Reviews with content warning for Gore - Killers of a Certain Age

After four decades of working as elite assassins for an organization known only as the Museum, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are ready for retirement. Well they’re not ready but they don’t have much of a choice - their talents are considered old-school and the organization has started to recruit more and more “gym bros” that like to blow things up rather than women that blend in and sever arteries with sharpened hair pins. The friends are gifted an all-expenses-paid vacation to mark their retirement and they get together to toast to the new chapter in their lives and live happily ever after. Just kidding - someone tries to kill them. When they discover top-level members of the Museum have ordered a termination order, they must rely on their experience, friendship, and several ways to make poisons from household objects to get their lives back.

Killers of a Certain Age is the movie RED if RED was a book, not the CIA, and the main characters were all women. It was fun. It was a fun, quick read and I enjoyed it. Billie was the narrator for most of the story and, while I liked her quick wit and sarcasm, her vague but tragic backstory didn’t add anything to the plot except to explain why she carries around a lighter. Same can be said for her “long lost love.” I also don’t really understand where her assistant/adopted daughter/minion came from and there was truly no explanation. Most of the characters had tidbits about them that I feel like were supposed to advance the plot but they missed their mark.

I’m a huge Deanna Raybourn fan and I prefer her Lady Julia Grey and Veronica Speedwell works to this book but it was cute. All in all it was a four and a half hour read and I think it was time well spent.

Content Warnings

faduma's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Content Warnings

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

jhbandcats's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny informative lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A clever and witty tale of retiree assassins who are targeted by their own agency for removal. People generally don’t pay much attention to old women so they can slip past unnoticed - a good skill for a killer. They’re always underestimated by ageist misogynists and that’s definitely to the detriment of the person making the wrong assumption.

This book is a really violent cozy mystery - not very cozy at all but with cozy main characters, four women who’ve studied and killed together for forty years. We learn about their training and how it molded these women into such dangerous assassins. They’re comfortable together, playing off each other’s talents and covering for each other’s weaknesses.

It’s very funny - instead of a James Bond sort of suave killer, these women are coping with osteoporosis and bad backs. I love their strength and resilience, but even more I love that they didn’t take any $hit from anyone. Definitely a hit book for older women readers!

Content Warnings

More...