Certainly a different story line for a thriller. A trained killer just back from maternity leave is a refreshing approach. The book moves on at a good pace although I did feel the detail about the baby, buggy and meeting mums is perhaps a little bit too much.. Also the final chapter did seem to go on and on and I found myself speed reading to see if there is a good, bad or don't know ending. Nevertheless a very enjoyable book

I didn't get this book at all! A spy thriller that's not really a spy thriller with a woman just returning from maternity leave and having problems with leaky breasts etc. There must be a message in here somewhere that women can do what they want and return to work in a male dominated world etc but I don't think this book is going to do much for "the cause" as they say.

I'm afraid I felt the book was trying too hard to be funny and cool and I got sick of listening to the baby stuff. On the other hand, this book will hit a nerve with many and the mixed worlds of babies and high level jobs will be an experience many can relate to. It was too twee for my liking.

Okay, so I don't typically read this genre, and that's probably reflected in my review. However, I'm always open to trying new things and when I spotted this title on NetGalley I loved the sound of it.

I have a three-year-old little menace and whilst I'm sadly not a spy, the synopsis made me laugh and was still relatable.

I love Lex, she's feisty, strong-willed and determined to prove herself in a very masculine world. I love her humour but I do feel that the comedy is specifically aimed at mums and so might not be relatable to a broader readership.

"My enemies have got it wrong if they think that becoming a mother has made me weaker. I stare down at her as she holds my little finger. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her. Climb mountains. Fight tigers. Track down and kill every single fucker trying to tear us apart. I will show them all."

I liked the initial plot idea but did find myself struggling with the pace a little and I was pushing myself to keep reading after 50%.

It was the underlying story of motherhood and Lex's character that kept me going through some of the 'slower' plot moments, and is truly my favourite aspect of the book.

The book is a very strong advocate for feminism as the author honestly portrays sexism in the workplace. It was eerie how familiar some of the lines from the male characters in the book felt from personal experience.

Overall, I really enjoyed the twist on the traditional male-led spy novel and found the humour realistic and relatable. Recommended for lovers of crime fiction and any mum who needs a little reminder that she's amazing!

This book was refreshing and really funny. The subtle hints if feminist messages were amazing. Lived for the originality. However this book was not for me. Although I know people who would live it!

What a brilliant read, lex is balancing being a Mum and an Assassin and she's doing a fantastic job, I loved it, lex is a great character brought to life wonderfully, I'm a little jealous of her to be honest, my days of being a mum weren't half as exciting.
A totally brilliant bonkers read

picked this book up from NetGalley as it sounded interesting.
Lex is a woman returning to work after having a baby, she’s not just returning to an office or shop. She’s returning to section Eight a branch of the government dealing in assassination. She’s spent years honing her skills.
We see a woman facing prejudice at work for wanting it all while dealing with mothers guilt for wanting a career too.
A very engaging read, we learn her back story and the partner and friends she has.
One thing to learn though don’t upset a mamma bear when protecting her cub she will end you without a second glance!!!

This was a lot of fun! Lex Tyler is a government assassin, newly returned from maternity leave and trying to juggle both sets of responsibility - whilst not letting on to her husband that her desk job is anything but. Lex herself is an entertaining character, and the SW London mummy cliches are nicely played into as part of her latest undercover mission. Someone is trying to sabotage her, so she also has to contend with trying to work out who, and why. It's a really entertaining spy thriller, and a good reflection on the demands made of new mothers returning to work, just with a different context!

Thank you for providing me with a copy of the book to read. I was a bit concerned that it would be slightly far fetched! However, it was a enjoyable read, tense in places and I will look out from more from the author

I had expected this to be quite farcical but actually wasn't outside the realms of possibility and had a lot of tense moments.
I really enjoyed this book and will be looking out for more from the author!

Fun yet realistic tale of a mother returning to work... in the secret service... as a trained assassin. Now I may not be at all able to say whether The Eighth Service was realistic or not, but the struggles of a post-maternity mum are really spot on!

A secret mission and intrigue combine to make an interesting tale. Lots of action and thrills and spills written in an easy and accessible style.

Not at all dark but has its fair share of unpleasant characters. I loved the yummy mummy set, all the caricatures were there!! So real!!!

4* An enjoyable read

This was such a fun and surprising read, I'll be keeping an eye out for future books by Asia Mackay! KILLING IT is funny and down-to-earth without feeling forced, with hints of Janet Evanovich (though slightly more aptitude from the main character).

Lex Tyler is great at her job, but struggling with the new demands of motherhood. As a trained killer and spy, she's fought (literally) to get to where she is in her career, but being a new mum brings a brand new set of challenges and dangers. Lex is a brilliant character - she's funny, quick, can handle banter from her male counterparts and is confident without being cocky.

The story dives right into the action from the start, and Asia Mackay develops the spy world so well I've started avoiding going near Holborn station on my daily commute.

Having said that, parts of the book definitely needed a firmer editorial hand - it was unnecessary to have the pages and paragraphs on the competitiveness of yummy mummies, or how mothers are the unspoken super agents of the world, or how hard it is being a woman in a male-dominated workplace. All valid points, but I'm reading a novel, not a series of essays, and these could have been condensed into considerably shorter sections. I ended up skim-reading large chunks of the book because of this.

killing it by Asia Mackay.
Every working mum has had to face it.
The guilt-fuelled, anxiety-filled first day back in the office after maternity leave.
But this working mum is one of a kind.
Meet Alexis Tyler.
An elite covert agent within Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Her first project back is a high-stakes hit of global significance and the old boys network of government espionage is far from ready for the return of an operational mother. But woe betide anyone who ever tells Alexis Tyler 'you can't'.
She will have it all. Or she'll die trying . . . And yes, she damn well will be home for bath time.
a fantastic read. I loved the story and the characters. Alexis being my favourite character. loved Jake and how he was with Alexis. my favourite part was when Alexis did a Spiderman to get to gigi her daughter in the ball Pit. I imagined the look on the mother's face. priceless. I also loved the bit where she got cornered with 2 security men. and she put them down in minutes. absolutely fantastic. I loved the bit in the restaurant too. this is a must read and I would highly recommend this book. 5*. would give more if I could.

Killing It is a fun fast paced read. Part over the top spy thriller, part comedic drama on being a woman in a ‘man’s profession’. If Bridget Jones had trained as an assassin this is pretty close to what you’d get. While Mackay perhaps doesn’t quite deliver Fielding’s biting wit, this was still very readable and amusing. Of course the plot comes close to jumping the shark but then that’s sort of the point. Read it with the idea that the author’s tongue is firmly in her cheek and just enjoy the ride. My only quibbles were that it felt as if it could have done with being 100 pages shorter and that at times the feminist message was delivered in an overly heavy handed way. Otherwise great fun.

Killing It is a spy thriller that's not really a spy thriller. It's about the difficulties in returning to work after maternity leave, particularly in a male-dominated industry.
There is a fun plot involving spies, double-crosses and traitorous betrayals but it is secondary to the challenges Lex faces in going back to work. When Lex returns to her job as a government assassin she is treated with contempt by her boss and worse by a new co-worker.
Lex's husband has no expectations placed upon his performance, but she is made to prove herself again and again. Although there are some scary situations and nasty villains, nothing come close to the horrors of Lex’s meetings with the upscale stay at home mothers.
Judged on its' merits, Killing It is a great escapist read with a message appropriate for the MeToo# movement.

I tried Killing It expecting it to be either fantastically good fun or absolutely terrible. It was neither; there were plenty of good things about it, but it wasn't great.

Lex Tyler is a new mum who returns to work as an undercover assassin for the British Secret Service, and the book is a comic riff on both action-packed spy adventures and the tribulations of motherhood, with their juxtaposition at the heart of both the comedy and the feminist message. Asia Mackay writes well in Lex's very readable narrative voice and she creates a good setting for the action. The spy plot is OK, if a little silly and is reasonably well done, as is the nightmare of Lex having a cover-story which means that, as well as some exciting action, she has to socialise with over-privileged, pretentious and competitive West-London mothers.

I did have some quite serious reservations, though. The book could have done with a firm editorial hand; at 400 pages it is far too long. The riffs on the Competitive-Mother setting and Lex's own sense of blundering along messing it up (common to most normal parents, I suspect) are often good but they are too numerous and too protracted so they really get in the way of the story. Even though I'm wholly in sympathy with the feminist message, it is terribly crudely done at times – especially with the introduction of a caricature sexist pillock of a fellow assassin whom Lex has to confound, which felt so unreal as to weaken the point Mackay is, quite rightly, making. I also felt uneasy in places about the overall issue of taste. It is possible to make assassination a subject of some humour if it's done right, but there is a flippancy about torture here which seems to me to be beyond humour in any context. Mackay oversteps the boundary of acceptability more than once, I think, and I didn't like it

I ended up skimming quite extensively, to be honest, and didn't feel I'd missed all that much. There are some nice comic moments, like realising that forgetting her maternity bra pads might lead to her leaving DNA at the scene of a covert operation, for example, but overall, I can only give Killing It a very qualified recommendation.

(My thanks to Zaffre the publishers for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I heard about this book from someone I follow on Instagram. It is pretty funny, probably more so if you have kids and can relate to the returning to work process that is so very difficult for women. Not to say that Lex is your average mum returning to work ! far from it.

Unusual premise, not sure if it can develop further to different books as now that she is back to work the author will need to focus on less about the issues faced going back to work and more on the Section 8 stuff (I guess) reading about the school run, after school and Gigi's dance classes might not be so funny - or perhaps they will !!

A good read, I belted through it quickly as it was not complicated at all but it holds its own.