ABANDONED. assassin-commando type book

[Feliks]

Next on my list to locate:

A slim little paperback thriller, not famous/no movie adaptation or anything..a run-of-the-mill, probable 'first-novel' by some aspiring thriller writer. It is set in SE Asia, the lead character is a female journalist and she becomes enmeshed in an intrigue between two deadly free-lance assassins. She is drawn into a game of 'cat-and-mouse' between these two killers (she is the 'cheese' in the trap) because (I think) she was at one time, the lover of one of these men and thus, the other man wants to 'get at her' and so 'score a point' vs his opponent by killing someone he loves.

The two hunters are supposedly the "top two" 'elite' assassins the world over, as far as the market for free-lance political killers goes. One of them is more cynical about the whole thing, more self-effacing (I believe) and it is he who is the former lover of the journalist. He kills very efficiently but tries to only take assignments which he can justify morally in some way. He only tries to accept 'jobs' killing dictators, etc.

His enemy is the opposite turn-of-mind. He has no scruples about killing anyone, he just wants big fees and a 'reputation as being #1 in his field'.

Anyway, the 'bad' assassin issues a kind of challenge; and the 'good' assassin has to get-back-together with his former lover, (the reporter) in order to keep her from harm.

Moot detail: each of the killers has his 'preferred' way of killing someone up-close. One of them uses a very slim, slender, double-edged knife, almost as thin as a knife can be (without being an icepick). The other favors a wire garrote, to strangle his victims. So its a face-off between two artists, kinda. And at the end of the novel they do have a battle in a darkened room somewhere, to decide who is the better man. No, it is definitely not 'The Fraternity of Stone' by David Morrell)

Plot wrinkle: the 'bad' assassin may also have been the reporter's lover at one time too--while in disguise. Thus, the woman really is the fulcrum of the story because what she knows about each man (having slept with both of them) means she has information that can give one or the other man, an edge.

I could have SWORN--for the longest time!--that this trite little far-fetched time-waster was titled, 'VECTORS'. Its been infuriatingly difficult to pin down! Thanks in advance for any assist!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Um, ok Feliks, I have to ask--if you think the book is so bad--why do you want to find it? Or it is one of those books that is just "So bad you can't put it down because you keep hoping that it will get better?" Altho I have to say--with what you've written I have an intense urge to read it when it's found.

[Feliks]

ha! Well, I was just trying to say that it wasn't exactly a 'New York Times bestseller'. Or anything remotely like it. Just a humdrum, get-the-job-done type of page-turner. It wasn't bad; but it wasn't spectacular, either.

Now..it seems to me there used to be slews of these 'little' books published regularly--nondescript, workmanlike, modest, none of them world-shaking..just good, lazy reads. All different sorts of genres and topics.

This--and a few other like it which I came across--I've called 'em out in my library shelves--they're better than their pedigree would lead one to believe.

This particular title was snappy, fast-paced, frisky. Call it a guilty pleasure. I'd at least like to figure out what happened to it!

[mdt]

Could it be one of the John Rain novels by Barry Eisler?

[SparksofEmber]

Feliks, was it mdt's suggestion?

[Feliks]

Thanks, but that is much too recent a publication, sorry...!