Raybourn’s story begins in 1979. Four heroines go on her first mission, pretending to be a private her jet flight attendant to execute Bulgarian villains and their henchmen. They rely on poisoned hypodermic needles and, when that doesn’t work, use highly trained bare hands and knives. In a flashback chapter, Raybourne (author of the Veronica Speedwell series) tells how a young woman is being held by a Black Ops organization known only as The Museum, an offshoot of the OSS and its British counterpart, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). It explains how you were hired. Qualified for an all-female team known as “Project Sphinx”, their job was to “eliminate those who needed to be killed”.
Rayburn’s story oscillates between the quartet’s early achievements and the present as their collective career draws to a close. Now in their 60s, their lives are full of change and loss. Once compared to Jackie Kennedy for her “sophisticated” beauty, Helen is a grieving widow. Mary Alice is having a hard time maintaining a false cover story to her beloved wife about her own “business trip.” Natalie, once a flirtatious “gamin,” has found her sexual stocks to be dropping along with her boobs.Our main character and part-time narrator, Billy, I’m trying to stifle my long-standing regrets of prioritizing work.
When the women receive an invitation from the museum to a full-cost luxury cruise to celebrate their retirement, they reluctantly flock to the ship for forced pomp.
But fate has other things in mind. Experiencing intense hot flashes (don’t eat spicy food!), Billy hops into an isolated walk-in refrigerator for reassurance. When she showed up, she spotted her former colleague — an explosives expert named Brad — who was disguised as one of her crew members. It doesn’t take long for women to realize that Cruz is a ruse to rally them and efficiently scrape them off. The old Sphinx must deal with the evil Blood before solving its riddles and saving his life.
An extended escape is then performed by this quartet of agents to find out who marked them for death in the museum. From rubber boats drifting in the Caribbean Sea to safe homes in New Orleans to breezy English mansions where women’s training began decades ago, this book sweeps places and times. “Killers of a Senage” is a singular suspense story thanks to its deftly shifting tone that is comical, violent, and unexpectedly affecting.
When the women first gather on the ill-fated cruise ship, they lament the abrupt end of the careers that gave their lives purpose.
“Had I known that the job in Qatar was the last, I would have paid more attention,” says Helen.
“I would have paid more attention to all that. I’m going to miss the adrenaline in no time,” says Natalie. “I mean, how else do you find something that makes you feel that way? alive? ”
In fact, Billie agrees.
Sure, the women talk about their profession as black ops assassins, but it’s impossible not to root for these dangerous women and their refusal to be placed in a pile of ashes.
Maureen Corrigan, book reviewer for the NPR program Fresh Air, teaches literature at Georgetown University.
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