Billy Summers
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4.3 • 4.4K Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Master storyteller Stephen King, whose “restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained” (The New York Times Book Review), presents an unforgettable and relentless #1 New York Times bestseller about a good guy in a bad job.
Chances are, if you’re a target of Billy Summers, two immutable truths apply: You’ll never even know what hit you, and you’re really getting what you deserve. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business—but he’ll do the job only if the assignment is a truly bad person. But now, time is catching up with him, and Billy wants out. Before he can do that though, there’s one last hit, which promises a generous payday at the end of the line even as things don’t seem quite on the level here. Given that Billy is among the most talented snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, and a virtual Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done, what could possibly go wrong? How about everything.
Part war story and part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, this spectacular thriller of luck, fate, and love will grip readers with its electrifying narrative, as a complex antihero with one last shot at redemption must avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. You won’t ever forget this stunning novel from master storyteller Stephen King…and you will never forget Billy.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
His name may be synonymous with horror, but Stephen King proves he’s just as much of a genius at hardboiled crime with this gripping thriller. Billy is a highly decorated veteran of the Iraq War—and a hit man. He’s staked out in a small town waiting for the right moment to snipe one final target, earning him a huge payday so he can officially retire. But when his chance to pull the trigger finally comes, things don’t go as planned, instantly spiraling the highly skilled killer’s entire world out of control. Part gritty thriller and part fascinating character study, this novel riveted us. Billy even has subtle shades of The Shining’s Jack Torrance if you’re looking for them (particularly as Billy works on his own novel, which slowly becomes more of a dark memoir). The action is front and center in this thrill ride, and so is revenge. Every pulse-pounding beat of this story adds not just tension but depth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ex-Army sniper turned hit man Billy Summers, the protagonist of this tripwire-taut thriller from MWA Grand Master King (Later), who views himself as "a garbageman with a gun," decides his 18th assassination will be his last. But he rightly smells something fishy in the promised $2 million payout and runs rogue when things go south with his employers. Matters get complicated when a rape victim whose life he saves becomes his confidante and a participant in his plans to get even. King meticulously lays out the details of Billy's trade, his Houdini-style escapes, and his act to look simpler than he is, but the novel's main strength is a story within a story: as he preps for months in the small town "east of the Mississippi and just south of the Mason-Dixon Line" where the hit will happen, Billy, masquerading as a novelist, writes his lightly fictionalized autobiography, which grows more candid as it inches closer to current events and illustrates a line he remembers from a Tim O'Brien interview that fiction "was the way to the truth." This is another outstanding outing from a writer who consistently delivers more than his readers expect.
Customer Reviews
Stephen King may have missed his calling.
This book was one of my very favorites of Stephen King, and I’ve read them all. This is subtle, bottled up horror, but not creatures or demons…. This is an expert tale that has elements of many genres and crime/thrillers also being one of my favorites this will be hard to top. Hated to finish it.
Billy summers
Well it has to be one of my favorites….. I was a little skeptical of Stephen King considering some of his other works that I have read… But this was incredible… Twists and turns up to the very last end… Definitely a must read!
Stephen King does it agaim
I always enjoy reading Stephen King’s novels. His writing is very easy to process and very expressive. This was a beautifully written story of love and trauma and growth that engages the reader quickly and easily.