Book Review: "Somebody Worth Killing" by Jessica Payne

Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the complimentary advance copy of this book! I found this to be a total page-turner and I couldn’t put it down. (I also couldn’t stop laughing, so…)

Nadia is a happily married mother of two living in San Antonio. She has an event planning business and a loving husband. Actually, she’s a hired assassin and psychopath who kills people who are evil and deserve to be killed. And no one suspects a thing!

“Some people enjoy hiking. Others, playing cards or knitting an afghan. They’ll tell you that it just does it for them, that something about it makes their life complete. Well, killing people does that for me.”

She’s never questioned the assignments she gets offered, but she worries she might be getting short shrift because she’s a mother and wife. So she asks for a bigger job, someone who is really worth killing. She follows her mark one day and gets a huge surprise: she’s been hired to kill her husband, Brian.

How is it possible that her mild-mannered management consultant husband is actually deserving to be murdered? Nadia can’t believe it, but the pressure to kill him increases each day. She can’t kill him until she finds out if he’s truly evil—but if she does, what will happen to her and her daughters?

This was a twisty, cat-and-mouse thriller that ratchets up the tension little by little. I honestly had no idea how things would get tied up—and I didn’t know what I wanted to happen. But this was a great read.

The book publishes 6/16.

Book Review: "The Medusa Protocol" by Rob Hart

This was excellent! Rob Hart’s Assassins Anonymous made my year-end best list last year. The idea of a support group for former paid assassins who no longer wanted to kill was such a fantastic one, and the book was action-packed, funny, thought-provoking, and a bit emotional.

I eagerly anticipated this, the second book in the series. We return to the NYC chapter of Assassins Anonymous, but one of their own, Astrid (formerly known as Azrael, the Angel of Death), has gone missing. While it seemed likely that she either went back to her old life or her past caught up with her, Mark, the leader of the group and Astrid’s sponsor, wants to believe she’s okay.

When a pizza is mysteriously delivered to the group, they believe it’s a sign, because only Astrid liked olives on pizza. But when all hell breaks loose after the delivery, Mark knows he has to find her—wherever she may be. But he’s determined not to kill anyone along the way.

Astrid wakes up in a secret prison, hostage to a maniacal doctor who has been hired to plumb her memories. She needs to figure out how to get free without killing anyone, but will that be possible? And can she come to terms with her guilt over her biggest mistake?

“You know that saying, blood is thicker than water? It’s a misinterpretation. The full saying is: ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.’ It means the blood you choose is thicker than the blood you’re born with. The point is, family isn’t blood, it’s who you bleed for.”

Hart is such a fantastic storyteller. I love this series and hope there’s a third book in store. I’m always a sucker for chosen family stories; throw in some heart-pounding action and I’m sold.

Book Review: "The Recruiter" by Gregg Podolski

This was a great thriller! I can’t believe this was Gregg Podolski’s debut, but it certainly seems like the stage is set for this to become a series. And I’m all in.

“People who aren’t prone to making bad decisions often fail to foresee just how life-altering a truly bad one can be.”

Rick Carter is a recruiter. However, he’s not the guy you’d call to find a new marketing person or CTO. Rick recruits assassins, hackers, smugglers, and any other kind of skilled criminal his clients might need. He doesn’t share secrets and the cops never get involved—and he gets lots of referrals from clients.

But he has a bad feeling about the latest client to hire him, or force him to work for them. You see, while Rick isn’t the most upstanding of citizens, he never wants to be party to harming the good guys. And this client is more than a little, ummm, persuasive, in making him see things their way.

When Rick learns that the family he left behind 10 years ago is somehow in danger related to this new client, he has to come out of hiding to try and fix things. It won’t be easy, however, because not only does he not know whom to trust, but his family definitely doesn’t trust him. Can he convince them he’s capable of saving them, and, more importantly, can he save them?

The pacing of this book was great. The action kept coming but there were pauses, so it never was too much. Rick is so sarcastic, and that’s very close to how I am, so I enjoyed him and the ragtag band of “candidates” he worked with. This reads like a movie and it really entertained me.

Book Review: "An Honorable Assassin" by Steve Hamilton

Nick Mason was a federal prisoner who was released into the possession of a Chicago crime lord. He may have been free from jail, but now he was expected to be an assassin on command. At least until he gained his freedom.

It wasn’t really freedom, however, as the next thing he knew, he was flying to Jakarta to be in the employ of a shadowy global organization. He had one job: kill Hashim Baya, aka The Crocodile, one of the most dangerous fugitives in the world. And he failed.

Of course, his failure to kill Baya isn’t taken quite well by his employer. They threaten to kill Nick’s wife and daughter if he doesn’t put Baya down once and for all. And after one failure, Baya’s team is on high alert to protect their guy.

To make matters even more challenging, Nick and his employer aren’t the only ones trying to hunt Baya down. Martin Sauvage, an Interpol agent, holds The Crocodile responsible for tragedies in his own life. But while Sauvage wants Baya to pay for his crimes, Nick just wants him dead. Who will succeed first?

This book has some fantastic action scenes that read like a movie. The opening scene was tautly plotted and had me holding my breath even though I knew the whole book needed to unfold. The book felt as if you mixed a little bit of James Bond with the competitive nature of Valjean and Javert.

Steve Hamilton is a fantastic writer who really should be a household name. He’s written a number of books, including a spectacular crime series featuring PI Alex McKnight. This is the third book featuring Nick Mason, and being that the last one was released seven years ago, it can be read as a standalone. If you like crime novels, Hamilton is an author worth exploring.

Book Review: "It Had To Be You" by Eliza Jane Brazier

Eliza Jane Brazier’s newest thriller published this week. This book was great—funny, suspenseful, steamy, and romantic—and I wouldn’t be shocked to see a film/TV adaptation pop up sometime soon.

Eva (not her real name) and Jonathan (not his real name) meet cute on a sleeper train from Florence to Paris. There’s definitely chemistry between the two of them, despite the fact that Jonathan seems a bit loopy. (He got shot but doesn’t want anyone to know.) The two wind up having hot sex on a luggage rack on the train, and when Eva goes to back to their compartment, Jonathan never returns.

The truth is, both are contract killers, but neither knows that yet. They can’t get the memory of their encounter out of their minds, but it’s a shock to both when six months later, they run into each other again, at the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. It’s no coincidence this time, though—Eva has been assigned to kill Jonathan.

Eva is proud of her skill as a cold-blooded killer, but while she thinks she can easily murder Jonathan, her heart isn’t quite in it. As they start falling in love with each other, it appears that their failure to kill one another has made them both a threat. Can true love survive trained assassins? Can they ever walk away from their past?

This has aspects of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but the chemistry between the two and the existential challenges they face make the plot richer. As they ping-pong their way through Europe, they don’t know whom to trust—not even each other.

Such a fun read!! Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Book Review: "Assassins Anonymous" by Rob Hart

I loved this concept and this book so much!

Mark was a hired assassin, one whose accomplishments were spoken about in terms of reverence. Known as the Pale Horse, his reputation invoked fear and admiration in other assassins as well as those his victims left behind.

But after he loses control of a situation, Mark realizes how exhausting it is to be a monster-for-hire. He knows he doesn’t really deserve a “normal” life given all he’s done, but he’d like to give that a try. So he walks away from his life as the Pale Horse, and joins a 12-step support group for former assassins, where they vow to channel their energies in different directions to keep them from killing.

Following the 12 steps is therapeutic for Mark, although it’s certainly strange not to use violence anymore. But a few days short of his 1-year anniversary, he is attacked at the end of a meeting. He doesn’t know his assailant but fighting him does reawaken the dormant feelings he has squelched during his recovery.

The attack sets off a chain of events which signal to Mark that his identity has been compromised. But who wants him dead? He goes on the run from New York to Singapore to London to try and find answers and those responsible, but he can’t kill anyone, no matter how much he wants to. But whom can he trust?

This was a fast-moving, whip-smart, intense thriller that I absolutely devoured. I’d love if this was the start of a series, because Mark is a great character, as were many of the supporting characters, including P. Kitty. (IYKYK)

Book Review: "Teen Killers in Love" by Lily Sparks

Even assassins-in-training can fall in love.

How about the title of this book and the cover? When Kate Rock Book Tours invited me on the tour for this book, I jumped at the chance, even though I never read the first book in the series, Teen Killers Club, and this is a bit out of my comfort zone. But what a fun one this was!!

In the world this book takes place in, teens who are convicted of murder are sent to a secret program that trains them to become assassins. But when a few of them realize that the government is tracking them, they plot to escape. Yet it’s not as easy as that sounds, as some of those sent to hunt them down are people they once called friends.

The main focus of this book are Erik and Signal. Signal was sent to the camp even though she didn’t commit murder, so Erik is determined to help her prove her innocence. But when they become internet sensations, there’s nowhere to hide.

Meanwhile, as the attraction between Erik and Signal grows, Signal has to decide whether to trust her heart or the questions in her head. Love on the lam is never an easy thing!!

I thought this was a fun and action-packed YA thriller. I definitely want to go back and read the first book in the series. Definitely a great change of pace!!