This was such an engrossing read! I love the premise of it, that they were an elite team of female assassins. I also loved the underlying code they lived by… no freelance assassinations, only those sanctioned by their organization. That provided an oversight and a level of morality that wouldn’t have existed in freelance work.
Much of the story is told from Billie’s perspective in the present, with flashbacks to the four friends’ recruitment, training, and missions over the years. The author has created dynamic, engaging characters. Each woman comes to the story with her own history, her own experiences, even with so much of their lives wrapped up in one another. Somehow, despite their shared career path, they seem real, like women the reader could know.
The storytelling is brilliant, with fabulous characters, international travel, twists and turns, and tons of action. And all of it is woven together with wit and depth, and a surprising amount of humor. There are so many unpredicatable moments, some leading to unexpected twists and others letting the reader learn more about who the characters are as individuals. There’s an undeniable James Bond/007-meets-RED feeling to the book, which I loved. For those not in the know, RED means “retired: extremely dangerous,” also the title to the film RED with Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, and John Malkovich, all of who are former black ops agents who’ve been targeted for death.
One of the best things about this story was the focus on the women “of a certain age.” It flies in the face of the all-too-often invisibility of older women, and the perception of them. That is something there isn’t enough of in literature, so it really stood out.