ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS by Rob Hart – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS by Rob Hart – ReviewAssassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on June 11 2024
Genres: Adult, Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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five-stars

The nitty-gritty: Rob Hart delivers a thrilling assassin story with heart, humor and unforgettable characters.

Who knew that a story about a deadly assassin who is trying to quit killing people would turn out to be one of my favorite books of the year? Assassins Anonymous surprised me in every possible way, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. This book has the whole package: perfect pacing, warmth and heart, hysterically funny dialog, nail-biting action, lovable characters and even some nice messages about recovery and staying true to yourself. I’ve read two of Rob Hart’s previous books and I can say without a doubt this is his best yet.

Mark used to be a notorious assassin known as the Pale Rider, but for the past year he’s been going to weekly AA meetings—Assassins Anonymous—after a terrible event forced him to reevaluate his job as an assassin. With the help of his sponsor Kenji, a retired assassin himself, Mark is days away from earning his one year chip. But one evening after a meeting, he’s viciously attacked by a Russian thug, who ends up stabbing him, grabbing his private journal (with all kinds of notes about his jobs) and running away.

Who is the Russian and why has Mark been targeted? With the help of a woman named Astrid, one of his contacts from the old days, Mark knows his only option is to figure out how to get the Russian off his back and find out who sent him—without killing anyone.

I have to admit, the premise of Assassins Anonymous sounded a little goofy to me at first. I mean, assassins going to AA meetings? But trust me, there’s nothing goofy about it. The story is told in first person from Mark’s point of view, and right away you get a feel for who he is. At first he seems like just a regular nice guy: he’s got a cat named P. Kitty that he loves unconditionally, he takes out his elderly neighbor’s trash, and he faithfully attends his AA meetings. But underneath, Mark is still the Pale Rider, although he’s doing his best to escape that persona. Hart fills in the blanks of Mark’s assassin years through flashbacks that hit key moments of his life, and not surprisingly, these flashbacks were some of the most emotional scenes in the book.

Mark goes through quite a lot in this story, and it was nice to see his character grow and change along the way. Once you learn the devastating story of why he wants to quit killing people, you’ll probably tear up just like I did. He can turn on the Pale Rider when needed, but otherwise he’s completely human and relatable. I especially loved his cat P. Kitty (great name, right?), who winds up going to Singapore with Mark and Astrid to track down information about the Russian. (And yes, one of the flashbacks explains how he came to acquire P. Kitty) And while Mark finds himself all of a sudden back in the game, he’s determined to stick to the twelve steps of AA and must find other ways to outwit the bad guys besides killing them.

All of the other characters are fantastic as well. Kenji is the wise, older ex-assassin who is guiding Mark on his recovery journey, and he reminded me a lot of Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. Astrid may or may not be a love interest for Mark, but she turns out to be much more than she appears on the surface, I loved her a lot. Ravi is the guy who recruits Mark in the first place and gives him the name Pale Rider. Even the other ex-assassins in the recovery group were a lot of fun. Hart has lots of surprise twists when it comes to the characters, so you can’t really take anyone at face value.

The action and pacing were spot on. It’s rare to find a story with such a perfect balance of action sequences and quieter moments of introspection, but Hart nailed it. You want a fast-paced story about assassins? This book does not disappoint. Mark gets himself into a boatload of trouble, and it just gets worse as the story progresses, not to mention that the flashbacks are just as action packed and tense. All this action is interspersed with heartfelt moments to remind you that these characters are indeed human, no matter how many ways they can kill someone. 

And I have to mention the humor, which made me laugh out loud at times. There are a few running jokes throughout the story, like when people keep comparing Mark to John Wick and Jason Statham. I love this type of tongue-in-cheek humor, and Hart’s dialog is so well done. There’s one particularly funny scene that takes place in Singapore when Mark decides to make amends (one of the twelve steps) to the son of someone he once killed, and OMG it was the best!

Hart has already optioned the movie rights to Assassins Anonymous (fingers crossed the movie actually gets made!), which doesn’t surprise me at all, because it has “blockbuster action movie with heart” written all over it. Seriously, read this book, you’ll thank me later.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Posted June 20, 2024 by Tammy in 5 stars, Reviews / 29 Comments

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29 responses to “ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS by Rob Hart – Review”

    • Tammy

      It was leaps and bounds better than The Paradox Hotel, and I really enjoyed that one too.

      Reply
    • Tammy

      Yes, he’s one of those writers where you can SEE him getting better with each book:-)

      Reply
  10. Zezee

    Ok, I must try this too. It the premise does sound a little goofy to me too but I have a feeling I might get on with it. Sounds like it would make a fun comic book too.

    Reply
  11. Pages and Tea

    Glad you’ve found a favourite book of the year.
    I thought this one sounded like it might be good so really enjoyed reading your review and am adding the book to my list 😀

    Reply
  13. todd

    I saw this pop up on goodreads a little while ago and thought it sounded interesting, but like you I wasn’t sure. I wondered if it leaned heavily towards the humor side, so reading your review helped set my expectations to expect much more than just the humor. I may end up trying this one, unless I end up watching the movie first.

    Reply
  16. Charlotte

    When I saw the title for this I was kind of expecting a cosy fantasy novel but obviously I was wrong. This doesn’t sound like something I’d usually pick up but your review has intrigued me. It certainly sounds like a powerful.book and I’m curious about the amends scene.

    Reply

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