Genre: Espionage thriller

Synopsis: Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

Content/Trigger Warnings: Death, body shaming, bigotry, abducting, sexism and misogyny, trauma

I think better-designed covers are giving new life to authors who have been in the game for a while. In particular, I think younger generations may be more inclined to read older authors when their book covers are more appealing. Deanna Raybourn has been writing novels for more than a decade, but I’d never heard of her until Book of the Month included one of her books in their monthly options.

Killers of a Certain Age was so fun, and unlike anything I’ve read before. Sure I’ve read espionage-type mysteries, but I really loved that the main characters in this story were much older women. These are the types of stories that combat ageist stereotypes, particularly those that plague women of a certain age.

I enjoyed the non-linear timeline and as always, I really appreciate when there’s parallels between timelines.

There were some parts of the novel that I could’ve liked more. I felt there was really so much going on which made the story a little tough to follow at times. But overall, I did enjoy this unique spin on the spy novel. It was like Charlie’s Angels after retirement.