2.5 rounded up.
“Codename Villanelle” has some core workings of a fun spy thriller, namely the cat and mouse game between government operative and paid assassin, as well as boasting a slew of locations from China to London to Paris, all which make fun settings for the drama that happens.

However, these elements are sort of squandered with incredibly dry and, quite frankly, boring writing. The dialogue is missing any sort of spunk or life, and the characters themselves are FLAT. I’m reading this novel having just wrapped up watching S3 of the TV adaptation and I am deeply happy that the show was taken into fresh hands, reworked, and then directed by women because this novel just lacks VIGOR. It very much feels like the outline of a novel that was supposed to be 500 pages of exciting storytelling but then the author died and the publishing house said, “Well, let’s publish the outline anyways and see what happens?” It’s very much a case of a great book idea that has been written in a lackluster manner.
In addition to the writing of action & plot, I was disappointed (yet not truly surprised) with how Jennings writes his female characters. He just fails to really dig into their minds and instead just tells the reader how each character supposedly feels or thinks, but they lacks depth. Actually every character, not just the women, are lacking, but it's especially a letdown having a book about women doing cool, badass (and illegal) things have the writing of the women be so one-dimensional. ( )

Lacks everything the women bring to the TV show

After the TV show, it was rather crushing coming to find how one note airport novel this book was. The combination of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's writing and the performances of Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer breathe something real and dark and funny to what, frankly, comes off as a male masturbational fantasy and competent, but unexciting, criminal action mystery.

It has power cishet dude vibes with a slightly chaste malegaze fascination with Villanelle's lesbian experiences and an utterly jarring and disgusting moment when a character talks about falling for a trans woman, which the book seems to suggest appeals to the character because he doesn't really like men or women. This character, seeming so very in love with this woman after one night, uses slurs against her when thinking about her. At least the book and character keep up the correct pronouns for her, but imagine if he had slept with any other marginalised woman? Would the author be so quick to have the character throw around other epiphets?

Honestly, if you've watched the show, just watch it again and read something new, and/ or save this for a last minute grab at an airport, which is really what this is. I have the next one and no intention of getting to it any time soon.

I am all the more in awe at what they managed to do with the TV show after reading this. Bravo to them. Meh to this ( )

so much less fascinating than the tv show. ( )

Holy fuck is this book an adrenaline rush. ( )

This is the book that inspired the TV series Killing Eve. I'll try not to say too much about the plot for fear of offering spoilers for either the book or the show.

Villanelle is an assassin for hire who kills high-profile targets around the world, at the behest of a shadowy organisation. When she kills a Russian on the streets of London, she comes to the attention of UK intelligence operative Eve Polastri. Having been tasked with the protection of Villanelle's victim, Eve becomes implacable in her pursuit of this mysterious killer.

This is a pacy and taut thriller which is highly readable - I knocked it over in a couple of days. Jennings has crafted a memorable villain in Villanelle. It is a nice touch to make both of the protagonists in this story women in a genre dominated by tough blokes. It's a bit outlandish, but no more so than most of the other books in this genre.

I wouldn't read this before watching the TV series due to the plot spoilers, but it is certainly different enough to the show to be appreciated on its own. I liked the character of Eve better in the book, and Villanelle better in the show. The two are similar but not identical, and are both worth your time. ( )