The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Amastan has trained to be an assassin. After completing his final test, he learns there are no contracts and he feels relieved. His relief is short lived when he discovers the body of one of Ghadid's leaders, a drum chief. Amastan finds himself ordered to solve the murder of the drum chief soon or he and his assassin family will pay the consequences. On top of all that the spirit of the deceased is roaming free seeking a new body.
The Perfect Assassin is a murder mystery with slightly different surroundings. Rather than a straight forward detective, a novice assassin is tasked to find out who done it. The book also features very active souls called jaani's that must be quieted or else they will go wild driving people mad and possibly even worse.
I personally was expecting much more assassin action and much less detective investigation. That would have been fine if the investigation aspects were better. The hard part of the investigation for me is the world wasn't developed enough to make it clear who the killer could be. Amastan is chasing a nameless faceless individual with little more than the standard family, employees, and enemies as suspects. Even that doesn't really get developed and there was only one flimsily attached potential suspect. After not introducing strong suspects the book practically tells you who the killer is in an unsatisfying way.
All that being said I did come to like Amastan. He's methodical and careful. Probably too careful. He wants to help everyone and doesn't seem much like an assassin throughout.
The Perfect Assassin was a decent mystery even though the mystery was underdeveloped.
3 out of 5 stars
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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