Oooff! This was fabulous, fun, and very feisty! Don’t mess with killer pensioners…

After dedicating their lives to assassinating the baddies, our four females finally settle down to a relaxing life on a nice pension….or maybe not!

I loved every moment of this story, it’s well written and I loved all of the characters, it really keeps you on your toes all the way to the last pages.

For those who have enjoyed Mr Osman’s books, then this will tick all your boxes.

My thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

“’I wasn’t expecting that. I should have stretched first.’ The truth was, it had been some time since I’d wrapped myself like a pretzel around someone I was trying to kill, to say nothing of choking someone out. It’s more a matter of leverage than brute strength, but you always feel it in your biceps and traps as soon as you’re finished if you’ve done it right.”

Killers Of A Certain Age is the first contemporary novel by best-selling American author, Deanna Raybourn. After forty years as highly-trained assassins, Billie Webster and the three other women who make up Project Sphinx surely deserve the Caribbean Cruise they’ve been given on their retirement from The Museum, an extra-governmental organisation targeting Nazis, drug dealers, sex traffickers and other nasty types.

But while she has turned sixty, Billie hasn’t lost an ounce of her training, so she instantly spots the assassin. She and her friends quickly act to learn who his target is (them!!), then efficiently neutralise him. Shock that they are being taken out after their loyal service only galvanises their actions: they ensure that innocent souls will not be lost and make their way to safety. The aftermath includes a rather large explosion.

“For all our experience, we were used to the luxury of an entire organization at our disposal, ready to pluck us out of the field if we were in danger, prepared to clean up our messes, remove us from the line of fire. For the first time in forty years, we were on our own.”

Putting their talents and resources to good use, the four make it to Billie’s New Orleans safe house where they regroup and then work out what next. Learning the why of it is a priority; they contact one person they believe they can trust, only to soon find out they can’t. But they do find out that there’s a bounty on their heads. Quite why takes some more investigation, and they quickly realise that running and hiding is not really an option: they have to fight back.

It's truly enjoyable to watch these women being underestimated, both as old and as women, and then robustly proving that neither is a valid reason. This is a novel that will especially appeal to readers of a certain vintage, who will be pleased to see that these older women still have it, in spades, thank you very much! And the twist is excellent.

Any novel that starts with “AUTHOR’S NOTE Some of the dates are misleading; some of the names are lies. I’m not trying to protect the innocent. I’m trying to protect the guilty. You’ll understand soon enough” promises a very entertaining read, and Deanna Raybourn certainly delivers.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.

Four, sixty plus, ladies depart on a cruise to celebrate their retirement. Then they discover a bomb. Panic? No! Situation normal for assassins. Realising that they are the target, they cause everyone to abandon ship and allow the bomb to send it, now deserted, to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Slipping away from the flotilla of lifeboats, they know they only have a couple of days before the people who planted the bomb realise they are still alive. In that interval they have to go off grid while they set about plotting their revenge, starting with finding safe houses, weaponry and detailed information about those who are responsible and will have to die. Forty years earlier they had been recruited as an all female team by a shadow NGO called the Museum, which had been set up after WWII by ex OSS and SOE agents with the avowed purpose of killing escaped Nazis; and other people who cause damage to humanity. By the time Billie, Natalie, Mary Alice and Helen were recruited there weren’t many Nazis left, but the world has always had plenty of the other category and the girls, as a team, alone, or with other agents, are extremely good at their job. It rapidly becomes clear that the order to kill them came from the three Directors. Motive unknown but that’s a minor issue; if you try to kill assassins but miss you have signed your own death warrant. Motive will reveal itself, as will any other people involved. With skills honed over forty years, and a great deal of clever planning, they set about their task.
The story is told largely from Billie’s point of view and works very well. Despite its central premise and the mayhem and bloodshed that follows from that, the writing style is quite jovial, a proper black comedy, i.e. the humour comes from the writing not from jokes interpolated at random. Due attention is paid to the fact that older bodies might still be able to carry out strenuous physical activity, but it will hurt more. I loved the girls and hope they might get another outing.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I’ve enjoyed other books by the author so was looking forward to reading Killers Of A Certain Age. This sounded like a treat and very different from her other books. I had a great time reading this book. Billie is a great character, very flawed, complex and human. She’s the central driving force for this intriguing read. I liked the fact the characters are so rich and complex. This is a fun read even thought there’s some violence. I liked it a lot.

I adore Raybourn’s historical novels so I was fascinated to get stuck in to her latest novel, and whilst very different from her previous fare, this is no less delightful. Billie is a fantastic protagonist who offers us a human and flawed view into this crazy world. I loved how real she was, how grumpy, how very hacked off she was with the situation thrust upon her. I was rooting for her right from the start, even through the darker, grittier morally grey moments.

Raybourn is particularly skilled at creating intriguing shades of grey characters who are delightfully human in their navigation through the story, and this is no exception. I loved the juxtaposition of the present day older ladies and the pieces of history that fit in to round out the story of how they came to be the women they are today in the situations they’ve found themselves in.

This had all the trademarks of Raybourn’s work, whilst also feeling fresh and exciting, further cementing her place as a favourite author of mine. I loved it, and I’m desperately hoping we get more in the world of the Museum, even if Billie is getting her well deserved retirement.

This was a really good read about older women - four feisty, smart and determined ones
taking up a challenge thrown their way and dealing brilliantly withthe chinless wonders
they meet on the way.

The Four women have worked as assassins,worked very creditably, now retired each one
dealing with the new phase in their lives. Not so easy it seems, with one final
assignment which on the surface seems reasonable, but as time goes on shows flaws such
as an insider threat, betrayal within the over ruling establishment and too many
coincidences to be probable.

The level of skill in not just executing a person, but the precise forward planning
before eachenterprise, the methodical implementation of the plan, the dependance of one
and in other words putting your life in your partners hands is fabulous.

Enjoyed every second of this read, feasible or not the reading was riveting.

I got a Deanna Raybourn book after ages after requests were made and I am appreciative
that I got this one.

I thought this was a unique concept as the book follows 4 newly retired clandestine assassins. Even though they all trained together as the Museum's first group of all female assassins, the ladies are all very different and have gone on to live very different lives.

The plot and characters were the book's strength.

I wasn't a huge fan of the flashback chapters even though I saw how each propelled the story forward or gave a deeper insight into Helen as a character. It could be that there were just so many different timelines that it felt disjointed at the time of reading but looking back, I can see how these piece together to show the rich tapestry of Helen's experiences.

All in all, this was a fun mystery.

Four sixty-plus women who spent their lives as assassins? And organisation called The Museum that sends people all over the world to kill – and call this ‘the exhibition team’?
Hilarious!
But it works – the story of Billie, Helen, Mary Alice and Natalie is not all fun and games and assuming that an assassin would survive 40 years of killing is very improbable. Lots of things are improbable in this book, and its good that we do not have to read every detail of every plan the women make to take out the person that ultimately wants to take them out. But why? Starting with a luxurious cruise and ending somewhere in the English countryside, the story is full of action and witty dialogues. I just loved it. We get to know the characters rather well and maybe, maybe, the author can decide to have them returned from their retirement and find other good reasons to go back to their ‘work’? I would also love seeing this book turned into a movie, with a couple of real elderly actors (not forty-somethings with fake wrinkles).
Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy.

Move over, Ron, Ibrahim and Joyce, ‘Killers of a Certain Age’ introduces us to Billie, Helen, Natalie and Mary Alice, trained assassins coming out of retirement to fight for their own lives after their former employer issues a kill order for all four of them. (Elizabeth, of course, would be impressed.)

This is ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ turned up to eleven. High octane adventures, expletives, Nazis, and at least one fascinatingly unconventional method of murder. The ladies are by turns funny and sassy but there are moments of reflection, tenderness and observations about women getting older.

I’ve long been a fan of Deanna Raybourn, ever since reading her Lady Julia Grey series over ten years ago, so was really excited to discover this book and what I hope might be a new series.

The writing is punchy and the plot is told using chapters written in the third person, set in the present and in the past, and in the first person through Billie. Readers in the UK may find some of the writing a little American in style – for example, I’m not a fan of the word ‘gotten’ and there were cultural references I didn’t quite understand, but these were few and far between and didn’t affect the plot at all.

A fabulous, fast-paced read. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of this novel, on which this review is based.

Killers of a Certain Age is certainly a fun read, if a somewhat violent one.

Four women, trained assassins for a mysterious organisation, have finally reached retirement age. They go on a cruise to celebrate, only to spot an operative on board - who's clearly been sent there to snuff them out once and for all. This leaves them in a very uncomfortable situation. The organisation is trying to kill them - but why? And how on earth will they get out of it? How many people need to die so they can be assured they will be left alone to live?

This is almost a cosy crime in its lightweight and fun tone, only there are more bodies and more violent action than you'd usually expect from a cosy. Hey, that's what happens when you have assassins with forty years of experience in the mix! At times I was reminded of Richard Osman's books, which are very different in plot but also showcase how the experience that comes with age can often outrun the confidence of youth.

There are a few flashbacks to the past (to give insight into the characters and how they got to the present day), mixed into the main storyline. I liked them but sometimes just wanted to get on with the plot! Speaking of plot, I enjoyed spending time with the four women and friends as they figured out their plan of action and traveled across Europe. It wasn't always surprising, but it was always fun.

This was a great read, 4 ladies, who have spent their working lives as assassins realise they are being targeted by the firm that employs them. Brilliant, especially when they start fighting back.

I really liked the premise of this book and the idea of hiding in plain sight
bring an ideal weapon for the older "invisible" woman.
But, oh dear, despite trying a number of times I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters with the awful dialogue and ideas. Sadly not for me and a DNF I'm afraid
Thank you to netgalley and hodder and Stoughton for an advance copy of this book

Really good fun, very original, definitely rings bells for a woman of a certain age. Made me laugh. Maybe could have done with some editing

An enjoyable book. It wasn't as laugh out loud as I expected just mildly humorous. It started a bit slow, then got better and rather ended in a rush. Although the future of the 4 assassins seemed to be sorted at the end I did wonder whether they may be back running the Museum, the assassination organisation. Maybe, that's for the next book?
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

This was such a fun read! Seeing the ladies cope with what was happening to them and how they decided to deal with that made for a fascinating tale.
There were a few moments that made me giggle and more where I learned something new.
Seeing this group of friends who were assassins coping with retirement as well as being targeted made for an engrossing story which held my interest right till the last page.
I would love to revisit these characters in the future should the author decide to write more involving them.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn is a fun fast paced romp through a somewhat forced retirement for an all female squad of unofficial government assassins.
It seemed like a wonderful gesture, sending Mary Alice, Billie, Helen and Natalie on an all expenses paid cruise to mark their retirement after forty years of working for the "Museum" . Times have moved on from when they were first recruited and management feels it is time for them to hang up their knives and guns. The ladies may be moving a little slower but they are still sharp enough to spot that they are being targeted , and by one of their own. Since only the top level members of the Museum could have issued a kill order against them , they will have to use every ounce of their skills and experience as well as sharpen their wits if they are to escape alive and figure out who is behind it all and show them that women of a certain age know how to get things done.
This was such a fun book, the characters are fantastic and the author does a wonderful job of showing how close they are to each other, particularly through her use of the dual timeline so that we see them being recruited and forming the unit at the same time as we are reading about them fighting for their lives in the current day. There is a lot of humour, most notably in the banter between the women and I found myself chuckling very often as I read. The sections set in the past were written with a strong emphasis on the misogyny faced by the gang , as women they were seen as too weak or too pretty to be killers , something that they were often able to turn to their advantage , while in the current day chapters they were often mistakenly written off as being too old, again something that they did not hesitate to use when needed,
I have seen this book described as something of a cross between Charlie's Angels and The Golden Girls , and I have to say I couldn't come up with a better comparison..
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own ,

If you can suspend your belief that there were in fact a group of 4 women trained as assassins in the 1980's who have now retired then you will find this a very amusing story indeed. It flows well and the characters are well described.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance copy of this book.

This is a wonderfully upbeat tale of female assassins, their friendships and how they are dealing with become middle aged or even elderly. There is drama and intrigue and a plot that thickens with twists and turns. Fabulous!. I loved the characters and the story and would highly recommend

Funny and jam packed with adventure I really enjoyed this read. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I loved Killers of a Certain Age. It’s a great novel that drew me in from the beginning. It follows the story of four sixty year old female assassins. They’ve done the job for forty years but just don’t want to retire. However things take a turn for the worse when they’re sent on a luxury retirement cruise and it seems that one of their own has targeted them. Great characters and a plot that moved at pace, I found it really hard to put down. I would rate this book 4.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton and the author for the chance to review.