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Killing Eve #p-1c
Villanelle: Shanghai
From bestselling author Luke Jennings, the third novella in the Villanelle thriller series.
Beneath a bruise-dark monsoon sky, Villanelle paces the streets of Shanghai. Her task, to eliminate the leader of an elite team of Chinese hackers, who are stealing vital data from the West.
Beautiful and sexually predatory, a psychopath who has been trained to kill without hesitation, Villanelle is the ultimate assassin. But hard on her heels is the brilliant and fiercely determined Eve Polastri of MI6, who has sworn to hunt Villanelle down, whatever the personal cost. The stage is set for erotic intrigue and bloody violence, played out against the glittering backdrop of Asia's most decadent city.
"What I enjoy about Villanelle is that she is robotic and ruthless and kills to order, but you don’t in any way dislike her. Her effortless cool and glamour and cleverness ensure that. Villanelle is a professional killing machine and she does her job, never stopping to query the ethics or the rights and wrongs of her work. Actually, neither did I, very much. A gripping story. Well written. Fast paced. Two great female characters. What’s not to love?" Christine's Book Reviews (on Villanelle: Hollowpoint)
"Fast and furious… We can't wait for the next one. And by the way, someone get a copy of this story to Jennifer Lawrence. If she’s looking for her next franchise after “The Hunger Games,” this may be it." Howard Polskin – Thin Reads (on Codename Villanelle).
LUKE JENNINGS is the author of Blood Knots, short-listed for the Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of several novels, including the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. As a journalist he has written for The Observer, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time.
Beneath a bruise-dark monsoon sky, Villanelle paces the streets of Shanghai. Her task, to eliminate the leader of an elite team of Chinese hackers, who are stealing vital data from the West.
Beautiful and sexually predatory, a psychopath who has been trained to kill without hesitation, Villanelle is the ultimate assassin. But hard on her heels is the brilliant and fiercely determined Eve Polastri of MI6, who has sworn to hunt Villanelle down, whatever the personal cost. The stage is set for erotic intrigue and bloody violence, played out against the glittering backdrop of Asia's most decadent city.
"What I enjoy about Villanelle is that she is robotic and ruthless and kills to order, but you don’t in any way dislike her. Her effortless cool and glamour and cleverness ensure that. Villanelle is a professional killing machine and she does her job, never stopping to query the ethics or the rights and wrongs of her work. Actually, neither did I, very much. A gripping story. Well written. Fast paced. Two great female characters. What’s not to love?" Christine's Book Reviews (on Villanelle: Hollowpoint)
"Fast and furious… We can't wait for the next one. And by the way, someone get a copy of this story to Jennifer Lawrence. If she’s looking for her next franchise after “The Hunger Games,” this may be it." Howard Polskin – Thin Reads (on Codename Villanelle).
LUKE JENNINGS is the author of Blood Knots, short-listed for the Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of several novels, including the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. As a journalist he has written for The Observer, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time.
49 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2015
7 people are currently reading
1538 people want to read
About the author
Luke Jennings
30 books642 followersLuke Jennings is an author and the dance critic of The Observer. He trained at the Rambert School and was a dancer for ten years before turning to writing.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
As a journalist he has written for Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Time, as well as for numerous British titles. He is the author of Blood Knots, a memoir, short-listed for the 2010 Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of three novels: Breach Candy, Beauty Story, and the Booker Prize-nominated Atlantic. With Deborah Bull, he wrote The Faber Guide to Ballet, and with his daughter Laura, the Stars fiction series for Puffin Books, about teenagers at a stage-school.
He is currently writing a follow-up to his 2017 thriller Codename Villanelle (John Murray). The Villanelle titles are the basis for BBC America's upcoming TV series Killing Eve, airing in 2018 and starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 8, 2017
The third novella in the Villanelle series now the third chapter in the composite book.
The action takes us into China and the exotic location of Shanghai. She is tasked to take out the head of a computer hacking organisation that is undermining Western interests.
Where the book fails for me is the role given to the former MI5 operative Eve Polastri who is off the books investigating the female assassin. She seems tenacious but completely unsuited to this role, yet their paths seem undoubtedly destined to converge.
Villanelle has undoubted trade craft and a range of means to carry out her missions and remove herself without leaving a trace.
Her desire to face up to her potential nemesis again does not seem to make operational sense and you feel the ratcheting up of this confrontation between the two women is a fiction too far.
The passages with Villanelle remain cold and efficient and her lack of emotional interplay make her a great sociopath.
The action takes us into China and the exotic location of Shanghai. She is tasked to take out the head of a computer hacking organisation that is undermining Western interests.
Where the book fails for me is the role given to the former MI5 operative Eve Polastri who is off the books investigating the female assassin. She seems tenacious but completely unsuited to this role, yet their paths seem undoubtedly destined to converge.
Villanelle has undoubted trade craft and a range of means to carry out her missions and remove herself without leaving a trace.
Her desire to face up to her potential nemesis again does not seem to make operational sense and you feel the ratcheting up of this confrontation between the two women is a fiction too far.
The passages with Villanelle remain cold and efficient and her lack of emotional interplay make her a great sociopath.
May 24, 2019
Épisode 3 du livre à l’origine de la série culte de la BBC.
Pour la première fois, Eve et Villanelle sont réunies à Shanghai pour le meurtre d’un lieutenant-colonel chinois.
La traque impitoyable est lancée entre l’agent secret britannique et la tueuse à gages russe.
Les personnes sont attachants et le suspense est intense : on ne s’ennuie pas une minute, la suite promet d’être explosive !
Pour la première fois, Eve et Villanelle sont réunies à Shanghai pour le meurtre d’un lieutenant-colonel chinois.
La traque impitoyable est lancée entre l’agent secret britannique et la tueuse à gages russe.
Les personnes sont attachants et le suspense est intense : on ne s’ennuie pas une minute, la suite promet d’être explosive !
December 26, 2019
The TV show is better...3.5
May 10, 2024
qu'est ce qu'on ferait pas pour oublier la saison 4 jvous jure
August 3, 2019
Great fun and a wonderful read! This has all the speed and spills of Ian Fleming's Bond books, but brought up to date in this cyber world and without Fleming's creepy misogeny. The numerous, brutal and very imaginative killings are too cartoonish to be upsetting, thankfully. I haven't watched the television series (I don't watch television) so I can't compare the two versions, but the book is well-written, tongue in cheek and the two female protagonists are both interesting and well-matched in their different ways. It wouldn't be complete without a long list of expensive toys, drinks and locations. I think the author must be a regular reader of the Financial Times' 'How To Spend It' weekend supplement along with Vogue and Soldier of Fortune magazines. Taitinger, Fendi, Valentino, Chanel, a Briquet lighter, Fortnum & Mason's Breakfast Blend coffee, a Herve Leger cocktail dress, an Annabel Lee cardigan with pearl buttons, Miu Miu sweater, the Audi TT Roadster, Gerber knife, a VSS or special sniper rifle, a Gemtech suppressor, SP-5 ammunition, FN P90 sub-machine gun, and one of my personal favourites, the CZ 75 9mm semi-automatic handgun, a Lobaev SVL rifle chambered for .408 Chey-Tac rounds, and on to the Villanelle perfume, favourite of Madame du Barry (really?), MV Agusta and BMW G650Xmoto motorbikes, a special cleaver known as a chukabocho, dragon-fruit martinis made with Berry Bros No 3 gin...it's all very expensive and very nasty. And highly entertaining. Bravo, Mr Jennings!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews