I'm not normally one to see the movie before I read the book, however after the phenomenon of Killing Eve I had to check out the books that inspired the series.

The books follow fairly much in the same vein as the show. Eve is a secret service agent who recognises a trend in a series of killings and believes a female serial killer is behind it, soon she is put on a task force to track down the woman we know as 'Villanelle'.

If you enjoyed the series this is a fun return to that, much of the cast and basic plot lines are the same. However, it is easy to see the smaller flaws where the show improved the text. On occasion, the way in which female characters are written can be a little bit clumsy and stereotypical, an aspect the show makes huge efforts to avoid.

However, it is not entirely fair to only hold the book up against its adaptation. It is entertaining in it's own right, and carries humour and thrills. It was fun enough to read and I would definitely think about picking up the sequel.

Just starting reading this book after watching the series, I hope as they say books are better than the movie.

This was very dark reading, as character Villanelle is more vulnerable as we can read her thoughts and find out how she thinks, Ave difficult to sympathy with but understand why she is doing this.
As I finish this book , I find my self wanted to read more. It’s was fast pace as good as the tv series .

Full of action and mystery. Chapters told between the two main female leads with plenty of room open for further books

I loved this book more than the TV series - so much to savour!. Villanelle is a complex character, one that you would not wish to meet, although compelling to read about. I'm now reading other work by Luke Jennings. Thank you, Net Galley, for the advance copy.

I now realise that it's quite difficult to review a book objectively after seeing a TV show and that show being done so well it becomes an iconic success. The characters are forever bonded with the actors who play them and you can't help but picture them as you're reading the book.

So that said, I enjoyed the first adventure of Villanelle and it zips along at a cracking pace. The novel is short and skimps on depth of character and very occasionally there are some clunky sentences which pull you up short, either awkwardly expressed or unnecessary explanations, as most of the prose is very smooth.

But Jodie Comer has done the books a grand favour in making a character who does dastardly deeds, so very likeable, quirky and entertaining; although to be fair, her outline in the book is just asking to be grabbed with both hands, and she did! Sandra Oh and Kim Bodnia (perhaps the best laugh ever to be put on screen) making so much more of the characters as well.

A great, quick little read for a first installment and it does make you want to read more. I'm just not sure if that feeling would have been quite so strong if I hadn't had Jodie's portrayal in my head. Impossible to say.

I have watched the TV series, and loved it, and wanted to see how the book compared.
I was not disappointed. It had the same build up of characters and intensity as the TV series.
I only finished the book yesterday and already have the second one lined up to read.

excellent keeps you reading even when you feel you must stop. Two very different characters that make you want to laugh and cry with them. Tv series and books often differ but this one makes sense of any misunderstanding along the way.

This is a short but satisfying thriller with an unexpected cliffhanger! Villanelle is an excellent character and I really enjoyed reading more of her back story.

She is the perfect assassin.

A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.

Ruthlessly trained. Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits.

Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her and the one she answers to.

She is Villanelle. Without conscience. Without guilt. Without weakness.

Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything.

Then stopping a ruthless assassin becomes more than her job. It becomes personal.

Having heard of the series but not seen it, I really wanted to read the book first and I’m glad I did.
It’s a well written, high octane thriller that has great character descriptions and goes into the background of Villanelle which I found explained to some extent why she was the way she was.
Villanelle was definitely the star of the novel.
Eve needs a bit more time spent on her as she was a determined character but didn’t stand out quite as much.
The setting of the story was always edge of your seat and the twists and turns plenty.
I enjoyed it and will read the second book when I can.

As a big fan of Killing Eve, the hit BBC series based on Jenning’s novels, I was keen to read the story that inspired them. Like the series, there are two main protagonists: Villanelle, the Russian born assassin working for a shadowy organisation, The Twelve, and Eve Polastri, an MI5 analyst who becomes obsessed with bringing her to justice.

Obviously, there are many similarities between the series and book, but there are also some marked differences. Unlike the series (I’m yet to see the latest season, so don’t know if this is still the case), it is much more explicit in the novel that the organisation, The Twelve, that Villanelle works for is not a state organ, that in fact the Russian State also don’t know who they are. While Jennings doesn’t go massively into detail as to who The Twelve are (perhaps he does in later novels) he does go into more detail than the television series, which hardly touches on her employers. This first book also goes into a lot more detail about Villanelle’s background and the training she received after her recruitment.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the novel and the series is that the novel is far less comic than the television show. Whereas the BBC series is an over the top black comedy, the actor Jodie Comer’s Villanelle often dressed in outrageous or glamorous frocks, the novels are much straighter, much more akin to other thrillers of the spy/assassin genre. This is not a criticism, in many ways reading this novel reminded me of one of the high octane thrillers that did so well recently, such as Terry Haye’s novel, I Am Pilgrim.

There’s a second novel in the series, No Tomorrow, which I definitely intend to read, and a third on the way (Killing Eve: Endgame, with a publication date in 2020). My understanding is that the first two were written prior to the TV adaptation, so it will be interesting to see how Jennings wraps up his story in light of its successful transformation to the small screen.

This is a great read, albeit a more straightforward take on the genre than its TV adaptation. That said, it would be a pity if fans of the genre didn’t read it on that basis, for despite the fact that it doesn’t have the quirky fun of the TV adaptation, this is a compelling and accomplished thriller.

I read this after watching the TV series and I did not disappoint. Although it is obviously the same story I found that reading it only enriched it for me. There is a lot more detail in the book - more background into the central characters. I would highly recommend this even if you have seen the TV series.

Absolutely fantastic had me gripped!!! Loved it! Can't wait for more from.this author. Storyline was great, characters were easy to.connect with

Thank you for the advanced copy

I read this having waited until I'd seen the full TV series. I have to say that the two bear little resemblance on the whole - the TV series includes characters and events that do not exist in the book - but that's showbusiness for you!

Interesting to discover more about the backgrounds, backstories, motivation and characters of the various players, and the interplay between them. Much more information than I picked up from the TV programme.

All in all a good read - if you've seen the TV series it's helpful to read it as a novel and THEN compare it to the TV series - otherwise you'll find yourself distracted.

Just read the second book, having waited until the second TV series finished. Will there be a third book? We'll have to wait and see...

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

This makes the TV series look tame! This comes to life on the page and will be the best novel you read this year! Utterly fantastic.

I watched the TV adaptation before I read the book and am so glad I did it that way as the book included more detail and helped colour the story I already thought I had down pat.

Villanelle is a cold and calculated sociopathic assassin, who enjoys the thrill of new contracts all over the world. Eve is painted as a more dowdy character unlike fashion forward and bold Vilanelle. Eve always seems frustratingly one step behind. This cat and mouse story is beautifully crafted and culminates in a frustrating cliff-hanger which makes you thirsty for more.

Action thriller for women - what's not to like? Haven't seen the TV series but I'll be digging into it as soon as I finish book two, which I shall be starting immediately. Love the characters, plot and the various settings. "Nikita" meets "Leon". Great stuff!

When a book goes to screen I always try to read the book before it appears at the cinema or TV. I did this one the other way round, and I'm so pleased I did. After watching the Killing Eve series, I just had to read the book – Villanelle was under my skin. After reading a few book reviews, I realised that it wasn't liked by all but I felt that watching the series first gave a head start on Villanelle's character.

With visual characters already in my head, I quickly got into the story, slightly different from the TV series, and immediately loved Oxana (later becoming Villanelle) and Konstantin. The book does flip about and has a rushed, almost the book in a draft form feel about it, but this staccato, slightly detached writing style really fits with Villanelle's character. She is seriously flawed, crazy and uncontrollable at times and her lack of emotion makes her a perfect assassin.

Eve is a character who seems to be always running on catch-up. She never makes dinner with her husband even when they have guests round. She's uncomfortable in fashion and barely has time to do her hair or apply make-up – she knows she should make more of an effort but it just doesn't seem to work for her. The final straw is when she's kicked off her job of finding the mystery female assassin who killed on her watch. She knows she's close and just has to find this cold killer.

Villanelle has certainly got under my skin and I now have to read book two before it hits the screen.

I loved the brilliant TV series Killing Eve and when I saw that Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings was the basis for the series I was really keen on reading it. However, this is one of those rare occasions when I preferred the adaptation to the book. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did – just not as much as the TV version. Now, that may be because I watched the TV series first – but I don’t think so. They begin at different points in the story. Codename Villanelle begins by introducing Villanelle, giving her background, real name and the details of her training as an assassin with the codename Villanelle, and her paymasters, known as The Twelve. Thus the suspense in that is built up in the TV series by not knowing anything about her other than her codename, just isn’t there in the book.

Both are fast paced, although the action sequences come over much better on TV, as you would expect. Both portray Villanelle as a young woman who is psychologically invulnerable – a ruthless and successful killer, experiencing neither pain nor horror and totally unaffected by the pain she inflicts on others or the murders she carries out. But the dynamic between Villanelle and Eve Polastri that plays a large role in the TV series is missing in the book and there are several other changes too.

The book ends before the ending shown in the TV series and I’m assuming the next book Killing Eve: No Tomorrow, will continue the story, which I’m planning to read in the near future. There is a third book on the way too – Killing Eve: Endgame.

My thanks to the publishers, John Murray, for my review copy via NetGalley.

Having heard good things about the tv show, I did what I always try to do when I saw the books it was based on were available - read the book before watching the adaptation.

Female assassin vs female national security agent - full marks for female characters in leads by the author. Shame that those characters are v poorly fleshed out in favour of a plot that moves at breakneck speed with no exploration really of why anything is happening.

Having watched and loved Killing Eve, I was really keen to read the books that the series was based on. This one goes a fair bit deeper than the tv series with Villanelle's background, which is fascinating. It ends on a big cliffhanger and I'm definitely going to be reading the second one now to pick things up straight away.