Billy Summers

Billy Summers is an ex-military sniper turned assassin for hire. He takes up residence in a small American town, to wait for the moment when he can take the shot that will kill the man he’s been hired to kill. It’s his last job. When it’s done, he plans to retire. But the best laid plans….

This is Stephen King avoiding the un-earthly monsters that propelled the plots of The Outsider and Doctor Sleep and moving back into his Mr Mercedes territory. It’s a crime novel. And a good one, with a fine twisty plot that keeps bouncing around in unpredictable directions.

It’s also a war story; a glimpse of life in small town USA; a love story; a revenge story and, to cap it all off, a story about writing. As disparate as that all must sound, it also all works. What’s more, all comes together for a highly satisfying conclusion. Stephen King has long been one of my favourite writers, and I’ll be the first to admit that he’s written some less-than-satisfying books, but Billy Summers has everything he’s good at – unpredictability, pace, atmosphere, action, and character. Especially character.

And it has it in spades.