Killers of a Certain Age

The thriller genre often relies on the reader becoming sympathetic to main characters’ struggles to survive, which can include them committing violent and murderous acts. Billie and her friends, even before they are imperiled, have the ultimate in unconventional jobs: They kill for money though with the purpose of eliminating war criminals, righting historical wrongs, and thwarting dictatorships. Billie is careful to point out, “we don’t murder on our days off any more than a thoracic surgeon will cut your rib cage open for kicks. We have standards” (25). In the present-tense sections of the narrative, the first two people Billie kills, Fogerty and Sweeney, are fellow professional assassins who have clear murderous intent. In these moments, it is easy for the reader to embrace Billie’s perspective on events because Raybourn zeroes in on the details of the fight scenes and Billie’s drive to survive.

Other passages, however, admit the moral ambiguity surrounding a life of professional assassination. When Richard recruits Billie, he tells her “we don’t make killers” (50), implying he has already detected some essential homicidal instinct in her that suits his purposes. Mary Alice hesitates to tell her wife, Akiko, what she does for a living, fearing not only the revelation of her past deceptions, but also how Akiko will feel about the nature of her job. Natalie’s mourning after Sweeney’s death and her admission that she has “scars” (187) introduce an element of contrition and culpability into an otherwise action-packed narrative. This is in contrast to the past tense narratives, which present truly reprehensible characters prior to their deaths, especially the Nazi baroness who has no remorse for her war crimes and complicity in genocide. Billie tells Natalie that they are “exterminators” ridding humanity of a plague, and she seems to accept this, seeing the next round of kills as an inescapable survival choice (187-89).

The other moral ambiguity within the text concerns the final few scenes, highlighting Helen’s conflict over killing and Naomi’s choice to be a bystander; Helen is the character most preoccupied with death and mortality because of the loss of her husband, and it is possible she only overcomes her reluctance because Billie is Martin’s hostage. Helen is thus only able to kill because she is defending another. Later, it is Akiko who points out to Naomi that her inaction risked all four women’s lives. Naomi accepts this accusation, noting that it is a part of her professional training, and expects the others to understand this. Raybourn resolves this tension by having the four women embrace retirement, assuring the reader that their days of murder are likely behind them.

Professional and personal bonds underlie much of the narrative depth of Killers of a Certain Age. Constance creates the all-female killing squad out of nostalgia and loyalty to her own group, and her code name is Shepherdess. She even considers Project Sphinx her “little flock” (132). Later, Constance tells Billie that the key to any successful operation is to “trusting your team” (296). Billie has taken this to heart as she shows deep concern for Helen’s mental health and frailty after her husband’s death, thinking, “one good hug and I could snap her in two” (28).

Billie becomes a successor to Constance, impressing the others with her ability to lead and adapt to their new circumstances. She is the only one carrying a false passport and credit cards, and she provides them with their first safe house. Billie’s relationship with Minka is key to the team’s success, and Billie’s ultimate priority is the preservation of the group even if this means she faces personal danger.

Mary Alice faces a different kind of conflict as the team’s sole married member. If Billie embraces the mission out of a desire to save the others, Mary Alice acts because taking out the Museum leadership is her only path left to a renewed and restored marriage. She becomes angry when Billie accuses her of impaired judgment because of Akiko, declaring, “my wife is not a problem, but I don’t expect you to understand that” (101). The meaning of her words only becomes clear later. Though the reader understands that Billie has chosen her career over family life, it is only the introduction of Taverner that reveals just how challenging that choice was. Billie comes to embrace her role as the shepherdess of the Sphinxes, the woman watching over a flock of capable killers and declaring “nothing would happen to her girls while she was around” (295). She reconciles with Taverner to achieve her goal, accepting his role as a backup in the plan and trusting him to support her.

All four women experience a kind of mourning process when they realize the organization to which they devoted their lives has been corrupted and is now pursuing them as targets. Billie notes, “Mary Alice sat with her head in her hands while Helen covered her mouth and Natalie swore up a blue streak” (168). Though Vance is a key villain in the narrative, it is Martin who acts as the principal traitor. He tries to assure Billie of his concern for her and hides his role as the author of the dossier. Rather than surrender, he endangers Billie’s life in a futile effort to save his own. Naomi’s emergence as the museum’s new leader underlines that the organization will be rebuilt with more collectivist principles in mind.