The Killer »

TOM HINSHELWOOD is a freelance video editor and scriptwriter. He was born in Staffordshire, England and now lives in London. The Killer is his first novel.

The hunter has become the hunted

Victor is a freelancer, a professional, a killer—-the best there is. He’s ice cold, methodical, and deadly. He lives alone. He operates alone. No one knows his background, or even his name. For him, business is a straight transaction. He’s given a job; he takes out the target; he gets paid.

He’s in Paris to perform a standard kill and collect for an anonymous client. The contract is simple, routine, and Victor completes it with trademark efficiency, only to find himself in the middle of an ambush and fighting for his life. Faced with powerful and determined enemies, and caught in the crossfire of an international conspiracy unfolding across four continents, Victor is forced to go on the run across a winter-ravaged Europe. Pursued by the authorities, hired assassins, and intelligence agencies from both sides of the Atlantic, he discovers that no place is safe for him anymore and there is no one he can trust.

But Victor is no easy target, and he’s every bit as ruthless as those hunting him. He will find out who wants him dead and why, one corpse at a time.

Debut author Tom Hinshelwood has written a classic cat-and-mouse thriller for the twenty-first century that takes off from the very first page and never lets up. Filled with adrenaline-charged action worthy of the big screen, The Killer will have readers looking down the barrel of a gun at every turn.

Publishers Weekly

British scriptwriter Hinshelwood's superlative fiction debut takes familiar suspense elements—a hired killer, a CIA traitor, a gorgeous operative, Russian spies, and an espionage coup involving advanced weapon technology—and whips them into nonstop action that veers and twists from one ferocious gun battle, double cross, and betrayal to the next. In a Paris alley early one morning, hired assassin Victor performs a routine job, shooting 58-year-old Latvian national Andris Ozols, then relieving the body of a small flash drive. When Victor returns to his posh hotel on the Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, he unexpectedly must fight a gang of other professional hit men. Further attempts on his life raise the question: who wants him dead and what's on the memory stick? The action shifts from Paris and various spots in Europe to CIA headquarters and the coast of Africa, the scene of a final cataclysmic clash. Thriller fans will be eager to see more from this bright new talent. (Apr.)