Billy Summers by Stephen King

Okay, this is the third and final book on the Goodreads’ Mystery & Thriller list that I’m reading this year (or at least as part of my read all the Goodreads’ best books spree) and it was definitely different from the first two on the list. Billy Summers is a gun for hire with a knack for sniping targets learned from his days in the Marines. He’s ready to retired from the assassin life but is given one last job with an extremely high pay out so he takes the job and settles into this small town in the middle of nowhere to wait for his target to be extradited from California back to Mississippi. We learn that the target, Joe, is facing assault charges in California where he was arrested but faces murder charges back in Mississippi where the death penalty is still very much in play. And as with all thriller plots with inmates on death row, Joe happens to have information that might reduce his sentence to life. And this is the crux of the assassination – Billy doesn’t know what the info is but he’s getting paid $2million to assassinate Joe before he gets the chance to reveal whatever his trump card is so we know it must be spicy. And so of course our boy Billy takes the job and we begin our very long journey with him.

“That seems long ago, in another life. And it was. His David Lockridge life.“

First of all, this book is BY FAR the longest of the three mystery/thrillers and it was quite the journey. The book is divided into a few parts for me. First we start with Billy masquerading as David Lockridge, an aspiring writer who moves to this small town for a few months to focus on his book, while waiting for Joe to come back. Then we go on a whole roadtripping wilderness journey after Billy finishes the job. And THEN we finish off with a whole Vegas revenge arc. So there’s a whole lot going on and much of it was very interesting with the different settings and premises. BUT I did find the pacing a little slow and drawn out for my taste. Maybe I’m just not familiar with Stephen King’s writing style or I’m just too used to the fast-paced thrillers with a lot of twists and action but this book certainly didn’t fit in the thrilling category for me. The writing style is extremely straightforward and easy to read so 500 pages didn’t feel that long but I did keep thinking to myself, when is it going to get to the interesting part?? I do think it’s my mindset that’s been conditioned by the before mentioned fast-paced thrillers so I wouldn’t necessarily say the pace was objectively slow but I was a little disappointed there wasn’t a little more of a twist.

“But this is true: he only does bad people. It’s how he sleeps at night.“

Besides the pacing, let’s talk about main character, Billy. If there’s one word to describe Billy, it’d be just good. Billy might be an assassin by occupation but he’s just such a good guy. He clearly knows the moral implications of his job, which is why he only accepts jobs to take out “bad” people (what that means is up for debate) to help justify it for himself. But he’s not delusional and struggles with the understanding that killing people for a living can never really be justified. It’s a lonely life being an assassin especially when he’s planted in the sleepy town for a couple of months and integrates into the neighborhood. He needs to blend into the town so no one’s suspicious when the hit time comes. And Billy’s good at blending in; he gets chummy with people without getting too close (hazards of his occupation I guess). So he makes friends with the neighbors, has barbeques, drinks some cold ones together and plays monopoly with the kids all while planning how he’s going to complete his Houdini act after the job is finished. I feel for Billy, I really do, but I’m just not moved in anyway by him or his predicament…

And maybe it’s because I see Billy as an average Joe. See, that’s the thing about Billy. He isn’t the best sniper the world’s ever seen (don’t get me wrong, he is very very good) or a super intelligent, impressive hero who’s always five steps ahead. Basically, Billy isn’t epic; he’s very human. And maybe that’s also why I thought the book was a little boring. Obviously I don’t know what it’s like to carry out an assassination so maybe Mr. King’s representation isn’t very realistic at all. But it seems to me that Billy’s just your gun-wielding average guy who, although admittedly pretty smart, definitely no awesome OP character. Which I was kind of expecting for some reason. Probably based on the synopsis. I mean it sounds like a pretty cool setup with the assassination, double life, disappearing act, black market, Vegas, etc. etc. and with that expectation I inevitably was a little disappointed.

“The story is, and the story is now a book. No doubt about it. That no one will ever see it (except Alice Maxwell) doesn’t faze Billy in the slightest. It’s the doing that’s important, she was right about that.”

But with that being said, there’s one aspect of the story that really resonated with me. As his cover, Billy pretends to be an author and is working on his book in the town. But Billy really does start writing a book during his time there, the story of his life from his trouble childhood years to his trauma while serving. He starts with a lot of fire because this story has burning away in him for a long time and he’s finally thinking about retiring and ready to write it down. Two things, first I really love the story within a story narration. Some of my past favorite novels all have these structures (think The Thirteenth Tale or The Shadow of the Wind) because we get to see a whole other story within this story. Second is Billy’s, what I feel is, very real struggle with actually going through the process of writing his story down. Inevitably he loses steam but becomes all consumed by it at certain points (I guess I would be too if I were in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do). I’ve always had the goal of one day writing my own book but never got more than a thought or two and always wondered how authors (especially of long fantasy series) are able to even conceptualize the journey of a WHOLE ASS book from beginning to end. And Billy does finish his book (to an extent) and the two narratives meet up at present day. But his process while working on the book was so relatable because I love having ideas and being inspired to do things (like starting this blog) but I never persevere. The thinking about the idea is the fun part. The actual doing quickly loses its appeal. But I think, if nothing, I can be inspired by Billy and finish up this review (I’ve been dragging it out for over a week now)!

I mean in the end, the book was good. I read it relatively quickly and it was fun to read. But I think I was disappointed because I came to be thrilled and thrilled I was not. And it’s in the mystery and thriller category so I was expecting more of an interesting mystery element. Other than who the ultimate boss was, there was very little mystery or build up of any kind and even the reveal was pretty lackluster (kind of like how I articulated how I felt about the “twist” in The Last Thing He Told Me review). Maybe it’s because I was pretty detached from this book or maybe it’s not really meant to be that kind of thriller. Either way, I would definitely recommend this book (I know it might not sound that way based off some of the review) but it was a GOOD book with a little part a tad tedious but I definitely don’t think it was a waste of time to read and I’m glad I did. I don’t know if that makes sense but maybe it doesn’t have to! I’m off to read Crying in H Mart, which is already shaping up to be a very different read. I’ve heard so many people talk about it and it’s so highly recommended that I’m a little nervous it won’t live up to the hype. But I have a feeling it will so catch you next time with my thoughts! Meantime I need to go to H Mart so maybe catch me in crying in the sauce aisle deciding between which kind of soy sauce to get.