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Killing Eve #1-3
Codename Villanelle / No Tomorrow / Die for Me
Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched
Killing Eve The Complete Trilogy Series 3 Books Collection Box Set by Luke
Die For
On the run together, Eve Polastri and the psychopathic Villanelle take refuge in the underworld of St Petersburg. But the Twelve are closing in, as are the Russian security services. As the chess-game intensifies, and the grip of winter tightens, the couple are drawn into a nightmare realm of conspiracy and murder.
No
In a hotel room in Venice, where she's just completed a routine assassination, Villanelle receives a late-night call.Eve Polastri has discovered that a senior MI5 officer is in the pay of the Twelve, and is about to debrief him. As Eve interrogates her subject, desperately trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, Villanelle moves in for the kill.
Codename
She is the perfect assassin.A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to.She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness.
Killing Eve The Complete Trilogy Series 3 Books Collection Box Set by Luke
Die For
On the run together, Eve Polastri and the psychopathic Villanelle take refuge in the underworld of St Petersburg. But the Twelve are closing in, as are the Russian security services. As the chess-game intensifies, and the grip of winter tightens, the couple are drawn into a nightmare realm of conspiracy and murder.
No
In a hotel room in Venice, where she's just completed a routine assassination, Villanelle receives a late-night call.Eve Polastri has discovered that a senior MI5 officer is in the pay of the Twelve, and is about to debrief him. As Eve interrogates her subject, desperately trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, Villanelle moves in for the kill.
Codename
She is the perfect assassin.A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to.She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness.
- GenresFiction
Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
7 people are currently reading
327 people want to read
About the author
Luke Jennings
28 books662 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 13, 2024
The books are mediocre at BEST! I bought the books after a very unsatisfying ending of the TV show thinking it will bring some closure for Villanelle’s death. But the books writing was bad, Eve’s character was written so weak and sloppy. The whole time reading the book series I felt uncomfortable because it was clear fetishization of lesbian relationships. A man should never write about a lesbian relationship since they do not know what it feels like. Since few seasons of the series were good I thought the book would be as well, but I was so disappointed. Every character in this book who has a high position is a man. There’s so many disturbing scenes that involves human feces. Villanelle’s and Eve’s relationship is nothing like the series. Villanelle is written as an absolute asshole. Do not recommend at all.
January 3, 2023
Overall impression: meh. The characters are unlikeable, the story makes very little sense, and the writing style comes across like the author is trying to channel Dan Brown, who isn’t exactly known for literary greatness himself, but doing a piss-poor job of it.
If I hadn’t watched the show first, I don’t think I would have even made it through the first chapter. The books just aren’t good enough to stand on their own.
Unfortunately, they aren’t good enough stand alongside the show, either. I struggled through all three of them because I was sad about how the series ended and wanted to see the characters get a happier ending, but these characters have nothing in common with their show counterparts except their names (and even that’s a bit of a stretch), so in the end, I just tortured myself for nothing.
There’s an edited/rewritten version of all three books on Reddit that keeps most of the plot intact, but changes the way the characters speak and behave so they’re more like what you’d expect if you watched the show first. That’s the version to read. The dumb plot ceases to matter if you just want to follow along as Eve and Villanelle get to know each other and fall in love (as opposed to reading about them abusing each other, cheating, shitting in bags and hoarding it, and then suddenly pulling a 180, forgetting all the toxic BS, and acting happy and in love in the epilogue of the third book with no real character development to get them there).
If I hadn’t watched the show first, I don’t think I would have even made it through the first chapter. The books just aren’t good enough to stand on their own.
Unfortunately, they aren’t good enough stand alongside the show, either. I struggled through all three of them because I was sad about how the series ended and wanted to see the characters get a happier ending, but these characters have nothing in common with their show counterparts except their names (and even that’s a bit of a stretch), so in the end, I just tortured myself for nothing.
There’s an edited/rewritten version of all three books on Reddit that keeps most of the plot intact, but changes the way the characters speak and behave so they’re more like what you’d expect if you watched the show first. That’s the version to read. The dumb plot ceases to matter if you just want to follow along as Eve and Villanelle get to know each other and fall in love (as opposed to reading about them abusing each other, cheating, shitting in bags and hoarding it, and then suddenly pulling a 180, forgetting all the toxic BS, and acting happy and in love in the epilogue of the third book with no real character development to get them there).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2022
Having absolutely loved the series I wanted to read the inspiration for it. The books were not a let down.They are richly detailed, exciting , funny, romantic, horrifying and totally thrilling.
September 11, 2023
Like many others, I read this trilogy following an extremely painful ending of the TV show (which has been frustrating me for MONTHS now). Let me review each of the three volumes separately:
Codename Villanelle: overall, I enjoyed reading this first volume - I found it engaging and, while some of the storylines were used and adapted in the show, I also enjoyed reading the "new" action parts. I also like that it gives us insights into Villanelle's past, as well as the Twelve as criminal organization. Having read it mostly to get more Eve and Villanelle, I have to say that, at first, I didn't quite find the characters of the TV show. While Villanelle is possibly more resemblant, Eve doesn't quite have that smartness and is overall a bit disappointing and boring. This first volume aims to set the basis of their "cat and mouse" chase, yet I think it jumps onto it too fast. It's not really clear how the characters develop this obsession for one another, it just seems to happen without much of a build-up.
No tomorrow: this was definitely my favourite volume. Here, I could somehow find the Eve and Villanelle I was longing for. I am not sure if the author was conditioned by the release of the show's first season, but it did have a very similar atmosphere as the show, with definitely more plausible dynamics between the two. I really liked the storylines too, even though the finale was pretty rushed in my opinion.
Die for Me: ok here I got a bit confused. The perspective changes and we are now seeing the world through Eve's eyes. The first part, as they escape to Russia in a ship container, is weird. Not because of the sex scenes or the "shitting in a bag" thing, but because of how their relationship develops at the speed of light. No build-up, it goes from teasing each other in the second volume to full-on love story mode in the matter of a few pages. Villanelle's character also has a dramatic change: from the elegant, cat-like, smart killer of volumes 1 and 2, she becomes foul-mouthed, bipolar and - frankly- a bit gross. Eve, on the other hand, is just a bit cringe (totally submitted to Villanelle throughout the book, longing for a bit of love and affection - it's just not really realistic). Nevertheless, there are some good romantic and funny scenes thay I enjoyed reading. Of course, the best part of the book, which still brought me to tears, was the happy ending the two characters get. Even if just a bit, it does help to fill that huge hole left by the TV show.
All in a, for those who loved Killing Eve, I still think these books are a good read and a good way to hold on the two characters (or at least their book version) for a little longer!
Codename Villanelle: overall, I enjoyed reading this first volume - I found it engaging and, while some of the storylines were used and adapted in the show, I also enjoyed reading the "new" action parts. I also like that it gives us insights into Villanelle's past, as well as the Twelve as criminal organization. Having read it mostly to get more Eve and Villanelle, I have to say that, at first, I didn't quite find the characters of the TV show. While Villanelle is possibly more resemblant, Eve doesn't quite have that smartness and is overall a bit disappointing and boring. This first volume aims to set the basis of their "cat and mouse" chase, yet I think it jumps onto it too fast. It's not really clear how the characters develop this obsession for one another, it just seems to happen without much of a build-up.
No tomorrow: this was definitely my favourite volume. Here, I could somehow find the Eve and Villanelle I was longing for. I am not sure if the author was conditioned by the release of the show's first season, but it did have a very similar atmosphere as the show, with definitely more plausible dynamics between the two. I really liked the storylines too, even though the finale was pretty rushed in my opinion.
Die for Me: ok here I got a bit confused. The perspective changes and we are now seeing the world through Eve's eyes. The first part, as they escape to Russia in a ship container, is weird. Not because of the sex scenes or the "shitting in a bag" thing, but because of how their relationship develops at the speed of light. No build-up, it goes from teasing each other in the second volume to full-on love story mode in the matter of a few pages. Villanelle's character also has a dramatic change: from the elegant, cat-like, smart killer of volumes 1 and 2, she becomes foul-mouthed, bipolar and - frankly- a bit gross. Eve, on the other hand, is just a bit cringe (totally submitted to Villanelle throughout the book, longing for a bit of love and affection - it's just not really realistic). Nevertheless, there are some good romantic and funny scenes thay I enjoyed reading. Of course, the best part of the book, which still brought me to tears, was the happy ending the two characters get. Even if just a bit, it does help to fill that huge hole left by the TV show.
All in a, for those who loved Killing Eve, I still think these books are a good read and a good way to hold on the two characters (or at least their book version) for a little longer!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 18, 2023
Just to put this into perspective, last book I finished was dork diaries when I was 10, I read killing eve at 14 and I'm now 15. I literally never read anything (or didn't get past 50 pages in any book) until I found killing eve at the library. I accidentally picked the 2nd one up but quickly took it back and got the first one. The first book I finished in 2 days, which for someone who hasn't finished any books apart from dork diaries at the age of 10, that was a massive achievement. Then, the 2nd book took me about 4-5 months, which I know is forever but that baffles me because it was probably the best one in the trilogy, maybe the first one was just lucky because I hasn't read in so long and I was excited and then used up all my motivation on that book, but the 2nd one was great for action and I love eve and villanelle.
Then the 3rd book took me about 2 weeks, so there was a massive range and it's odd that the 2nd book was my fav but took me the longest but honestly, the 3rd book I remember also being fantastic so I would definitely recommend this series. I also cried quite a few times but there's also some great jokes in here-
Then the 3rd book took me about 2 weeks, so there was a massive range and it's odd that the 2nd book was my fav but took me the longest but honestly, the 3rd book I remember also being fantastic so I would definitely recommend this series. I also cried quite a few times but there's also some great jokes in here-
November 6, 2022
Sought out the books after the disappointing end to the t.v series. I loved how fast paced these books were. The third book of the series (Die for me), being my favourite, mostly based on the fact that this is the book that we get the most interaction between our two female leads. But all three were engaging. I loved the insight we got into Villanelle’s character especially - which I found to be slightly different to how she is portrayed on the show. This is not a critique however, just a personal observation. I will always be grateful for having these books to get me through having Covid 😬
March 2, 2023
Started out ok. I read it because I liked the first 1-2 seasons of the show. The third season was bad and I didn't bother after 2 episodes.
I expected the books to be better, but I thought the first was on par and number 2 and 3 are just a plain thinly veiled excuse to the authors idea of lesbian relationships. The character development is so forced and unbelievable, I don't even know how to start. It's not sophisticated as the author would like us believe but rather has the allure of cheap airport or train station fiction. I wouldn't recommend it.
Props to the authors marketing team.
I expected the books to be better, but I thought the first was on par and number 2 and 3 are just a plain thinly veiled excuse to the authors idea of lesbian relationships. The character development is so forced and unbelievable, I don't even know how to start. It's not sophisticated as the author would like us believe but rather has the allure of cheap airport or train station fiction. I wouldn't recommend it.
Props to the authors marketing team.
February 23, 2025
So bad. Major bummer after such an amazing tv series.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews