Billy Summers

I'm going to start of by saying that I think it's a real shame that the "top" (meaning having garnered the most "helpful" clicks by other reviewers) 4 reviews of BILLY SUMMERS are all extremely short and strongly negative, criticizing, once again, the author's well known anti-Trump feelings. Many of the negative "reviewers" state that they didn't even finish the novel, but quit reading and asked for a refund (That is a weird concept to me - I'd never consider returning a book because I didn't like it). These are also highly misleading as "top" reviews, since in total, 1 and 2 star reviews comprise only 3% of the total, with 5 and 4 star reviews making up a remarkable 93% of over 11,300 reviews to date. OK, enough of that.

As is easily deduced from the professional (newspaper, periodicals etc.) excerpted reviews on the Amazon page, BILLY SUMMERS is very different from the usual horror/science fiction/fantasy that King is so well known for. This one is a crime thriller about a paid assassin, the eponymous BILLY SUMMERS who is doing one last job before retiring for good at the age of 44. A highly decorated Gulf War veteran who became a sniper in the Marines, Billy only takes on jobs where the intended target is a really bad guy. He's still a murderer of course, but his complex moral code, made very clear in the first half of the novel when acting as his undercover identities for several months, he becomes incredibly popular with his new neighbors and their kids. He's invited to dinners, hosts cookouts and becomes a monopoly legend, while waiting for the signal from his employers that the arrival of the target is imminent.

One of the narrative devices that King uses is to have Billy's main false identity be that of a writer. Eventually Billy decides to do it for real, and starts to write his history, from a horrible childhood through his time in Iraq. This story within a story (sort of) was one my favorite pieces, as Billy slowly realizes that he is actually quite good at writing.

The second half of the short (for King that is, around 520 pages) novel turns into a kind of road trip-buddy-love story that is quite beautiful, suspenseful and unputdownable. Enough synopsis, as the several twists and turns of this crime story that becomes a mystery as to why this target and who is really behind the hit is hidden until very near the end and deserve to be totally unspoiled.

There is a brief and repeated callback to one of the creepiest happenings in one of King's most famous and popular novels in there somewhere, but aside from the nods to that older work, there is not the slightest hint of anything of the supernatural or occult, which is one of the reasons that I waited so long to read BILLY SUMMERS in the first place. My bad. This is an outstanding piece of writing and plotting all the way through.

Very Highly Recommended.

JM Tepper

I would say this is a crime drama, thriller. It's not really horror nor is it much of a mystery. Billy Summers is a hit man and this is his story. I found Billy likeable, but if you don't, then this King book might disappoint. Billy only agrees to take out people he views as 'bad guys' and he agrees to take on one last job. He has to go undercover for a bit and ends up make making friends with his neighbors and the people that share the office building he's pretending to work out of. To pass the time, he starts writing down the things that led him to his current job and starts wondering if maybe he isn't a bad guy too. It is King though, so the last job does not go easy.

As Stephen King has gotten older, he’s been more and more willing to step out of his comfort zone, finding new and interesting stories to tell and areas on which to focus. Until now, the most obvious example of this was Mr. Mercedes, in which King tried his hand at a serial killer novel, but found a way to do it that made it feel undeniably his own. That’s not to say that Mr. Mercedes was bad, mind you – I enjoyed it – but it definitely felt like King trying his hand at something different, and stretching it all to fit his ideas and tropes.

But now comes Billy Summers, an “assassin with one last job” tale, and what’s remarkable is the fact that it’s simultaneously a superb, faithful entry in the genre that hits all the needed beats, but also unmistakably a King book, with the character development, relentless pacing, and set pieces he’s so capable of delivering when he’s at his peak. What’s more, Billy Summers finds King focusing his abilities in a way he hasn’t in a while, paring back some of his verbal tics and overly large characters in favor of a well-observed, surprisingly internal story about a very bad man reckoning with the choices he made that led him here. And the result is one of King’s best books in years – probably since 11/22/63, and that was a decade ago.

As you’d expect from the “one last job” mention I gave, the setup of Billy Summers sounds formulaic: an assassin (one who argues that he only kills “bad men”) agrees to take a job that sounds off (if nothing else, he’s going to have to live “undercover” in a small town for months while waiting on the job to happen) because it’s time to get out, and he can’t turn down the money. Classic, right? But even early on, it’s clear that King has more on his mind than just the tropes. There’s the way that Billy, our assassin, is so clearly putting on a front of his stupidity, using that to lull people around him into letting down their guard. There’s the fact that Billy is all too aware that his “only bad guys” excuse is just that – an excuse that he’s using to justify his own actions.

And there’s the fact that this last job doesn’t turn out to be the set piece of the book, or the climax…but something that happens at only a third of the way through our pages. So what’s left after that?

Well, quite a bit, it turns out, as Billy Summers turns into something wholly different in many ways, all while never losing its focus on Billy’s development, as this very bad man begins to grapple with his identity – not just the choices that led him to this job, but his upbringing, his time in Iraq, his first jobs, and so much more. And thanks to some unexpected developments, Billy finds himself viewing himself in a new light – and a wholly more complicated one.

Part of what’s so good about Billy Summers is watching the book evolve and change in front of you, so I’m trying to be coy about so much of what unfolds here. But what I’ll say is that the book does what King does best: marry genre thrills (in this case, a relentless thriller about an assassin) with strong, complex character work. And what he pulls off here is some of his best effort on both of those fronts. The plotting is tense but effective, using King’s gifts for pacing and tension to maximum effect, but also knowing when a much-anticipated event should subvert our expectations, or knowing when things can be best left off the page.

And at the same time, King finds a way into Billy’s mind in a way that allows him to find even more of a voice than usual for a King character, eschewing King’s normal verbal tics and running catchphrases and instead giving us a complex individual who doesn’t really fit into easy categories. And the cast around him measures up to that, as King takes archetypal roles (ones almost demanded by the genre) and makes them individualistic and believable, down to the ending, which is one of King’s best and sidesteps his famed iffiness on nailing the dismount.

Look, I’m a King fanboy, to be fair, and you can take this review knowing that I’ve liked way more King books than not. But to me, Billy Summers is a knockout, one that finds King focused and taut and showing a confidence in this (for him) unfamiliar genre that he’s earned. The book is tighter than he’s often gone, wasting little time but never forgetting the complexity of its cast, and it does right by both its thriller story and its complex protagonist. I absolutely loved it, and it’s a treat to see King still delivering knockouts this late into his career. And if you’ve always wanted to try King but weren’t into horror, well, do I have a treat for you.

Billy Summers is a hitman, but he’s a good man. He only takes out wrongdoers. He is the title character of Stephen King’s latest, and much to the chagrin of die-hard horror fans, “Billy Summers” is a heartfelt tearjerker and a page-turning masterpiece of human drama. After deciding to end his profession, Billy is hired to perform one last job by two trusted associates, Frank and Nick. Nick, who Billy knows well or at least he thinks, has hired him to kill Joel Allen, a rapist who walked away from his horrific crime. While he plays dumb for his own cover and safety, Billy understands well that it’s not Nick who wants Allen dead. That credit goes to a faceless, nameless big shot hidden in the background.

Nick’s team provides Billy with a convincing cover. He’s an author working on a new book. Billy is then set up in a new town, provided with a new name, and given an office space while he sits patiently and waits for a prisoner transfer to the courthouse across the street. From the window, he will take the fatal shot at his target. Then, he will disappear. But Billy is not as stupid as he’s played for Nick and his team of accomplices. Billy smells a rat, and fearing for his own safety after the job is done, he completely vanishes.

Now on the run from the law and his dubious employer, Billy hides in plain sight with a disguise and yet a different identity he’d had secretly stored up his sleeve. All remains quiet and uneventful. Billy bides his time to make a run for it, all while waiting for the rest of the money owed to him for the job. Then, late one night a young girl is thrown from a van out into an alley behind his new apartment. She is drunk and unconscious. Billy rescues her and realizes she’s been gang raped. As Billy revives her, we are introduced to Alice, his future partner in crime.

As always, King’s characters are true to life and vividly depicted. Billy is a veteran of the Iraq war and an expert sniper. During the wait for his target, he began writing his memoir as part of his cover. From there, the details of his life emerge. As in “Misery,” King provides the reader with the book-inside-the-book scenario, and it works just as well as it always has. Billy takes us through his troubled childhood and into the bloody battles of Fallujah, and then into present day, where he leaves off and awaits the final chapter. Alice is young and smarter than she realizes. Underneath her spunky veneer, she remains traumatized by what happened to her. She has also developed feelings for Billy, an older man who saved her life, the man she will now follow anywhere. Billy has one trusted cohort, Bucky, who serves as sort of a hit man’s agent. Billy is to be paid his final installment through Bucky, but the funds never arrive.

Now, Billy has decided to go after the man who hired him, as well as the man who paid for the job to be done. He and Alice embark on a cross-country excursion as different people, and the story plays out in fast-paced, thrilling action. As always, surprises and twists and turns abound. The story of Billy’s life continues to be written until page after page, we learn more and more about him and Alice, marveling at the fate that brought these two characters together and the bond that keeps them there.

Although the outcome is no surprise, King has outdone himself again with a thrill ride that doesn’t stop until the final words. As the many puzzle pieces finally fit together into a concise framework, it becomes clear that Billy Summers is destined to be one of King’s most unforgettable characters.

527 pages

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Mr. King writes a compelling and compassionate story about outlaw sniper Billy Summers. Billy was witness to some horrifying events while serving duty with the Marines in Fallujah, Iraq. He became known as a deadly and highly accurate sniper. He buried the feelings about his experiences for several years and got about his life and career.

He more or less accidentally happened into his first assassination. His target was a very bad man. He became well known as someone who would only kill those who were truly bad. He researched his targets before taking them out to assure himself of the facts.

Billy Summers thinks like a philosopher, but reads trashy magazines in public and talks “dumb” as a part of his cover.

His latest assignment is the case of another assassin. He will be escorted to the jail after losing his last hearing while fighting extradition. This has been a months-long process. Billy has eerie feelings about the case, but the fee is two million dollars, five hundred thousand up front. Almost reluctantly, he takes the case.

He is given a place to live and becomes friends with many neighbors and their children. He thinks this may be a bad move, but he has never fit in anywhere, and it feels darn good to meet these people and have barbeques with them.

His cover during the several months of waiting for his target to show is that he is writing a book. He has always wanted to write. It begins slowly, but the writing picks up speed and it is really very good. He writes about his awful childhood, his sister and his time in Iraq. This occurs over a long period of time.

He is presented with an escape plan that involves two wise guys and a panel van. Billy doesn’t like this idea. He has always made his own escape plans and it has never failed. He goes about to make his own plan without telling the “boss.” When the deed is done, Billy sets out to implement his plan. The wise guys are hunting him. He knew it was too good to be true.

While in hiding, He rescues a young woman. This is where Billy shows his goodness. It is a heartwarming scenario. The two become friends. Alice will now play a major part in the balance of the book. The reader also meets Bucky later on who also plays a significant role in the drama.

Billy is never paid the balance of his fee. Now is the time for payback. He and Alice set out to recover what is Billy’s.

Mr. King takes a different path from his usual genre in this latest novel. He creates the perfect anti-hero in Billy Summers. I found myself rooting for Billy and although I questioned the involvement of Alice, she seemed to be willing and determined to help him. Reading along, I found that I liked Billy. It seemed “wrong,” but I couldn’t help myself. He was a likable guy.

I read many genres of novels, but Stephen King remains one of my favorite authors. I read his first book (was it really that long ago?), and will continue to do so.

Definitely 4.5 Stars!

This fast, engaging suspense highlights Stephen King's unique storytelling skills by getting us in the mind of a contract assassin, Billy Summers.

The story focuses primarily on four parts of Billy's life told in a mixed order storyline: (1) his dysfunctional family upbringing, (2) his years as a sniper during the Iraqi War, (3) his professional hired killer dealings and his "last" assignment, and (4) his unexpected relationship with Alice---a young woman he saves after being brutally abused.

The strength of this story is Billy's own honor code, a strange trait for someone who kills for a living. However, it's easy to become attached to Billy and his misadventures in taking down "really bad people" for a higher good in a complex and corrupt world. But it's a job he's good at but only on his terms. His organized crime customers and intermediaries make Billy suspicious of everyone with only a few confidants who he can trust.

The book is structured in 24 long-format chapters, ranging between 18 to 30 pages; however, each chapter has 9 to 14 numbered subsections or scenes that tell the story, primarily from Billy's perspective. Chapters often include flashbacks from his youth, Iraq, and other "hits"; however, most of the story is revealed as either real-time events through Billy's eyes and thoughts or as the "book" he's writing about his own life, as part of "his cover" before his planned assassination. Eventually, his story writing becomes his catharsis of his war years, helping Billy and the reader understand how Billy became the man he now is.

The convoluted plotline has many unexpected turns and surprises, written in true Stephen King form. The colorful characters make the story more intense and interesting, especially as Billy tries to keep his cover, plan for killing his target, and making his escape.

Billy is a highly relatable and likeable character who we get to know better in each successive chapter. Although the coarse and salty language often defines both characters and circumstances, some might find it a bit overused in parts.

This was a fast, entertaining read, easy to get caught up in, and hard to put down. Perfect for a long weekend escape read or to be enjoyed a chapter or two at a time. As a standalone read, it quickly becomes part of King's classic works, where the first read is always the most enjoyable.

I found Audible's dramatic narration a nice touch to develop personalities and set the pacing, although I did speed up the narration to add tensions and momentum to my reading experience.

The genius of this work us how King made Billy Sumners a character you wanted to know as a friend.

If you are one of the constant readers who thrive on, and expect plots where the supernatural adds to the movement of the story, you will be sorely disappointed with Billy Summers. For you this book will be so unlike Stephen King, that you may hate it. King is an excellent writer, and stepping away from his most recognized genre, he shows you just how good he is. This is crime fiction. It could almost be considered a literary crime fiction, as the main characters are well developed and you will have a deep dive into who Billie Summers really is. Many reviewers who can accept King as a straight forward author minus the horror/supernatural genre are saying this is one of his best books in years. Billy is an ex-Iraq war sniper who puts his post-battle skills to use as a hit man for hire. His standards are that he only takes jobs to take out “bad people.” Billy Summers also features a book-within-a-book, because Billy is writing a memoir about his childhood and war experiences. This gives readers a deeper look into who Billy is and how past experiences contributed to his later lifestyle. At times, I did find this a bit of a stopper in the flow, as I would be interested in the current activities, then suddenly it broke away to his memoir. However, you won’t become confused, as the memoir sections are written with a different style of type. Even so, without these memoir passages one would never get a full understanding of Billy. On the whole I found this book a very satisfying read. If you like crime novels and character studies, you will too.