Booker Prize nominee Luke Jennings (Atlantic) first introduced the characters of MI6 agent Eve Polastri and the mysterious Russian assassin Villanelle in his exciting 2018 novel Codename Villanelle. The sexual chemistry between the two women added flavor, wit and dimension to the cat-and-mouse spy thriller. It was adapted into the acclaimed BBC America TV series starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. Killing Eve: No Tomorrow is a faster, funnier and more exciting follow-up to the first book. It's also less episodic (Codename was an expanded compilation of four previously published e-book novellas).
While Eve globe-trots around Europe, tracking Villanelle on her hired hits, she begins to realize that the same secret organization (The Twelve) sponsoring Villanelle has infiltrated the top levels of her own British secret service. When Villanelle is told that Eve is her next target, she begins to intuit that The Twelve will soon turn on her, too, unless the two women can work together to foil their plot. Granted, some of the tongue-in-cheek James Bond action goes past overkill. Villanelle dispatches one gay fascist villain--who has donned a dirndl and an Eva Braun wig--with an exploding sex toy.
But it's all good, nasty fun for lovers of James Bond and Modesty Blaise--although Jennings is much more sexually explicit than Ian Fleming or Peter O'Donnell. This espionage romp keeps readers slightly off balance as it brilliantly walks the line between thriller and spoof--and readers will find the experience irresistible. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant