An Exercise in Absurdity with Killers of a Certain AgeĪs you might have gathered from the very nature of the premise itself, this isn’t the most serious story you’ll come across this week, having, in my opinion, more in common with a work of comedy than anything else. Having only each other and their experience to rely on, Billie, Mary, Helen and Natalie are about to show the young’uns they’ve just made the biggest mistake of their relatively short lives. Naturally, they’re not about to put down their weapons and go quietly into the night, opting to stick together and put their allegedly-obsolete talents to use one last time. Knowing only the Board – that is to say, the leaders of the Museum – is aware of their true identities and can authorize the termination of field agents, the four women quickly come to the inevitable conclusion they’ve sentenced to death. However, soon enough, on of their own targets them for assassination, naturally failing in the process. It’s time for them to retire, and the four are sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to celebrate the occasion. Today, it’s all about technology, and their talents simply don’t mix with modern standards. Unfortunately, they live in a world where nobody really appreciates the people skills they’ve come to acquire over the decades.

Forty proud years of under-the-radar assassinations, which ironically-enough, got easier and easier as they became older and more disarming. Billie, Mary, Helen and Natalie have been a part of it for a long time, with over forty years of service under their belts.

The story opens by introducing us to four once-valued members of the Museum, the afore-mentioned organization. In Deanna Raybourn‘s Killers of a Certain Age, the top-level members of an assassin organization is about to find that out the hard way. People born and moulded in the world of yesterday are often looked down upon as holders of obsolete knowledge and skills, quite erroneously I should add. The world of today is moving faster than ever, causing generational gaps to grow wider and wider by the minute.

Book killers of a certain age