Review: ASSASSIN EIGHTEEEN, John Brownlow

• 
  This edition an e-book read on my Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C1SYK85Q
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press (April 23, 2024)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 468 pages
• #2 in the series 

Synopsis ( Amazon)

I am waiting for someone to kill me. Tonight would be a good night for it.

Agent Seventeen, the most infamous hit man in the world, has quit. But whoever wants to become Assassin Eighteen must track him down and kill him first. So when a bullet hits the glass inches from his face, he knows who fired it—doesn't he?

It turns out that the sniper isn't the hardened killer he was expecting. It's Mireille—a mysterious silent child abandoned in the woods with instructions to pull the trigger. Reuniting with his spiky lover, Kat, Seventeen has to protect Mireille and discover who sent her to kill him and why. But the road he must travel is littered with bodies. And the answer, when it comes, will blow apart everything Seventeen thought he knew.

My Take

Seventeen is now living in Sixteen's house and has decided to retire. His handler thinks he has lost what it takes to be an assassin. Every night he shows himself to the world, inviting them to take him out. And then one night someone tries. 

But that is when Seventeen discovers he has a daughter who has been set up to shoot him. And he discovers he is maybe human after all. Not as tough as he thought he was.

In answer to your question: this is the sequel to SEVENTEEN and, yes, you should read them in order.   

A spy thriller, rather than a mystery,

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing - #1

Review: SEVENTEEN: Last Man Standing, John Brownlow

• 
  This edition an e-book read on my Kindle from Amazon
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09FZJ4B1X
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hanover Square Press (November 1, 2022)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 425 pages
• *Winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Best Thriller*
• *A Financial Times Best Thriller Book of 2022*

Synopsis (Amazon) 

You'll never know my name.

But you won't forget my number.

Behind the events you know are the killers you don’t. When diplomacy fails, we're the ones who gear up. Officially we don’t exist, but every government in the world uses our services. We’ve been saving the world, and your ass, for one hundred years.

 Sixteen people have done this job before me. I am Seventeen. The most feared assassin in the world. But to be the best, you must beat the best. My next target is Sixteen, just as one day Eighteen will hunt me down. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and it gets lonely at the top. Nobody gets to stay for long. But while we're here, all that matters is that we win.

Visceral, cinematic and wildly addictive, Seventeen will keep you on the edge of your seat and live long in the memory. Until Eighteen comes along…

My Take

Seventeen is part of a line of assassins, which began with Reilly, the Ace of Spies, and included 007 and others. They seem to be mostly, but not all, British. They simplify government, performing the dirtiest of tasks, quietly and efficiently. The resolution of major events in recent world history can be traced back to them.  Most recently there was Sixteen, but he is still to be properly eliminated by his successor. And that is Seventeen's task - locate and remove Sixteen.  

Mr Jones, as Seventeen is generally known, has located Sixteen but is having trouble eliminating him. He seems to those watching out for him, and, in retirement, is leading a rather odd life, almost offering himself up to his successor.

A spy thriller rather than a mystery

My rating: 4.5

About the author

John Brownlow is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. Born in Lincoln, UK, after studying maths and English at Oxford he produced and directed more than a dozen documentaries for British TV. In the early 2000s he turned to screenwriting, and wrote the film SYLVIA about Sylvia Plath, starring Gwynneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig. He also wrote the TV series FLEMING, about Ian Fleming's work in wartime intelligence, and the TV adaptation of Jessie Burton's best-selling novel THE MINIATURIST. His debut novel, SEVENTEEN, was published in 2022, and the sequel is due to be published in 2023.

John holds British and Canadian citizenship and lives in Ontario, Canada.