mystery series featuring intrepid butterfly-hunter Veronica Speedwell in 2015. This Edgar-nominated series is ongoing. Her first contemporary thriller, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, chronicles the adventures of four female assassins who must band together against the organization that would rather see them dead than let them retire.
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