Stephen King

From legendary storyteller and #1 bestseller Stephen King, whose “restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained,” (The New York Times Book Review) comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Billy Summers

Eva Ströberg

Stephen King is a master of storytelling, be it horror or not. I enjoy Billy Summers and I would start my review saying that this is not a horror or supernatural story. Billy Summers is an ex-marine sniper who is now a retired hitman. He's decided to take one last job to hit a hitman somewhere down in the southern states.

He thought that it would be the usual job, a hit, home run and a payment for a job well done collected. No, it was far from that. He had to go undercover as a writer and had to befriend the locals, and had to find another getaway scenario as he had weird gut feeling about this job.

It turned out the job was as complicated as he worried that it would be. Summers also uncovered his childhood and his past a bit by bit by actually writing his life story while doing his undercover, making us understand why Summers is the way he is. All in all a great read

Dominik

Like many a King books, I had to get through about the first half, which I found very tedious. After that, the book picked up speed, but never, never ever, in a way like, for example, "It". "Billy Summers" was just unnecessary in the end. Yes, unnecessary is an appropriate word for it. And if there hadn't been a nice little twist at the end, which I kind of expected anyway, the book would have been a pure disappointment for me. But as it was, I had some fun reading it at times. But is that enough for a good book or even a King classic? Unfortunately, "Billy Summers" will never rank among his masterpieces.

Alexis Donahue

First Stephen King book for me and I loved it! I love the relationship between Billy and Alice… I wish it had gone further but the loved that they shared for each other was very obvious. The chapters leading up to the assassination were very interesting and I also really enjoyed the “book within a book” that was piece-mealed into the chapters. The audiobook narrator was AMAZING with all of his accents for the characters like Frank and Nick.

Sarah Bailey

3.5 stars if I could. I’m a huge Stephen King fan- mostly his horror stuff but I’m open to anything he writes. The first 150-175 pages I found hard to get through- the plot moves really slow which I understand builds great characters but this was SLOWW. I almost didn’t want to pick it back up but im so glad I did. The second half as I call it( chapter 8 to end) were so good, gritty and indulgent! 

I would recommend but be prepared for this book to take a while to reel you in!

Kristen Claiborn

For the first time...ever...I'm not giving a Stephen King five stars. I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in the book or in the fact that I didn't love it.

Arturo Hernández

Fun book to listen to, however there’s not a specific detail that I will remember from this story after a while… Well, perhaps only the revenge Billy executes against the guys from the van… Trying to avoid spoilers 😅

Katelyn Sykes

Wow! I loved this book. I normally do not pick Stephen King books for myself as I don’t love horror. But I do love thrillers. And this is my second Stephen King thriller I have read and I loved it.

First third was a bit of a slog but it started to pick up pace and intrigue quite quickly. Glad I stuck with it. 

Alexander Venturas

Billy Summers is a killer for hire. He's among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet who can blend into any neighbourhood and vanish after the shot is taken. But he will only agree to the contract if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first he's offered one final job - an offer which is just too big to refuse. Billy is given a fake identity as a writer, and a high-rise office from which to make the kill. But as the days count down to the hit, Billy becomes convinced that something about the job is wrong. He does not yet know just how wrong, or about the woman who will help him try to set things right.

Page-turner but also forgettable. Weirdly sloppy editing.

Danny White

James Eaton

What a ride! My fist King read for 2022 and it did not disappoint! 

I have only few a few Stephen King books (working on changing that) but I am always shocked at the variety of his writing. It’s hard to imagine that this novel was written by the same person who wrote The Gunslinger. 

I know I keep giving books 5 stars, but this year has started off with some incredible books.

Stephen Kings writing is again so captivating! This story is about an ex-Marien turned hired hit man who agrees to do one last job before retiring. He has to hide in plain site before carrying out the hit which starts to feel a bit off to him. Afterwards, when he’s in hiding he befriends/rescues a young woman and the strike up a beautiful friendship. There was nothing horror-like or supernatural in this book which was refreshing from him! 4/5 stars for me because there were a few lulls in the story and the “hiding in plain site”  part in the beginning was very similar to his book 11/22/63. All in all I recommend! 

Anna Bush

Ashutosh

"Gripping, Superb Ending"

Billy Summers, a killer who kills only bad guys is on the verge of doing one last job. And I think the summary of this book kinda exaggerates a bit by saying that everything goes wrong and all, but it didn't seem so. Things turn out differently but nothing to be surprised by.

The last Stephen King book I read was 11.22.63 around 2 years back and as it showcased how good of a writer Stephen King is, excluding the fact with respect to horror genre, this book falls into the same category, not plot wise but writing style and character development wise. 

I loved Billy Summers' character throughout. He definitely stands among my top favourite Stephen King characters after reading this book. And obviously there are multiple reasons to that which I might not be able to mention without giving out any spoilers. But still the parts where Stephen King expresses Billy's moralities through certain events and actions even though he has committed crimes, and he knows that bad people need to be punished but it still isn't right to outright kill them, it clearly makes him a likeable character. His relation with Alice stands out as the best chunk of this book even though I felt it drags a bit after the mid section. 

And then comes the ending which compensates that draggy part perfectly. It's the part where this book became a solid 5 star for me. There are obviously much better Stephen King books than this but I think this one cannot be compared. It seems to stand out of the Stephen King Multiverse(There are references to The Shining but not overly described) 

I loved the story throughout, even if the summary makes it sound like a crime action thriller it isn't primarily that. It's about self realisations and acceptance, it's about guilts and flaws, it's about how a person can get majorly influenced by having the right people around. And that's what I loved the most about his book and the story as a whole. As Billy writes a book in this one it also kind of emits up a resemblance to "Misery"(another Stephen King masterpiece), and I love how the writing style changes on the basis of the characters. It just adds to the beauty. Stephen King will always be my favourite writer ever, and it can also be perceived through this review that there's some bias involved, but guess what, I don't care. 

Overall I loved this book to the fullest. And even if anyone wants to begin with Stephen King this can be a good start, but if you're looking for anything horror than this one's not it.

Happy Reading Constant Readers 😊

Nick Bicko

If you like Stephen King, this is for you. 
No one creates better characters with this much ease.

Aysenur O.


This book made me realize again why i love reading Stephen King’s books. It is because Mr King is involving readers to the story too. I mean i was there, i was literally there in every breath he took, every action he took, every step he took. I was there in the rain across the street where Billy found Alice. I was there and felt what Alice felt when she learned about what happened to her. I literally cried with her and my heart was broken.. I was there every time and enjoyed every second as much as i could. 
I didn’t want to finish this book and at the same time I wanted to finish it ASAP to learn the end. And i am sorry to finish it and feel so sorry for Billy. 
The fiction is best of its kind and there is another book in the book. Its fantastic. I highly recommend You all should read. 

Melanie Harvie

Wow. I went into this expecting the normal creepy story that is Kings trademark, but this was completely different in a very good way. Billy Summers is the hitman you can’t help but love, righting wrongs and being the hero he didn’t think he could be. Awesome story, awesome characters, and the cover art is beautiful. Well done Mr. King, well done.

B.H. Pitt

A well-paced thriller with a few fun tricks up its sleeve. Definitely not reinventing the wheel in any way, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.

From legendary storyteller and No. 1 bestseller Stephen King, whose 'restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained' (The New York Times Book Review), comes a thrilling new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He's a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he'll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong? How about everything. This spectacular can't-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It's about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption. You won't put this story down, and you won't forget Billy.

Lauren Attaway

I started this book after my mom, and in spite of the length, I finished it before her, because I could not put it down. I cared so much about Billy, and everyone he cared about. I wanted Billy, a hitman, to perform his hit and live happily ever after (like this wasn’t a Stephen King book). I was a hundred percent invested in the characters and needed to know that everyone came out alright. I won’t spoil if I got what I wanted, but this book is one of the best I’ve read this year.

Jasmine Tania

Lynn

Listened to the audiobook, which would be my recommendation as the story is very slow-paced. I enjoyed the dynamic between the main character and the people he meets along the way. For anyone looking for a revenge-thriller, this King book is right up your street.

Amy Medeiros

A killer who only kills bad guys

This is one of those stories where you know your not supposed to like the bad buy but the author does such a good job with writing the character that you can’t help but sympathize and root for them because you know their backstory. Billy Summers was a hired hitman who only killed true bad guys and for that he earned a little bit of my sympathy but after reading more of his story he got more than just sympathy.

Billy Summers

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