Billy Summers

The perfect crime doesn't exist. The perfect getaway . . . that's another story.

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 disappear after the shot is taken. But he'll only agree to a contract if the target is a truly bad guy.

Now Billy wants out. But first he's offered one final job - an offer which is just too big to refuse.

As the days count down to the hit, Billy senses something is wrong. He doesn't yet know just how wrong, or about the woman who will help him try to set things right.

Part thriller, part war story, part lyrical portrait of small-town America, Billy Summers is about a good man in a bad job, with one last shot at redemption

'A compelling and engrossing read' - Sunday Express

'Adventurously shape-shifting yet always disciplined . . . dazzling' - The Sunday Times



A dazzlingly shapeshifting novel that, like its antihero, only pretends to be easy to pigeonhole. Disciplined but adventurous, equally good at action scenes and in-depth psychology ― The Sunday Times

A thriller with a surprisingly heartfelt and redemptive ending, Billy Summers is a compelling and engrossing read ― Sunday Express

King's killer instinct hits the mark again... Without abandoning his blood-chilling propensities, he has transformed himself into one of the most adroit and accomplished crime writers in the US. King has negotiated the shifting of gears with the kind of panache that befits the "ultimate storyteller" (for once, publisher hyperbole is justified). ― The I

His best book in years . . . He may always be considered a horror novelist, but King is doing the best work of his later career when the ghosts are packed away and the monsters are all too human ― Guardian

Storytelling genius ― Telegraph

Adventurously shape-shifting yet always disciplined, it's a dazzling return to form ― The Sunday Times

Devoured it ... it's such a page-turner -- Martin Clunes ― Radio Times

It's a novel with a heart-stopping, heartfelt conclusion ― Daily Express, Books of the Year

Stephen King is primarily known as a master of horror, but at heart he is a hardcore thriller writer ― Irish Independent, Books of the Year

A cracking noir ― RTE Guide, Books of the Year

A brilliantly enjoyable novel with a thrilling conclusion ― Irish Times, Books of the Year

Stephen King combines a story of corruption in high places with a lyrical portrait of small-town life and a bittersweet love story ― Daily Mail

Disciplined but adventurous, equally good at action scenes and psychology, King shows with this novel that, at 74, he's . . . at the top of his game ― The Sunday Times