“Natalie shook her head. ‘I can’t imagine you ever not being exactly what you are. We’re all killers, but you’re the Killer Queen,’ she said, lifting her glass in a toast.
The others laughed and I even managed to drink, but Natalie’s remark cut a little closer to the bone than I would have liked. Because she said what I’d already started to fear—that without the job, I was nothing.”
Deanna Raybourn, Killers of a Certain Age
Title: Killers of a Certain Age
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 353 (Hardcover)
Published: September 6th, 2022
My Rating: ★★
Read: 10/20/2022 – 10/21/2022
Review:
The summary of this book promises a lot. When I saw it was included in the Book of the Month lineup, I made this my selection for the month without even looking at the others being offered. At a glance, it sounds like an action-packed take on the Golden Girls. In a way, it is, but as far as the story is concerned, it fell through the cracks for me.
Having spent most of their lives working as assassins, Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen are heading into retirement. What they think is a grand send-off turns out to be a setup. Is there such a thing as retirement for people who know too much? Their vacation turns into a game of survival.
I’m grateful to have read this as part of a buddy read because I was feeling bad about my lack of interest past the first chapter. The person I was reading with had many of the same thoughts as the story progressed, the biggest quip being how difficult the story was to follow. I’m no stranger to non-linear timelines. In a lot of cases I enjoy them more than going straight from A to Z. Unfortunately, this was not one of those situations. I didn’t find the story at all engaging and it was crasser than I care for.
Likes & Dislikes:
What I liked:
- There were some funny lines, though I can’t say the humor fit my own overall.
- Older characters.
What I didn’t like:
- How crude it could be at times. Maybe I should have expected it, maybe not, but it took me by surprise nonetheless.
- The time jumping. It was all over the map and confusing. It took a while for me to figure out the POV as well.
- It was a surprisingly uneventful story (or it went hand in hand with it being predictable).
Afterthoughts:
It was a quick read, but not necessarily in a good way. I’m glad I gave it a shot at least.