CODENAME VILLANELLE by Luke Jennings John Murray, £14.99
Konstantin, who works for a secretive global power-elite, recruits her to become the perfect assassin.
A hellish year later, this young Russian woman is trained to kill without mercy for her paymasters. She is given a new life and a new name, Villanelle.
Then she crosses MI5 agent Eve Polastri. When Polastri is tasked with hunting Villanelle, her mission becomes an obsession that will put her in the crosshairs of the ruthless killer.
It may not be an original premise to have a beautiful, highly-trained female assassin working for a shadowy group of wealthy people.
But this short novel works because it doesn’t take itself too seriously and the chief protagonists are interesting characters who make good foils for each other.
Codename Villanelle is easy to read, exciting and fun which is probably why it is being filmed as a BBC America TV drama, Killing Eve, due out next year.