Circle of Assassins

Tales from the Back Page #1

by Steven Rigolosi

Five desperate strangers answer an ad that promises to help them rid an unwanted person from their life. A criminal mastermind named A makes each of them a provocative offer via an advertisement in iThe Clarion/i, a community newspaper published on Manhattan's Upper West Side: Murder a complete stranger chosen by a fellow assassin, and in return have a stranger murder your chosen target. br brHow many of those who answer the advertisement will accept A's offer to join the circle of assassins, in which anonymity is guaranteed? Which of the killers will succeed in their plots? Who is A, and will he or she end up dead or alive? iCircle of Assassins/i breaks new ground in the mystery genre, exploring not only the lives of the victims but also the minds and motives of the assassins, as well as the aftermath of the crimes and their impact on the survivors.p

229 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2007

About the author

Steve Rigolosi lives in Manhattan and is the author of the Tales from the Back Page series of mystery novels. The third book in the series, Androgynous Murder House Party, was released in June 2009. The premise of this series: Have you ever wondered about the stories behind the advertisements in your local newspaper—-those ads for fetish parties, transvestite boutiques, discount psychotherapy, wicca conventions, Gothic/Punk events, and lonely-hearts seeking to re-establish contact with a ship that passed in the night? Each book in the TALES FROM THE BACK PAGE series looks closely at an advertisement placed on the “Bulletin Board” of The Clarion, a community newspaper published on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Reviews

[Jamieson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revenge is Sweet

Every day we are brutalized by those who hurt us, take advantage of us, steal what is ours, mistreat our loved ones, destroy our property, terrorize us psychologically, criticize and condemn us, or trample our self respect. Enough is enough! It’s time to turn the tables. Write to A care of Box 270. (For entertainment purposes only)



When five people answer the above ad, they have no idea that they have started a chain reaction that will result in the ultimate revenge: death. Each answers the ad in hopes to rid their life of an unwanted person. Someone known only as “A” offers to help them, if they kill someone else.

The deal is simple: Five strangers each assigned a letter and a colour. Each will receive details in the mail about the person they are to kill. Each of them must be careful to leave no paper trail and to destroy any and all communication.
Coordinated by “A”, they are each sent letters, pictures and address information in order to more effectively murder the person their contact has chosen. But why must these people die? There are all sorts of different reasons for someone to die; maybe this person is a drug dealer. Maybe he is a pedophile. Maybe he is not who he seems on the surface.

They become a circle of killers, a circle of assassins. Their identities are hidden, even to themselves. But, as with most secrets, something goes horribly wrong.

Each of them must reach deep down into their hearts, and their souls, in order to survive…

To tell you any more of the plot would be to ruin what is without a doubt the most engaging and ingenious mystery novel I have read in years. Make no mistake; this is not your ordinary mystery novel. Told in a series of letters, emails, book proposals, prose, newspaper articles and anything in between, this novel really makes you consider the question “What if?”

What Rigolosi has done is turn a mystery novel inside out. Through the correspondence, we get inside the characters’ heads. We know WHY they have chosen their particular person, what has driven them to such extremes. Normally, you don’t feel sympathy for a killer in a mystery novel. Circles of Assassins is the opposite of this; I felt nothing but sympathy for each of the characters driven to commit murder.

Because it’s told from each character’s point of view, you get to see them, really know them, and this makes Circle of Assassins different from anything you have read before. I found myself rooting for the murderers, hoping that their killings would go off without a hitch. Because you know the killers, you’re involved with them. It’s an emotional, page turning adventure that will leave you breathless.

Rigolosi has given us a case study of five people who are willing and able to commit murder. No other book I’ve read before has been able to see into the heart of a killer so effectively. He also shows us that even regular people, not just psychopaths, can be driven to kill.

What really threw me were the multitude of twists thrown into the novel. Nothing happened the way I expected it to, nothing went according to where I thought it should. And the twists are HUGE. I can’t tell you what any of them are but, suffice it to say, they will have you looking at the book in a new, frightening light.

This book is so good that I’m reading it for a second time, just to pick up everything I missed the first time. Circle of Assassins is an incredible read that sucks you in from the first page and then doesn’t let go until you’ve finished the last. If you haven’t read it yet, pick it up. It’s liable to be the best mystery you’ll read in years.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I shared a panel with Steve Rigolisi a couple of weeks ago, and was intrigued enough by his descriptions of his books that I decided I had to get hold of one. This is it.

The novel is #2 in his Tales from the Back Page sequence, whose conceit is that each story starts with a small ad in the back of The Clarion -- which is essentially Manhattan's famous Village Voice. In this case the ad reads:

REVENGE IS SWEET!
Every day we are brutalized by those who hurt us, take advantage of us, steal what is ours [. . .:] Enough is enough! It's time to turn the tables. Write to A care of Box 270. (For entertainment purposes only.)

What "A" is setting up is, if you like, an elaboration of the old Strangers in a Train plot: five people will each murder the foe of one of the others; because there's no logical connection between each of the five murderers and their victims, they'll surely all get off scot-free -- especially since the scheme that's being set up ensures that no one, not even "A", knows the true identity of anyone else.

Well, yes. An English prof wishes her supposedly sexist, misogynist head of department to go permanent bye-bye. A subliterate Italian youth can't bear the thought of his idolized sister marrying the guy she loves. The elderly resident of a shabby-genteel area would like to see the demise of the recently arrived drug dealer whose presence is threatening to turn it into a slum. A priest despises the sociopathic hypocrisy of a local cop. And "A" himself wants to see a murderous paedophile rubbed out.

For a while I wasn't sure I was going to get on with this book. Its first 50 pages or so forgo straightforward storytelling in favour of reproducing relevant documents; this can be an enthralling narrative technique, but I'm not sure Rigolisi quite pulls it off. Thereafter, though, I was completely engaged. This book isn't really a thriller -- more like a dark comedy of manners -- but it's as engrossing as one. I have to confess I quibble with the morality of Nick Lang -- the partner of the murdered cop, latterly trying to clear everything up in the wake of all the killings -- but that was an irritation I found I could live with.

I'll be keeping an eye open for more of Rigolisi's Tales from the Back Page.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Circle of Assassins
Steven Rigolosi
Ransom Notes Press, 2007, 256 pgs.
ISBN 978-0-9773787-4-6


A very unique, thought-provoking book and certainly not your every day mystery but one I will be thinking about for sometime.

An ad is placed in the paper entitled Revenge Is Sweet! The contact is A at a PO Box. After sorting through all the responses A comes up with five strangers that are willing to eliminate an unwanted person for another stranger. In return the assassin expects his unwanted person to be eliminated.

The members of the Circle are identified by the letters A, B, C, D, and E. Each person receives a color code as well as detailed instructions on various ways of committing murder, how to be sure you have covered your tracks, and how to make sure no one will discover your identity.

Each chapter is identified by a letter or in some instances a name. You will be reading the instructions given by A as well as details regarding each individual in their own words setting forth their reason for wanting to rid the world of one person.

There are also some before and after chapters which explain the murders feelings before they actually commit the crime and after the crime has been committed.

Victims actually speak to you, prior to their demise of course, regarding their feelings about their life and their friends and loved ones if they have any.

I took a different approach to this book than I normally do when I read a book. I took notes. I had a little note pad listing all the letters and the colors and the names as I found them out in reading the book. I noted who the victims would be under the appropriate letter and color. This was not very time consuming and took up one small page but I thought it really gave me a handle on what was going on and who was doing what and that there would be no surprises for me.

Wrong again! As I got to the end of the book I had one surprise after the other. Things that I didn’t see coming even though I thought I had everything lined out.

I totally enjoyed this book and loved reading about the different killers as well as their victims. The killer’s reaction after their event took place was a real eye opener.

The conclusion was stunning as far as I’m concerned. This is Tales From the Back Page No. 2. I no more than finished the last page until I ordered Who Gets The Apartment which is Tales From the Back Page No. 1. I understand that Steven Rigolosi will have a third book out in 2008 and I can’t wait to order it.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Circle of Assassins has a unique story line that kept me interested throughout. There are many people in the world that would like to have someone removed from their life but these people aren’t going to go out and kill them, right? Would they? -- Do you? Would you?

What if they read an ad in the paper:

REVENGE IS SWEET!
Every day we are brutalized by thwho hurt us, take advantage of us, steal what is ours, mistreat our loved ones, destroy our property, terrorize us psychologically, criticize and condemn us, or trample our self-respect. Enough is enough! It’s time to turn The tables.
Write to A care of Box 270 (For entertainment purposes only)

‘A’ placed the ad for his own reasons. He wasn’t sure anyone would answer but many people did - only 5 people were serious enough to carry through. They were from all different walks of life and all had their own reason for wanting someone to be eliminated from the face of the earth. These became the Circle of Assassins because if those who wanted someone murdered then had to murder of the elected victims.

The only problem with the plot I had was initially when the cycle of the Assassins was described to the participants it was a bit confusing. They were going to be known as A- E but then colors became involved and I got lost for a bit. The color theme seemed to be dropped after a bit though and it became clear what the plan was and what was to be done.

The participants were all different and the letters they wrote to ‘A’ telling their stories were as if real people were writing them. There was the older lady who just wanted to keep her neighborhood safe. The obnoxious brother who wanted his sister fiancée’ murdered and then 3 others. Mr. Rigolosi does a very good job of making their lives and problems real.

I may not have liked some of the participants in the Circle and I may have thought some of them did not have good reasons to want their candidates gone but each of their stories were told from the perspective of the participants including their feelings and reasons. The ending had a couple surprises that were totally unexpected and made the story all the better.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ad is placed in a local newspaper, telling readers that they only need to write in to help get rid of the person they hate the most in the world. After careful selection, there are 5 people in this circle of assassins. Each has submitted someone they want killed and each must kill one of those people. The rationale is explained by each assassin. Some make sense, some don't seem like enough. But each assassin has their instructions and must carry out their tasks.

This book is completely unlike anything I've read. I enjoyed the format of it, with some of the story taking place through adverts and letters and some taking place through narratives. Each character is given a letter and a colour. I found myself having to flip back a few times to figure out who was doing what but eventually I started to remember. It would have been preferable if the author only used letters or colours to try and reduce the confusion.

The thing I liked the most about this book was the imperfection of the story. Not all of the victims deserved to die. Some of the assassins were completely selfish. All walks of life were represented in this book which was also interesting. How does an old lady set about to kill someone?

This book had some good twists near the end that kept me on my toes. I would pick up another Rigolosi book in the future!

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot (people nominating their own candidate for killing and then murdering the nominations of others) is interesting, but the format (letters and long passages of narrative) bogged me down and I found myself skipping pages.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually read mysteries/suspense but this was a good quick read with some fun twists & turns!