By John Brownlow ★★★★★
In the world of spycraft and black ops assassinations, there is a hierarchy. And when one ascends to the top of that hierarchy as the very best in the world, they become known simply by their number. Our narrator is exactly that, the currently reigning greatest assassin in the world: Seventeen.
Typically, to be the best, you need to not just beat the best, you need to kill them. That is how it went for numbers One through Fifteen, but Sixteen abruptly disappeared, and hasn’t been heard from in more than a decade. So while Seventeen is on top, it’s also with a bit of an asterisk -- ascension by default, rather than via supremacy.
After completing a job in Europe, Seventeen returns to the U.S. for his next assignment. His handler (known simply as “Handler”) passes over the file for his next target: none other than Sixteen.
This is mostly a plot-driven, action-packed romp, but it makes the Top 10 because of its layers. The plot is smart and goes beyond the cat-and-mouse game you’d expect between the two greatest living assassins in the world. You get backstory on Seventeen that helps round out how the hard-edged character came to be the way he is, and you get enough intricacy in the plot where it’s not quite as straightforward as you may expect. It reads like a screenplay (Brownlow has actually been a screenwriter for several years before penning this debut novel) and with the glut of content being produced today, I would think we’ll see this some day on Netflix or Prime or even in the theater.
It’s not a perfect novel, and probably closer to 4.5 stars, but if you’re going to be upset because the hero survives injuries that would cripple anyone else (as some negative reviewers are), you’re probably overthinking what this is supposed to be. While I still prefer I Am Pilgrim (my #2 book of the year way back in 2014) in this type of spy cat-and-mouse style read, Seventeen is similarly engaging and only a small notch behind that excellent read. It’s gritty and fun and one of the more enjoyable reads of 2022 for me.
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