Stephen King's Billy Summers - Review

Billy Summers by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A suspenseful crime thriller told on a broad canvas akin to one of King's epics.

Billy Summers, an assassin for hire, has made a career of killing only 'bad men'. He agrees to a lucrative final job before he intends to retire.

Under his cover as a novelist, Billy revisits his own life story, unprepared for the effect telling his own story will have.

With more at stake than ever before, Billy's final mission may become his undoing.

'Billy Summers' is a moving self-portrait of an assassin with a moral code, a man trained to kill for his country who has made a career from what he does best, but now wants to leave it behind. Not only an assassination thriller, this is a character history of a broken childhood and a story of war. A morality tale and redemption story, beginning with Billy’s hiring and an introduction to the persona he shows the world before we delve into his backstory, this is a multi-layered novel packed with emotion, action and suspense that explores the true horrors of which humanity is capable.

There are echoes of some of King's earlier work sewn throughout. Amongst his best stories are those that portray a true journey for the characters - ones of self-discovery in extraordinary circumstances - and this novel is another shining example of this, taking the reader on this journey with Billy and the people who enter his life. You can always feel the passage of time throughout Stephen King’s epics and you feel that acutely in this novel too, as it pulls you into Billy’s world and keeps you riveted throughout.

The initial scene-setting is superb, detailing Billy's preparations for his 'one last job' as he adopts the alias of David Lockridge, developing his cover and embedding himself in the community, building relationships with his neighbours - genuine connections that trouble him deeply due to his subterfuge. I especially loved the bond that develops between Billy and Alice later in the novel - one that is key to Billy's redemption story, if it truly is possible for him to be redeemed; a question that haunts him as much as his past.

Gripping and captivating, 'Billy Summers' is a fascinating novel and a chilling portrayal of the darker side of humanity.



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