sharon iggulden

ASSASSIN, is the fictional journal of John Robert Lynch, a stone cold killer with the uncanny ability to shoot things from long distances with deadly accuracy. John was a sniper for the U.S. military before being recruited by an independent contractor to assassinate high value civilian targets. A normally meticulous planner, he is caught after being given incorrect intel on a rare domestic target. Betrayed by the very people who hired him, he becomes a sacrificial lamb. He is declared an enemy combatant, tried in a secret federal court and sentenced to death in a federal prison. After classified information is hacked, his sentence is reduced to life imprisonment and eventually parole with an ankle bracelet. John returns to his childhood mountain home where in an ironic twist, agents try to recruit him to eliminate the very contractors who betrayed him.

Initially proud of his lack of conscience, John begins a dark existential journey fraught with nightmares in his self-imposed exile. His new found conscience, however, does not prevent him from creating and carrying out detailed plans to exact revenge on those who betrayed him. John considers himself to be no common killer, like the serial murderers whom he looks down upon, as he never took any joy in the kill. It was simply a job at which he excelled.

Corruption and subterfuge abound in the novel as John must eventually align himself with the Mossad, which welcomes his ability to plan exquisitely detailed missions.