Good morning and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Killing State by Judith O’Reilly. I am thrilled to be able to bring you a review as part of my stop today.
Every so often, I find myself in the mood for an action thriller. Killing State, the newest (and third!) novel by Judith O’Reilly, seemed to fit this bill for me. A perfect blend of an action thriller, political thriller and romance thriller, from the first pages, I was captivated by O’Reilly’s prose; I had to keep turning the pages.
As the novel opens, we are introduced to Michael North, a man with a bullet in his brain from his time spent in the war that has heightened his neural pathways and has made him a killing machine. Working for a government agency (known as The Board), he is thrown off his game when he is ordered to kill a woman, Honor Jones, who cannot seem to keep herself out of trouble while trying to do the right thing. Conflicted, North must decide what to do. Does he follow orders? Does he let her go?
This novel is the first in a new book series starring Michael North; I really loved this character. He was sort of brooding and dangerous, with a soft spot; a perfectly damaged character with redeeming qualities. I also really liked Honor. She was sassy and determined. I loved their interactions and banter. I also loved the “will they or won’t they” in regards to these two characters. Will they become partners? Love interests? It had me engaged throughout.
I did love that book read very current. It had current pop culture references that I felt added a layer to the text and made it more relatable.
My only gripe with this book was very small. I’m Canadian so I don’t know much about British politics. I did find myself a little bit confused; it took me a little while to realize that MP would have meant Member of Parliament (I think?!). I didn’t feel like the author gave much explanation for her place of power or what her actual job would have been for readers who are unfamiliar with the British political system.
Overall, I found this to be a quick and engaging novel that I would recommend to fans of the Bourne series. I also feel like this book would be FANTASTIC on the screen; I would love to see a film adaptation. I’ll be looking out for book two!
Thanks to the author and to Anne Cater for a digital copy of this novel; it was my pleasure to read and review this novel for the blog tour. Be sure to check out the other stops on the Killing State blog tour!
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