by Shane Kuhn (Sphere)
An uber-assassin named John, a killer boss called Bob, and a deadly love interest called Alice.
Their names may be plain, but this book certainly isn’t – it’s bloody (literally) brilliant.
Bob runs Human Resources Inc. John is his employee and, having reached the age of 25, this is his last job before he’s cut loose because he’s too old.
Bob places interns, but at 25, if you haven’t outgrown the intern stage, you’re clearly not very good at whatever it is you’re interning for, and that could draw attention to you.
Not good for these interns. These are people who work for nothing and who are, to the big boss (and many of their underlings), as invisible as cleaners or the FedEx guy. That makes it a perfect cover for getting close enough to assassinate them.
So, John is using his last mission as the basis for a “handbook”, something he thinks he could have used when he was starting out.
John knows it all; he’s been there, done that and shot holes through the T-shirt. Except for Alice: she’s a curv(y) ball who makes John wish he had a heart, and that he didn’t have to kill her too. Because she has secrets of her own. Big ones that could jeopardise the whole of Human Resources Inc.
What follows is one of the most original action/Rambo/ninja killer “text” books.
This is Kuhn’s first book and it’s terrific. Plenty more please, Shane.