Quick Synopsis

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.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

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.

Book Review

I went into Killers of a Certain Age blind. Other than the title and the things that I deduced from it, I did not know what to expect from this book. So I was surprised to find that Killers of a Certain Age is ultimately a spy thriller. The story follows a quartet of newly retired female spies as they try to outwit a sinister plot to take them out.

The plot of Killers of a Certain Age starts out a bit slow but then picks up pace. Although it was not as fast-paced as some spy novels I have read, I thought the story was still pretty action-packed. This was the strength of the novel. I wish that it had been a bit more witty/smart with the events, which would have added some more entertaining and surprising twists

Billie, the leader of the group is friends, was much more developed than her companions. We are given her recruitment story and a bit of her background in a flashback. However, the remaining three friends are not given the same treatment. I think giving them the same page space would have aided the narrative. Instead, I sometimes mixed up the friends, their backgrounds, and their motivations.

I also think it is worth noting that I did not particularly find it believable that these women were in their sixties. The humor they used and some of their actions were more likely to be done by twenty-year olds. I am not fazed by dick jokes and middle fingers, but I can see that some readers may be put off by this. The only real reflection of them being older is some commentary and jokes about failing bodies and an aversion to technology.

Overall, I enjoyed Killers of a Certain Age, but it will not be a book I remember. I would recommend it if you are looking for an entertaining read but do not expect to be blown away.

Rating

Overall Rating

Writing

Plot

Character development