Firefight (Victor the Assassin #12) 4Stars

 

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Title: Firefight
Series: Victor the Assassin #12
Author: Tom Wood
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 380
Words: 108K
Publish: 2024

Basically, Victor gets embroiled in more consequences from his past work and that causes problems. This story is about surviving those problems.

Victor kills boatloads of people, has tons of other people trying to kill him and pretty much pisses off everyone he comes into contact with. I do not see how Victor is going to survive much longer in this fictional world. He’s been working for the US Gov, the British Gov, the Russian Mob plus other large security entities that I’ve forgotten. In this one, he gets on the Israeli radar, so I’m sure they will be next.

The whole premise of Victor, at the beginning, was that he was a non-entity. That is how he survived. Well, that idea is shot to pieces by now, so there’s not much more room for Victor to wriggle around in. In fact, in an afterwards, the author admits that he’s running out of ideas for Victor. The two options are for Victor to die, for real, none of this fake bs, or for Victor to somehow retire and live on a beach with his chicky-boo until they die. Technically, he could take up the fight of his chickyboo and fight the faceless, nameless, formless Evil Thing that Chickyboo is fighting against, but he still would have to die doing that. I just can’t foresee a happy ending for Victor.

Which makes each book very bitter sweet for me. I have grown to quite enjoy Victor’s path of destruction and his avoidance of the ties that bind to the rest of humanity; a far cry from my review of the first book indeed. But Victor’s options are narrowing, faster and faster and thus at some point I know the Final Countdown will have to start and my time with Victor, no matter the outcome, will end. Personally, I hope the author can stretch things out for several more books, like maybe eight more? Make it a nice round Twenty book series ;-)

★★★★☆

From the Publisher

MERCY HAS A COST. TIME FOR VICTOR TO PAY.

Assassin-for-hire Victor is in Bucharest, Romania, to kill two targets meeting to exchange stolen intelligence his client wants back. It should be a simple task - until he realises the second of his targets is a former ally. Even for a man of Victor's twisted morality, he's not prepared to kill someone to whom he owes his life.

To atone for not completing the job, Victor agrees to take on the kind of dangerous assignment he would otherwise avoid. At a conference on international relations, he must identify and assassinate a killer just like him and remain unseen, despite a guest list of spies, dignitaries, and security experts. Even for an elite professional, the job is a tall order - which is why he looks for help from the person whose life he spared in Romania.

Yet unbeknownst to Victor, the Bucharest contract stepped on the toes of powerful enemies from his past; enemies who now know exactly where to find him . . .