The Killer

Victor the Assassin Series, Book 1

By: Tom Wood

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Forget James Bond. Forget Jason Bourne. Forget Jack Bauer.

Meet Victor. He's an assassin - a man with no past and no surname. He lives alone. He operates alone. He's given a job; he takes out the target; he gets paid. He's The Killer.

Victor arrives in Paris to perform a standard kill and collect for an anonymous client. He completes it with trademark efficiency - only to find himself in the middle of an ambush and fighting for his life. Pursued by determined enemies, a woman too beautiful to be safe, and intelligence agencies from both sides of the Atlantic, Victor will soon discover there is nowhere left for him to hide...and no one he can trust. But he is every bit as ruthless as those hunting him. And Victor will find out who wants him dead and why - one corpse at a time.

©2010 Tom Hinshelwood (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A superlative fiction debut.... Nonstop action that veers and twists from one ferocious gun battle, double cross, and betrayal to the next.... Thriller fans will be eager to see more from this bright new talent." ( Publishers Weekly)

Action Without Suspense

The first 3/4 of the book was slow for me. It started out with action, but after that the story felt tedious. The last 1/4 of the book was much better. The story finally began tying together with the action instead of just one fight scene after another. Hence the 4 stars for the story.

There were a lot of characters in the book most of whom were bad. There is not much back story on Victor, the main character, but maybe that will happen as the series progresses. I found myself rooting for Victor even though he was a killer without a conscience. As other reviewers have noted, the car chase was way too long. It seemed like it was written for a screenplay and not a book.

The narration was slow and I usually think most narrators go too fast. I had to speed up the book 3 times. The narrator has a nice voice that fits the characters but there was something flat about his reading. I couldn't tell if it was the writing or the narration but I felt like he was reading step by step instructions on how to put something together. It just didn't work for me.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you like this genre. I don't think it's as good as some of the reviews have indicated, but it is the first book in the series. Sometimes a series really takes off after the first book. I do plan to read the second book to see if this series does that, especially after the ending of this book.

Enter the Killer

Meet Victor. A cold and calculating assassin. A very good opening to a very good series. The story is fast paced and seems, to me, well researched and believable.

Awesome book

Very good story that’s keeps you constantly engaged. The narrator does a good job too but I wish he switched up character tones just a little bit more. Still amazing. Highly recommend!

Another great series!

By the time I got around to writing this review I had already listened to books two and three in the series. Obviously, I liked the first book well enough to purchase the next...and I liked the second well enough to purchase the third. The storyline is built around a fascinating concept. How does a super assassin think? There is plenty of action, but most of all the book is about being smart. Although the hero is a bad guy, the reader is not asked to endorse his morality, but rather appreciate his thought process. Beyond that, the reader (me) finds himself feeling like, deep down, Victor wants to be a good man, but life has not convinced him it makes sense to go that route. Bottom line...An engaging, fast moving, intellectually stimulating book. If you like action/adventure that also makes you think, this book is a great choice.

An excellent thriller that grips you for on page one.

Wow!! What a book.. This was excellent thriller that gripped me from the first to last page.

The central character is fascinating, and although he is a killer, and despite readers learning virtually nothing about his background, (even his nationality), he is a total hero.

It's a spell-binding story, yet lightening fast in its telling.

Looking forward to book two.

Needs a different narrator

The story itself is good, not quite on par with the likes of the Gray Man or Terminal List series’ but close. However, the narrator is boring, monotonous, and very hard to listen to for any length of time.

Very good assassin story

I love this series. Victor is one of my favorite characters I really like the way Tom Wood portrays him. He is such a good character you almost don’t want to think of him as a bad guy.

THIS IS A THREE FOR...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It is hard to find good books and I have listen to all three in this series and would recommend it to anyone wanting to be entertained for hours.... When I do a review I like to name some of my favorite authors to explain the type of books I enjoy , Vince Flynn, Lee Childs, Barry Eisler, Jack Campbell, and John Ringo to name a few....

What did you like best about this story?

It pulls you in from the start and doesn't let you go....

What does Rob Shapiro bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Rob Shapiro brings Victor and the other characters to life. I will now use his name to search and see what else might be interesting...

Just missed being really good

Just missed being great so it was just good. Reader performed well at times and seemed bored at times, seems he thought some fight scenes and the car chase lasted too long. The one thing that really got me was the interaction of Victor and Rebecca but he missed on that too.

He's no hero but you like him away

I enjoyed this book. I gave this story four stars because although the story was engrossing and the characters believable some of their actions were a little difficult to comprehend. The first character introduced in the book was described as a mild-mannered man with a loving wife at home. We were led to believe he was an analyst type but by the end of the book we were asked to believe he was capable of things that really did not flow with his initial character. It would not have been so disturbing if it had not been a pivotal part of the story.

Victor is no hero but I was constantly seeing him as such. I rallied around him and wanted him to succeed although it left a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach that I was cheering on a 'killer, someone who does nothing else with his life but kill people. Victor is portrayed with very little humanity but the author makes it work and the story is very entertaining.

The narrator is very accomplished and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. I will look for him in other works as he brought this book to life.