Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Killers of a Certain Age

A clever and witty tale of retiree assassins who are targeted by their own agency for removal. People generally don’t pay much attention to old women so they can slip past unnoticed - a good skill for a killer. They’re always underestimated by ageist misogynists and that’s definitely to the detriment of the person making the wrong assumption.

This book is a really violent cozy mystery - not very cozy at all but with cozy main characters, four women who’ve studied and killed together for forty years. We learn about their training and how it molded these women into such dangerous assassins. They’re comfortable together, playing off each other’s talents and covering for each other’s weaknesses.

It’s very funny - instead of a James Bond sort of suave killer, these women are coping with osteoporosis and bad backs. I love their strength and resilience, but even more I love that they didn’t take any $hit from anyone. Definitely a hit book for older women readers!

Content Warnings

3readingcircus's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

the_book_nook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I thought this was just perfection. I absolutely flew through it, and it was one of those reads where I got mad at other tasks in my life that took me away from it lol. The writing is tight and descriptive, the story flowed forward effortlessly, and I LOVED older women getting to be the heroes. What a treat. I can't wait to read this author again. And that she dedicated it to anyone who identifies as female and feels rage - that got me right in the ol' ticker.

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imo_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It’s not Shakespeare, but I don’t really care. I tore through this book and I had a whale of a time from start to finish. It’s just so much fun watching 60 year old women solve the mystery of why they were targeted for assassination, kicking ass the whole time as former assassins themselves. I’m only taking a fraction of a point off because the audiobook narration is a little dodgy (two separate narrators who seemed to have real trouble keeping consistency in the voice and accents of characters). Other than that, this was a brilliant, bizarrely empowering romp.

Content Warnings