Codename Villanelle

Written by Luke Jennings

Narrated by Yolanda Kettle

In a remand centre in the Ural Mountains, Oxana Vorontsova awaits trial for triple murder. Not what you'd expect from a star linguistics student. Half a world away, her potential has been noted. Sprung from prison and trained in the dark arts of assassination, she's reborn as the beautiful, lethal Villanelle. The price of her luxurious new life: to eliminate targets assigned to her by a shadowy group of all-powerful businessmen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: May 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781471291531

Reviews for Codename Villanelle

[Chelsea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely!!!!
Excellent work. Excellent match of speaker to text. Really felt like I was in the book. I was able to follow effortlessly

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a great short story. I want more!

[bgknighton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice start to the series. Eve is a disgraced MI5 operative who runs afoul of the Twelve. Their weapon of choice was Villanelle, a cold, efficient, very well trained killer. So begins a war of nerves with no quarter given.

[riida_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

its a very action packed, fast paced, little book about two women (one an elite assassin working for an international shadowy group, the other a mid-level British intelligence analyst) hunting each other.not a lot more to say...i wish the characters of the two main characters have been explored more, but i guess there's only so much room in a 200-page book.was a lot of fun to read!

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I avoided Killing Eve when the series was popular because that's me, but decided belatedly to give the books which form 'the basis' of the TV adaptation a try - and I'm impressed! I was a bit concerned initially about a male author writing female characters, from the beautiful but deadly Villanelle to Eve, the woman tasked with hunting her down, who is described thus:With her make-up-free complexion and shoulder-length hair gathered in a scrappy up-do, she looks like someone for whom there are more important things than being thought pretty.But Luke Jennings just about gets away with semi-objectifying the female characters by making Villanelle such a cool character - shades of the obnoxious The Girl With ... but less of the little girl victim saved by the rugged hero and more an emotionless murder machine. The dialogue is believable too.Fast paced and fun to read, I have already downloaded book two (thanks to the cliffhanger format)!

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Twelve red fish. A unanimous sentence of death."I picked this up as I was interested in the television series, and I was pleasantly surprised! Basically, it is in two parts - one about Villanelle, a cold-blooded assassin working for "the Twelve", and the other about Eve, the woman who has vowed to catch her! I liked Villanelle's story more, but overall it was a good read on both accounts!Not a really new concept, I mean "Modesty Blaise" has been around since 1963, and there have been loads of movies that basically have the same type of plot. But that doesn't mean that it's redundant or boring. Jennings makes it his own, and the cat-and-mouse piece really works well! My only major problem with this book is that it doesn't have a ending, and is clearly intended for sequels. I'm not a fan of that, and believe that books should be able to stand alone on their own. Still, I'm very likely to pick up the next one, based on my enjoyment of this one!

[vulco1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's good. Maybe better than the tv show. It's close. Good writing and characterization. Clear stakes.

[dcoward_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this story of a female assassin and the agent struggling to catch her.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book comprises the four novellas which inspired the television series Killing Eve, and recount Villanelle’s progress in her career of professional assassin, working under the direction of the mysterious international crime cartel known simply as ‘The Twelve’. The book differs considerably from the television series, and focuses primarily on Villanelle herself. Indeed, for much of the book, Eve is just a peripheral figure, and there is none of the repartee or interaction between her and Villanelle which were such a key component of the success of the screen adaptation. The story is well constructed but eschews any significant development of the protagonist’s character. It also lacks the bleak humour of the television series, but is, as a consequence, probably more plausible.

[grammarchick · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm glad the BBCA turned this into a show, because the book was terrible. They really pulled out the best bits about these characters and thankfully left the rubbish at the curb. My advice is to watch the programme and skip the book.