It’s the day that many dream about, the culmination of a job well done: retirement. It’s no different for the quartet of Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice and Helen, whose employer has generously gifted a Caribbean cruise to bid them adieu after decades of service for The Museum. It’s a lavish gift, and one that might be a trip of a lifetime—or the end of life. But it’s hardly surprising, as this group of sexagenarians are highly trained hit women, and they know it can only be their former employer gunning for them. The Museum, nominally devoted to erasing deserving baddies from the earth, has suddenly turned its highly honed techniques against its own is anyone’s guess. But one creatively managed shipwreck later, Billie et al are determined to find out and—of course—neutralize the threat.
Deanna Raybourn, who has long made a name for herself writing historical fiction featuring enterprising women sleuths, most notably of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries, terms her contemporary thriller Killers of a Certain Age as a leap of faith. She needn’t have worried: the book is a hoot, an audacious mix of action and humor with a healthy dose of righteous rage. It’s easily one of my favorite books of the year. Reviews sometimes mention a ‘Golden Girls but as assassins’ feel to Killers, and it’s fair comparison (Natalie is a total Blanche) but there’s also a definite James Bond derring-do to these killers. Unlike 007, however, Raybourn does a beautiful job fleshing out the inner lives of her Furies. The central character here is Billie, whose recruitment and training with the Sphinxes, as the group is dubbed, as well as flashbacks to previous jobs to fill out her backstory and the reasons for The Museum’s sudden betrayal. The means and methods by which Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice and Helen carry out their work—with the assistance of a few genuine friends—proves that old-school ingenuity and spy craft can more than hold its own against tech and blunt brawn. The Sphinxes use their status as women, and older women to boot, to their advantage: what’s the best place to stash poisons away from the eyes of customs’ agents? Or a means of communicating electronically free from any tracking means? The methods that Raybourn cooks up for her quartet of killers is remarkably creative (one can easily imagine how gleefully she thought up subverting such ageist clichés as knitting needles and pearls), but also serves as a sly commentary on how power can be wielded for good or ill.
Killers of a Certain Age is a thriller that has both depth and well, killer entertainment value. It’s a tumultuous ride from start to finish, a fast read with character development that doesn’t get lost in the process. You may well be casting the movie in your mind as you read. Killers of a Certain Age is highly recommended for anyone who likes their thrillers with a dose of humor alongside vengeance, spy novel readers may like the methodology, or just any reader interested in an adventurous read with a strong sense of irony.