I am a Hitman by Anonymous
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Reviews
2 Stars
Best for:
I can’t really recommend this book. It’s fine, but not something I’d recommend even to those who have a curiosity about such things.
In a nutshell:
The author claims he worked as a hit man, and details how he came into that world, and how he eventually got out.
Worth quoting:
Nothing.
Why I chose it:
Wanted an audio book to read while running and as someone who finds details and specifics fascinating, I was interested in HOW contract killing actually worked.
Review:
The hitman had a weird childhood with an unforgiving father. He also, if we are to believe him, left his baby sister alone and she died, leading to his mother taking her own life. He then traveled to his mother’s homeland of Brazil (which is I’m assuming a stand-in for another country since the author claims all the details have been changed) to meet his grandfather, and some of his relatives. Then mentioned a handsy priest who his grandfather had killed. Then he returned home, went to fancy boarding school, and joined the French Foreign Legion.
Is that were everyone who eventually claims to have been a spy / mercenary / hit man does their training?
The hitman serves with a guy he calls H, and H maybe sets the hitman up to kill a child in Lebanon while also killing someone else? I don’t quite get this part. But the hitman eventually feels indebted to H, and they go into business together. H gets the contracts, the hitman does the killing.
H details his jobs, while also sharing the toll this takes on his marriage (his wife suspects an affair, not a secret vocation). It’s all very clinical, which is fine – I wasn’t looking for salacious, because ew. But it’s very nonchalant. Only a couple of times does it seem like the hitman has any real concerns about the work he’s doing, or even about really getting caught. But most frustrating – and maybe this is where I’d prefer to have read H’s book – I still don’t get from this exactly how all of this comes about. How the people know to approach H, how the money is laundered, how anyone trusts that anyone will do the job and not just go to the cops.
Also, given the author is still alive, they would have had to change like all of the details of the jobs to avoid being caught, so this book is essentially a work of fiction.
As I said, not one I’d recommend, and not one I’m thrilled to have read.
What’s next for this book:
Write the review, return the book, forget I read it.
