Code name Villanelle

If you needed another reason to believe that the book is generally always better than the tv adaptation...this proves it! Code name Villanelle is the first of a 2 book series which formed the basis for tv’s Killing Eve.
A female killer is killing prominent powerful figures around the world. Ruthlessly efficient, and leaving no clues.
Eve Polastri is an unconventional, but doggedly determined, MI5 agent who has been tasked to find the assassin...and this is becoming a personal vendetta.
Can Eve uncover the assassin’s identity before Villanelle discovers who is chasing her down.
Well written first instalment which efficiently reveals the storyline from both assassin’s and Polastri’s viewpoints throughout the story.

A race against time...but who will be successful, and at what cost? Read this in two days!!

Looking forward to the concluding episode immensely....5 Stars

I'd never heard of author Luke Jennings before watching Killing Eve on tv. I loved watching it (watched it twice now!) so was curious about the book. It didn't disappoint. Fairly short, compelling and the characters are just as intriguing as in the tv series. Basically if you liked the tv series you'll like the book. I admit I'm somewhat baffled as to why this book isn't better known by now (or maybe it is and I just hadn't heard of it?) but it certainly deserves a wider audience. It's sheer (if at times over the top) escapism. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and John Murray Press for ARC.

The TV show based upon this novel has been so successful and so it was great to go back to the source material to see what all the fuss is about before I watch the show. This tells the story of Villanelle, a Russian assassin and Eve Polastri, the MI5 agent tasked with catching her. Firstly, the character of Villanelle is so compelling and Jennings has done an excellent job at creating a totally mesmeric and utterly terrifying character that feels authentic. Yes, the action is all a little bit extreme and yes, at times the narrative feels a little disjointed and yes, Eve feels a little bit less well drawn, but the triumph that is Villanelle and the way she interacts with the world is enough to propel the narrative. I will definitely be reading the follow up soon to find out what happens next and I would recommend this to anyone who likes Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I must admit I wanted to read this because of the TV series Killing Eve. Unpredicyibly, and rarely I prefer the TV adaptation rather than the book, but nonetheless a clever book. Recommended.

Very good. watched the TV series too which was done well. Very good storyline, unusual and captures a completely different element that is around at the moment.

Tense and exciting. Would highly recommend to fans of the tv series and for readers of the book, I would highly recommend watching the series!

Having watched Killing Eve I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did, but the book is predictably richer than the adaptation and although parts seemed familiar, the tv programme and the book have some differences, and complement each other nicely. Fast-paced and compelling, the book paints the portraits of both Eve and Villanelle beautifully and ends with your fascinated by their fates. Can’t wait to read the sequel!

After hearing so much about the TV show I was super excited to read this and it did not disappoint. Villanelle makes for a strange but interesting and fun character. Rather enjoyed this confusing but fast-paced and exciting read.

Fast paced and intriguing. Making this read hard to put down. Haven’t seen the tv adaptation as I believe that the books are always better.

The book behind the BBC tv show Killing Eve, is a fast-paced spy thriller by Luke Jennings.

The main characters are professional killer Villanelle, a Russian sociopath living in France taking assassination jobs on high profile figures across the globes following orders from the secret organisation she works for.

Hunting down Villanelle is MI5 agent Eve, based in London who want to stop the female hitman who has killed on her watch.

I loved both characters in the book, Villanelle with her sociopathic behaviour and ability to kill without any guilt and Eve, who is torn between catching the women who has killed many and being honest with her long-suffering husband.

The novel ended with more to be told in this story and I can’t wait to catch up with the next instalment.

I loved the TV series, so jumped at the chance to read the first book.

The story was well written, with a good pace, but it lacked the humour and the personality of the TV series. Although Villanelle is a complex and interesting character in the book, the humour in the series just made her a stand-out personality. The same with Eve. I felt in the book she was devoid of personality and I found her hard to relate to in any way. I certainly wasn't rooting for her. In fact, all the intelligence personnel were pretty two dimensional and I didn't care if they lived or died. I did care about Villanelle, though and enjoyed the way the book started by giving us her background and how she came to be an assassin. We also understand about the organisation behind it all in the book, whereas I felt that was confusing in the TV series.

All in all a very entertaining read and I'll be reading the next one!

I loved Killing Eve so I was desperate to read the original novellas the show was based on - and I wasn't disappointed!

Pacy, thrilling, dramatic, sexy - these are proper edge of your seat reads. The main difference between the TV show and the books is the portrayal of Villanelle. In the novels she's much darker, much more sociopathic and er, there's a lot more sex. The black humour that I loved from the show was missing but I enjoyed the novels in a different way. Delicious and dark, these are a perfect beach read or one to hole up with over Christmas with a glass or two of wine. Pure self indulgence and you're totally worth it!

I really enjoyed Killing Eve, the series on the BBC, so when I saw the books, I thought I'd give them to read. It wasn't as good as the series, the writing was a little clunky and the plot was quite long and drawn out (which is more understandable now that I know it was a series of eBooks), I think that the way that they changed it for TV was better. It did however make much more sense in the books when they went to Shanghai. I'm not sure why they changed it to Germany in the series.

I did like having more details about the characters. Villanelle got a lot more background and detail in Codename Villanelle and it was so cool to see more about her life and the way she became an assassin. In the second book it was Nico who I loved to see more from. In series he was kind of in the background being there and getting annoyed at Eve's growing obsession with Villanelle. But in the book he was funny and quirky. He was so sweet and he had goats. It was worth reading for the antics of the goats.

The other thing that I liked better in the book was the ending. It was so different from the series and it was far more satisfying.

I think it was worth reading, but I was off-put by a lot of the sex and the gritty stuff that wasn't really needed. Villanelle was unecessarily crass in some scenes and it just wasn't my thing. I also felt that telling everything about Villanelle's identity in the first few paragraphs took away all the mystery and suspense. The series kept a lot of surprises so it kept you watching and guessing. The book was very lacking in this respect.

If you loved the series though and want to see more behind the characters and the parts of their personality that had to be dropped for the series, then it's worth reading, but perhaps not if you're not into grimy, gritty crime.

I read this after I began watching the television series, and although the storyline and POV vary slightly it does have the same quirky simplistic style.
Although this book won't win any awards for its descriptive writing it is a 'one sitting book' as soon as I picked it up I knew that I was going to carry on until I finished it.
It was amusing, fast-paced and easy to read.
I will be jumping straight into the next one.

Like many others I read this on the back of the very good TV series Killing Eve. I'd have preferred to have read this first as I kept picturing Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh as Villanelle and Eve respectively and my experience with the book was a little tainted by the TV series. However, I suspect that had I not seen the TV series I wouldn't have come across the book so am grateful that it came up on NetGalley at the right time.
Anyway, the book is good. It does make you appreciate what a good job they did with the TV series as the two have differing plots/scenes and the TV series comes across with much more dark humour and overall style. Nevertheless this was worth a read and I'll be straight into book 2... thanks.

If you loved the BBC’s Killing Eve, don’t miss the book it was based on. Villanelle is a cold-blooded assassin, who you just can’t help but root for. Eve is the woman tasked with stopping her. The storyline is quite different from that of the TV series and there’s less dark humour, but there’s still plenty of suspense to keep you reading.

Villanelle is the perfect ruthless assassin, Eve Polastri is the women trying to stop her and she will stop at nothing now Villanelle has made it personal. This novel has a well balanced mix of action and character detail. The characters themselves were quirky and funny, I loved them both even though I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be rooting for an assassin, ever. It was split into four parts that were brilliant, fast paced and clever, the perfect quick read! It is definitely as good as the TV series, like any adaptation different but its definitely a fair reflection of the novel and the actresses bring the characters to life flawlessly. I can't wait to get stuck into the next book and TV series respectively.

Thanks to NetGalley & John Murray Press for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

Like pretty much everyone else in the world, I watched and loved Killing Eve, which was adapted from a series of short stories by Luke Jennings. I'm not sure if the decision to turn those stories into full length novels or the TV show came first, but both Book one, Codename Villenelle and the sequel No Tomorrow, were both released in 2018 and the lovely people over at netgalley sent me both of them, so here are my thoughts!



Villanelle (a codename, of course) is one of the world's most skilled assassins. A catlike psychopath whose love for the creature comforts of her luxurious lifestyle is second only to her love of the game, she specializes in murdering the world's richest and most powerful. But when she murders an influential Russian politician, she draws a relentless foe to her tail. 

Eve Polastri (not a codename) is a former MI6 operative hired by the national security services for a singular task: to find and capture or kill the assassin responsible, and those who have aided her. Eve, whose quiet and otherwise unextraordinary life belies her quick wit and keen intellect, accepts the mission.
The ensuing chase will lead them on a trail around the world, intersecting with corrupt governments and powerful criminal organizations, all leading towards a final confrontation from which neither will emerge unscathed. Codename Villanelle is a sleek, fast-paced international thriller from an exciting new voice in fiction. 

That's the blurb for book one. I can't tell you the blurb for book two because SPOILERS for the first book!

For those that have no idea what either of these books are about, they are the story of a cat and mouse style chase between an MI5 operative called Eve and a kick ass female assassin known as Villanelle. We are introduced to Villanelle first, she is in the employ of an organisation known as the Twelve who exist outside of political and regional confines. So far, so normal spy novel. After she manages to do a couple of high profile killings she comes to the attention of Eve who is tasked with finding her and eliminating her. Of course, Villanelle knows all about Eve, what she looks like and where she is. Eve on the otherhand knows very little about Villanelle other than she is smart, blonde and very good at what she does. It is pretty addictive reading.

The first book details Villanelle's shaping into a master assassin and some of her recent jobs, Eve is introduced towards the middle of the book and their paths finally cross in the second half. The second book sees the two of them becoming increasingly more obsessed with each other as Villanelle continues her murderous quest around Europe and Eve starts to uncover more about the Twelve and how deep the conspiracy goes. The second book is a lot more fast paced and has a lot more action in it than the first one, I got the impression that Luke Jennings was growing in confidence the more he fleshed out these characters and it is something that comes across in the second book in particular. The ending did leave me wanting A LOT more, is there going to be a book three? Man, I hope so!

Codename Villanelle and No Tomorrow are both quite short, easy reads, seperated into long chapters which details various hits and with long running threads going throughout. It is pretty entertaining and delving deeper into Villenelle's psyche is fascinating, but this isn't literary genius by any stretch. It's fun, fast paced and features a pan/bi sociopath as a main character, so for a lot of people, it ticks a lot of boxes.

I'll be honest... I did prefer the TV show, it is witty and some of the timeline changes make a lot more sense and I think others that have watched the show will be disappointed with the source material. , but these aren't bad books, and reading about these two women, their backgrounds and motivations gives you much more depth than the show has time to allow.

Basically, these two books are great fun and there is something very charming about them. They're not your average crime thriller or political assassin kind of stories and as the series progresses I can only see it getting better and much more popular. If you get the chance, read these and then watch the series  for a more well-rounded experience!

Also, FYI, the cover of book two didn't appear to be any where online when I wrote this... So, I'll update when one is available!

Wanted to read this as I'd seen the TV series! And yes as suspected book is better than the TV show! Was a good read. Thrilling, intriguing. Easy to read.

I’ll be completely honest the main reason I wanted to read this book was because of the fabulous tv series “Killing Eve”.
I wasn’t disappointed! This action packed thriller was full of mystery, intrigue and violence and Villanelle is the perfect villainess.

Although, in my opinion, the series was better I did enjoy the differences between the two. Some of the well known scenes from the tv series played out a little differently in the book (think Fat Panda and Simon).

The book was well paced despite being shorter than I would have thought and the writing was vivid and descriptive when needed.

The book focuses predominantly on Villanelle, giving an insight into her history and how she came to be an assassin. It also includes a lot more sex scenes than I would have expected.

If you enjoyed the tv series then I think this is worth a read!

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (John Murray Press) for providing a copy. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.