Title: Assassins Anonymous (2024)
Author: Rob Hart
Publisher: GP Punam’s Sons
Book jacket: Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a twelve-step group for reformed killers.
Joe says: Assassins Anonymous is a macho maelstrom of shooting, shadowing, and, most impressively, self-control.
In this age of hyper-kinetic, revenge-drawn thrillers like the John Wick series as well as David Fincher’s The Killer, assassin stories have, momentarily, reached beyond that “One. Last. Job.” theme. They focus instead on the hunt and survival. Rob Hart’s latest book, Assassins Anonymous, can be added to that mix as he presents a unique play on the biz. Assassins Anonymous is a fun, action-filled thriller that is both silly and serious, plays with time and motion, and gives a little insight on the hip, solitary lifestyle of a killer for hire.
The gimmick presented within is that Mark, the deadly assassin with the headline-grabbing nom de guerre of the Pale Horse, is in a recovery program. And Hart sets the scene perfectly. Church basement. Folding chairs. And the whole “My name is Mark. And I’m an assassin” attestation. The Assassins Anonymous group is for killers who are sick of killing for one reason or another and seek a new way of life. They meet regularly when that murderous urge rises within and try to suppress their nature with convo, coffee, and crullers. The premise is silly but certainly no sillier than all those stories about the teen nerd who gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Right? Hart makes it work. And then shenanigans happen.
Mark, naturally, is hunted by someone – or some group – that puts the hurt on him all too easily. Are past crimes haunting with retribution? Maybe a new player looking to be top dog? To find out, Mark goes on the run and brings along with him his cat, and Astrid, his personal nurse-with-benefits (or is she?). And going on the lam is when the fun kicks in.
Hart separates the chapters switching between the present and the past. The past is a killer, too. And fatally fun with jumping off buildings and sword fights and the like. Interestingly, though, Hart does not dive into the character of Mark all that deeply. Pop culture drops aside, Mark comes across as too nice – too boring and normal – to be a maladjusted murderer. Truly, outside of guns and knives and Kevlar, there really ain’t too much going on with this leading man. He is more brooding-breakup-boy than Terminator. But the set ups and situations, like those between Kenji, his sponsor, and Ravi, his handler, make the mystery move in a similar manner to how Hart conducted his previous release, The Warehouse, which was an equally enjoyable story.
Assassins Anonymous is a macho maelstrom of shooting, shadowing, and, most impressively, self-control. Give this one a read.
Thanks to NetGalley and GP Punam’s Sons for the advance copy. Oddly, though, the awarded ARC was a PDF, which made for a weird reading experience as the
F
ormatting was off in many
instances mak-ing the whole reading event a bit ofa
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truggl
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Hurm.
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