Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0-9773787-4-8

Circle of Assassins is book two of four by Rigolosi in a series call Tales From the Back Page. The gimmick is that the stories are based around ads found on the back page of a metropolitan newspaper. The ad in this book deals with getting revenge against someone who has wronged you. Rigolosi has created a complicated five-way “I’ll kill yours if you kill mine” plot reminiscent of Strangers on a Train.

The most interesting thing about this book is the way in which it unfolds. First, we read the letters sent in by people who need someone killed. They tell us a little about themselves and how their victim has wronged them or society. And you feel sympathetic towards the old woman with the drug dealer in her neighborhood, the guy who wants the serial child molester never to touch a child again, and the one who wants the corrupt and violent cop killed. These people are all menaces to society and should be killed.

As the five assassins accept their assignments, we learn about the intended victims, too. We learn that they are real people, struggling through life as we all are, and unaware that they are targeted for death. And then we also learn that the assassins don’t all have the purest motives or hearts - of course, they wouldn’t be assassins if they did, now would they?

Rigolosi does an excellent job of creating schizoid character studies by showing us the difference between how both the assassins and victims are perceived by others versus how they see themselves. The reader is left pondering what the truth about people really is. However, the plot requires some major suspension of disbelief and even then takes some totally unbelievable twists. Rigolosi founders for a bit, but manages to pull off a mostly satisfactory ending.

Favorite character? The Angel of Vengeance – you’ll know when you get there. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? Yes, because the title of book three intrigues me – Androgynous Murder House Party. Doesn’t it make you wonder?

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

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