By JENN ADAMS
The elevator pitch for Stephen King’s new novel, Billy Summers, is deceptively simple: an elite hitman on his last job. The titular assassin accepts a risky assignment to kill a high profile criminal turned witness before his trial, but finds that there’s more to this mysterious commission than meets the eye. But there is also more to Billy himself. Reminiscent of his universally beloved 11/22/63, King’s novel about a calculated killer takes a simple framework and infuses it with life and love, transforming it into a powerful story of recovery and redemption in the guise of a hard-boiled crime novel.
A former marine during the Iraq War, Billy is a skilled sniper and assassin. While awaiting the moment he’ll take the killing shot, he poses as a writer and through the fictional novel serving as his cover, finds himself unpacking trauma from his time stationed in Fallujah and a horrific childhood tragedy. Billy’s manuscript weaves in and out of the pages, grounding the often meandering story in Billy’s ultimate quest for redemption. But King never loses track of his story and the deftly shifting narrative voice becomes a testament to the transformative power of writing.
Billy wears many different disguises throughout King’s novel, a simple-minded soldier, a friendly neighbor, a cold-blooded killer, and a pragmatic opportunist. Introspective by nature, he defines himself and everyone he meets as either “good” or “bad.” But it’s in life’s nuances, between these two rigid characterizations, and in writing his own story that he discovers who he really is. King is no stranger to the writer as protagonist, with many iconic authors filling the pages of his massive canon. But not since his 1992 novel Dolores Claiborne has he given this much depth to an unlikeable character and added such pathos to questionable choices. Though Billy strives to keep us at a distance with an often cold and declarative voice, King’s gift for internal monologue reveals the real Billy behind his many facades.
Complicating Billy’s mission is Alice, a young woman thrust into his life after a vicious attack. Recovering from her own trauma, she helps Billy refine not only his narrative voice, but his purpose in life. It’s in this central relationship that the story finds its heart and the two unlikely allies challenge each other to confront their pasts and begin to move forward. Though not a supernatural horror story, Billy Summers is deeply upsetting at times in its depiction of the real horrors humans inflict on one another. It’s a timely exploration of retribution and forgiveness as both Billy and Alice must weigh the benefits of so-called justice against the toll it will take on their humanity.
The novel’s most powerful element lies in its depiction of the healing power of writing. Early references to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried foreshadow a meandering and often unreliable narration that shifts and weaves through a thematic story where the slippery details are merely window dressing. As Alice’s and Billy’s stories intertwine, King ruminates on the power of writing to not only help process one’s pain, but to help us find out who we really are. Writing is a solitary profession and Billy is a solitary man, struggling to make connections after a lifetime of loss. But through his writing, we see him yearn for companionship. He is the latest and perhaps the most clearly realized representation of King’s overarching thesis: that there is power in community and redemption to be found in honest communication.
Recent works such as Finders Keepers, If It Bleeds, and Later have all seen King contemplate his own mortality by revisiting earlier themes and writing about characters whose legacies transcend their lives. King is in his most introspective phase yet and Billy Summers finds the veteran author returning to beloved settings from his most iconic works, seemingly releasing them into the great unknown. Poignant and unexpected, these references seem to be a message to constant readers, a reminder that the stories we hold so dear will always be there but it’s up to us to carry them forward. The final pages are a beautiful recollection of a lifetime of stories. King seems to relish the chance to write his own ending with a denouement that perfectly demonstrates the power of conviction through chosen words and the ability to shape a fictional narrative to create honest truth.
King’s novels are never quite what they seem on the surface. The story of a rabid dog becomes a brutal examination of addiction, a graveyard for pets hides a study on the fragility of life, and a killer clown reveals universal truths about love and friendship. In lesser hands, the “hitman with a heart of gold” story would be sterile and trite. But harnessing his skill for creating emotionally complex characters, King manages to paint a beautiful story of love after trauma and strength through connection. Billy Summers is more than just a killer and his story is more than a simple crime drama. It’s a harrowing and heartbreakingly beautiful story of redemption.
Billy Summers is available now from Simon and Schuster and your favorite book retailers. Consider purchasing through Indiebound or Bookshop and help support independent bookstores.
