Billy Summers

Published: 2021

Billy Summers (2021) centers on its eponymous protagonist, a highly skilled assassin with a moral code who only kills 'bad guys.' Approaching retirement after a career as a military sniper turned hitman, Billy accepts one final job with an unusually high payout to kill a hitman before he can testify in court. Suspecting he might be double-crossed, Billy creates an elaborate cover as a writer working on a novel while waiting for his target to be extradited. In the small town where he's stationed, Billy forms genuine connections with neighbors while actually writing his life story, revealing his traumatic childhood and military service. After completing the assassination, Billy's employers predictably attempt to eliminate him, but he escapes and hides in an abandoned mall. There, he rescues Alice, a young woman who was raped and abandoned, forming an unlikely partnership as he nurses her back to health. Together, they embark on a revenge mission against both Alice's attackers and the crime organization that betrayed Billy, eventually uncovering corruption reaching the highest levels of power. The novel unfolds through multiple timeframes and perspectives, including excerpts from Billy's memoir and his developing relationship with Alice. With minimal supernatural elements (limited to Alice's possible psychic flashes), the novel focuses on redemption, identity, and the possibility of moral evolution. Through Billy's complexity—a killer with a code, a simple man with hidden depths, a damaged soul capable of growth—King explores whether a lifetime of violence can be balanced by acts of justice and human connection.

Themes

• Redemption
• Identity
• Justice
• Writing
• Trauma

Adaptations

• Film adaptation in development

Collector Notes

One of King's most grounded crime novels, with minimal supernatural elements. Contains a novel-within-a-novel structure as the protagonist writes his own life story while preparing for an assassination.