Published By: Hodder and Stoughton
Pages: 480
Released On: 15/08/2023
‘I am waiting for someone to kill me. Tonight would be a good night for it.’
Agent Seventeen, the most infamous hitman in the world, has quit. But whoever wants to become Assassin Eighteen must track him down and kill him first.
So when a bullet hits the glass inches from his face, he knows who fired it – doesn’t he?
But the sniper isn’t the hardened killer he was expecting. It’s Mireille – a mysterious, silent child, abandoned in the woods with instructions to pull the trigger.
Reuniting with his spiky lover, Kat, Seventeen must protect Mireille, and discover who sent her to kill him, and why.
But the road he must travel is littered with bodies. And the answer, when it comes, will blow apart everything Seventeen thought he knew.
*****
Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for the advanced proof of this title in return for an honest review and spot on the book tour.
I admit I didn’t think this would be high on my like list. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it would be enjoyable but I felt it might have been a bit too espionage-y for me to fully appreciate. But I was wrong. It is spectacular and easily one of the best formed books I’ve read.
I hadn’t heard of John Brownlow before being being sent this book, and therefore hadn’t read any of his previous work, and I don’t know much about him as a person. But from the first few pages, it screams of someone with experience. I’m not saying that because he’s an ex-spy or ex-assassin or anything (although he might be), but everything just reads so perfectly, that I struggle to see how it can just be from someone’s imagination. There’s the facts and information yes, but there’s this spark, there’s this heart and humanity in it that was beautiful to read.
I’ve read a lot of crime and thriller books over the years and sometimes they can get a bit samey and it takes a lot of effort to find one that stands out. But this one is completely of its own. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before. There are hints of James Bond and Killing Eve, The Night Manager and John Wick; it definitely belongs in the same genre, but it sits on a pedestal of its own, in my opinion.
There are 190 chapters in this book. Which sounds unbelievable at first. But most of them are 1, 2, 3 pages long. And for that I am very thankful. I’ve never made it a secret how much I love short chapters and dislike long ones. It means I can go to bed and say “I’ll just read to the end of the chapter”, before realising it’s half a book away and becomes a bit of a slog. And short chapters in this kind of book work perfectly, as they’re short and snappy and add to this rushed, tense environment the characters are in. I did keep saying “I’ll just read one more chapter”, but then I’d get to the end of it and just have to keep reading. It’s so addictive.
I won’t go into detail about the characters as I feel it’s best if you go in blind, but I’d say the two main standouts are Seventeen, unsurprisingly, as it is his book, and Kat, a female friend. They’re likeable individually and together, and I think they worked so well off of each other, it felt so natural to read.
It is so detailed and multi-layered and complex, and yet at the same time, really easy to read and understand. He’s found the perfect balance there.
It’s more human than I imagined. Yes there’s killing and blood and death and injury etc etc. Everything that goes with a book that starts with the word “assassin”, but there is a heart and a soul to it.
I do believe there was a book prior to this, Seventeen (or Agent Seventeen – I am not sure if they’re two different books or the same with different names); I don’t know if they’re linked, but I get the feeling they are. However, this reads so fluidly on its own that there’s no disadvantage in starting with this one. But having finished this one, I sure hope there’s another one to come.
I generally don’t do star ratings as I feel they’re too restrictive, but if I had to, this would be getting five stars all the way.
Books By Your Bedside 