#BlogTour-‘ Killing State’ by Judith O’Reilly

Huge thanks to Kelly from Love Books Group for having me on the blogtour for this new, political thriller, Killing State by Judith O’Reilly, which is out in hardback in March 2019.

‘FAST-PACED AND PACKED WITH ACTION.’ MICK HERRON

 WHAT IF THE PERSON YOU’RE ORDERED TO KILL IS THE WOMAN YOU WANT TO PROTECT?

Michael North, assassin and spy-for-hire, is very good at killing bad guys. But what happens when his shadowy bosses at the dark heart of the post-Brexit British government, order him to kill an innocent woman and North can’t bring himself to do it?

The woman is rising political star, Honor Jones, MP. She has started asking dangerous questions about the powerful men running her country. The trouble is, Honour doesn’t know when to stop. And, now that he’s met her, neither does North…

Now I need to start off by saying that me and political thrillers make uneasy bedfellows as I really struggle to keep up with them. However, my aim for this year to embrace what I normally avoid and with that in mind, put my hand up in the air when Kelly asked for bloggers!

This tale  is so twisty and turny with a firm moral compass at the heart of it. Michael literally walks a thin line between life and death on a daily basis courtesy of an Afghan sniper’s homemade bullet, immovable and lodged in his brain. So when he gets approached by the shadowy Board, to remove Honor in a sexual attack gone wrong , he cannot bring himself to do it.

He has no qualms about committing murders when the targets are clearly evil, but this task, to take out a woman on the political rise who has done nothing wrong?

What is her connection with the unexplained suicide of a Newcastle barman? And what has happened to Honor’s friend Peggy who has disappeared off the radar? Suddenly, the man with a strict agenda find he has to bend them-killing women is a firm no on his personal agenda, but if he says no, then who will they send after Honor? And also after him…the Board are not the type of people that you say no to. But the more he looks into Honor and Peggy’s backgrounds and friendship, the more he is sure he has made the right decision.

There are plots juggled here and there but not so fast that a reader with only a faint grasp of politics can find it accessible-at the end of all the analysis and discussion it is a really gripping story well told! From the opening line you are hooked, and how Judith manages to keep you reading way past bedtime is an enviable skill! Who am I kidding, the book went to bed with me and bedtime never really happened…

I am hopeful that this is the start of a series as I really took to Michael and loved the balance between action and thriller which  keeps you on your toes. More please!

About the Author…

Judith O’Reilly is the author of Wife in the North, a top-three Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Judith is a former political producer with BBC 2’s Newsnight and ITN’s Channel 4 News, and, when she isn’t writing novels, she writes for The Sunday Times. Judith lives in Durham.

Links-http://www.judithoreilly.com/p/home-page.html

Twitter @judithoreilly

@HoZ

@LoveBooksGroup