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)

Tesseract the assassin

I listened to the audiobook on Audible, buying the first two on sale some years ago.

On the upside, there's a fair bit of action. The protagonist(?) fights hand to hand, long range guns, 1 vs many, and from a car chase. I did like how he isn't invincible. He makes mistakes and can get injured along the way.

On the downside, the multiple perspectives of the book were useless. one chapter you'll see victor killing people; the next chapter some people will be discussing that those people were killed. one chapter victor will flee to another country; the next chapter two men will be discussing if the assassin fled to another country. you could read the entire book and skip the perspectives of everyone except victor and not miss much. There was some romance that felt out of place (eg: ch 53). There's a scene where he senses something out of place; instead of fleeing immediately, he decides to just chill out and think about his feeling. Huh?

Overall I felt the book was mediocre. I'll only read the sequel because I bought the first two books on sale and it's too late to return it.

A thriller!

To me this was right up there with Vince Flynn and Lee Child. Plenty of action...Victor is a bad guy you might find yourself cheering for.

Assassin that doesn't carry a gun?

An Assassin that doesn't like or carry a gun is asking a little much, however the story is good enough for me to try the second and third in the series (Books: 1.5 & 2). Plot twists and concurrent story lines converge in an a definite thriller; good for a first book.

The reader takes some getting used to. The first several chapters sounded as though it was being read, not a good trait for a professional. However, he recovers as the excitement of the story grows; and at least 2/3 of the book was read very well.

Wow how did this get such great reviews

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The plot was terrible and the the scenarios developed implausible and factually inconsistent. Wondering if the book was edited.

What was most disappointing about Tom Wood’s story?

I found it difficult to find anything positive.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Killer?

Too many to mention. This could have been a good book had there been an able editor and attention to detail.

Any additional comments?

Felt ripped off buying the book.

Not Bad

I would have to agree with many of the other reviews. The book started off quick paced and held my attention immediately; I did fine for the beginning and about midway through the book things really started to slow down and found myself struggling to Listen for more then a 1/2 an hour , And then a few chapters from the and the pace quicken and ended pretty well .

GregG-Victor is better than Bourne

The reader of this book was truly awesome, he made it very hard to stop listening. The writer did a great job with the main character. My only problem is the twist with the woman, I didn't like what happened.. This is a recommended read.

It was good. Similar to Gray man series.

If you like like the Gray Man series then you'll enjoy this. Not quite as good but very close. It'll do the trick whilst I wait for Cort Gentry to get his ass in trouble again.

reads like a documentary

i really enjoyed the story and the action sequences are outstanding!
the characters were only surface deep.
my favorite scene is the knife fight!

Obsession worthy!

Rob Shapiro is the best! I work outside (with animals) so I listen to a lot of audio books. This series leaves me wanting more, every time!

Great book

This looks to be a great series. Fast paced but compact so it is easy to keep track of multiple characters and a plot that stays on track.