Billy Summers

 

Billy Summers by Stephen King

Fiction

2021

Finished on September 20, 2024

Rating: 5/5 (Outstanding)

Publisher's Blurb:

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything...

This spectacularly riveting novel is part war story, part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. Billy Summers is about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Just wow. What can I say? This is Stephen King at his finest. (And I've probably said that about every book of his that I've read in the past decade or two.) I’ve had this book on my shelf for a long time and while I’m sorry that it took me so long to finally get to it, I’m glad I had it to read on our road trip to the Tetons. I couldn’t put it down, and it was perfect for nighttime reading.

What did I love about it? For starters, Stephen King is known to begin his novels in medias res, dropping readers into the middle of the action. I can count on King to feed me one or two opening paragraphs that automatically have me scrambling to find out what's going on. 

I’m a big fan of stories within stories, and Billy Summers has one of the best I’ve ever read. Not one for recent war stories, this secondary story surprised me; I couldn’t stop reading about Billy’s experiences in Fallujah.* Every time King reverted to the present, I found myself eager to return to Billy’s book. And, as Billy considers his writing and subject matter, the reader is privy to the writing process, which King is a pro at conveying. 

So, there’s the story within a story, the war in Iraq, the writing process, and yes, a love interest of sorts. With each introduction of new characters, King draws you in further, making you feel as if you’re a part of the narrative, anxious for what lies ahead.

I also liked that this novel is unlike so many of King's earlier works, devoid of all but a minor glimpse of the supernatural. It also includes nods to his previous books, which is fun and rewarding to long-time fans.

Billy is an interesting character, posing as a somewhat dumb ex-Marine to those who have hired him to perform hits on various "bad guys." His childhood is filled with pain and trauma, and he enlists before his 18th birthday, but he is far from dumb. Juggling various personas takes a lot of mental acuity, and Billy excels in his line of work.

At over 500 pages, I didn’t want the book to end. And speaking of endings, what an astonishing finale. Makes me want to start from the beginning and read it again. It reminds me of another great novel with a likeable hero (by Dean Koontz), but to share the comparison would reveal a possible spoiler.

Bravo! Masterful storytelling. Highly recommend.

If interested, click here to read an interview with King in Esquire. (There are spoilers.)

*Note to self: Add No True Glory by Bing West to my TBR list.