Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn Narrator: Jane Oppenheimer, Christina Delaine
Published by Penguin Audio on September 6, 2022
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Length: 10 hours, 15 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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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.
I really enjoyed Killers of a Certain Age! There is a trend towards these stories where an older person is a sleuth or in this case – assassin. I loved seeing the different way the women approached their work, their lives and their relationships. We have Helen, Natalie, Mary Alice and Billie. We mostly have Billie telling us their story.
The women are about 60 and retiring from their work. The “Museum” has sent them on a cruise. They discover they are being targeted for assassination. The story really shows us how smart and skilled they are. We learn about their training and a bit of how their specialties developed. There is also a bit of the things which are getting harder with age.
We see the effect of their personal choices by whether they have partners and how they have saved or spent their money over the years. There’s also the preparations some have made and some haven’t for any circumstance or retirement. One has not told her spouse anything about her work. Another has a spouse who has recently died and she is grieving and distracted.
Now they must figure out how to not be killed. The women need to find out who set them to be targeted and if they can change it, or what other choices they have. They really have to be pragmatic and utilize their knowledge and skill to hope they will survive. I worried for them.
Seeing their personal lives, their work history and their journey to survive was intriguing. I came to appreciate these smart women and how they cared for each other.
Narration:
I’ve heard these narrators before. I was comfortable with the narration. The primary narrator did all the current scenes and the other narrator did the flashback scenes. The characters were the same past and present so this seemed an unusual split. There was much more in the present and I preferred that narration. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Deanna Raybourn
New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Deanna Raybourn is a 6th-generation native Texan. She graduated with a double major in English and history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of one, Raybourn makes her home in Virginia.
Her novels have been nominated for numerous awards including five RITAs, two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, a Last Laugh, and three du Mauriers. Her Lady Julia Grey novels are currently in development as a television series in the UK and she launched a new Victorian mystery series with the 2015 release of A CURIOUS BEGINNING, featuring intrepid butterfly-hunter and amateur sleuth, Veronica Speedwell. Veronica’s second adventure is A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING (January 2017), and book three, A TREACHEROUS CURSE, was published in January 2018. A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION will be released in March 2019. Further books in the Veronica Speedwell series are contracted through 2020.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 22-COYER
This sounds so good, Anne! It’s definitely been added to my list to read at some point. Gotta love stories with over 50 protagonists, especially when they are assassins😁
It is really good. I hope you get a chance to read it.
This book sounds so good! The title just grabs your attention and makes you want to read it. Glad it lives up!
It’s thrilling and suspenseful, but also fun. Girl power.
Lots of people are reading this one lately. I like that her characters are mature and smart women. Makes for a nice change.
yes, excellent point. I always like smart, mature, competent women.
You just tipped the scales for me. This showed up at my library and I wasn’t sure about it. Thanks for a wonderful review, Anne💜
Thank you Jonetta. It’s awesome. You will love it.
I guess because I’m a little behind them in age, I thought all the details of their later life from relationships, old age stuff, and how they prepared was interesting, too. But, their togetherness as a group was my favorite part.
That is interesting how they split the narration work.
I loved their relationship. Their characters were very well developed.
I’m currently reading/listening to this one trying to get it done so I can write a review tonight to post tomorrow. I really overextended myself August and it’s bleeding over into Sept and I have so much to do! I’m working more this month, too which has made it hard to keep up. Enough of my whining though, lol! I’m so happy you loved this too, Anne! I’m not at the end but I hope there are more books with these badass sixty-year-olds!
It’s awesome. The deluge of books that just released, especially on August 23 was overwhelming. And I wanted so many.
Everyone seems to be enjoying this one.
Because it’s a great combination of things. Interesting settings, well developed characters. Strategy and action. I recommend it.
I read this too, and my review is up today too!
Thanks Wendy.
Oh yay! This was my Book of the Month pick for September so I’m thrilled to hear how much you enjoyed it. 🙂
Thanks Suzanne. I enjoyed it a lot.
How interesting that they used a different narrator for the flashback scenes. I really enjoyed this book and thought that the four main characters were very well done.
yes it was a great story. But the narration was unusual. I enjoyed it though.
This sounds so good.
This was very good. The women were very resourceful and skilled.
This sounds great and I love when they use different narrators for different timelines. It makes things so much easier to keep up with.
It’s so very fun. I think you would like it. It’s not cozy, more dangerous than that, but it certainly has the quirky old women who are very skilled.
I really enjoyed this one. I also listened to the audiobook. I ended up enjoying the split narration – in the flashbacks, they are younger and it’s very clinical, and CD nailed that. It really set apart the omnipotent POV from present day Billie. Overall, a great story.
I really enjoyed this one too. I didn’t mind the split narration; I just thought it was unusual. It did make it easy to tell when we were flashbacking.