(Reviewed by JD Jung)
#CommissionsEarned
“…the sum of my life left me in a black hole. I was desperate, but I was also empty. Then life suddenly showed me the way to make sense of it. A certain kind of sense, anyway. That is, for a while, it made sense. I’m not sure of that now.”
Our protagonist is an unnamed killer-for- hire. She lives alone at the edge of a forest, except for her golden retriever. In fact, that is the only living being that she feels comfortable interacting with.
A tragedy led her to her profession, and she is highly regarded by those in the know. She was thinking of making an occupational change (maybe as a nutritionist?), when she received an unusual phone call that she wasn’t prepared for. She was asked to protect someone, that is, to keep a woman alive. It’s a lucrative offer, but she questions whether she has the appropriate skill set for this new kind of assignment.
She is to protect Virginia Martin, a Silicon Valley scientist who is developing a means of converting waste to energy. This proves to be technology that everyone wants a piece of. Though the woman who called her claims to be Virginia’s mother, she continues to be evasive throughout the duration of the job. This impedes her efforts keep her safe. What she does tell her is that Virginia is not to know about this.
To protect Virginia, our protagonist needs to figure out who and why someone is trying to murder her, to get to the source and put an end to it. As she researches, she realizes that there are many possible motives for someone to want Virginia dead.
Through all this, our protagonist tries to figure herself out and what she wants in life. I kept wondering how she got to where she is now and learned more as I read. Not all my questions were answered though. I wanted more of a story of how she became a hired killer and a recluse. Maybe it was addressed in the first book of the series, which I haven’t read. Still, this page-turner can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Exit Strategy is a fascinating look into the world of finance and technology. This piece of crime fiction involves unique characters and is difficult to put down. Highly recommended.
