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Victor the Assassin #6
A Time to Die
It takes a bad man to hunt evil
If the assassin known only as Victor once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. Yet some men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just money.
One such is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil.
But Victor isn't the only one who wants Rados dead. Ana, whose family was butchered on the tyrant's orders, will do anything to see Rados' blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally - but an army stands between them and justice.
480 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 2016
359 people are currently reading
1333 people want to read
About the author
Tom Wood
23 books1,281 followersHe is the author of the Victor series of 10 novels and 2 ebook novellas. Tom also wrote the standalone thriller A Knock at the Door under the pseudonym T W Ellis
Victor 10, TRAITOR, is out now in UK, IE, AS & NZ.
Subscribe to Tom's newsletter to stay up-to-date, and have the chance of winning signed copies and more: tomwoodbooks.com/newsletter
Victor 10, TRAITOR, is out now in UK, IE, AS & NZ.
Subscribe to Tom's newsletter to stay up-to-date, and have the chance of winning signed copies and more: tomwoodbooks.com/newsletter
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
December 9, 2016
This is the sixth in the Victor the Assassin series but the first for me. It worked reasonably well as a standalone. There is ambivalence and moral ambiguity in having a killer as the anti hero star of the story. Victor peddles his assassin expertise to those who will pay and here he is in the employ of British Intelligence as a deniable asset. Here we have Victor serving that age old adage of setting a killer on a more monstrous killer, a former Serbian military commander called Milan Rados now apparently a drug lord in Belgrade. It turns out Rados is in fact a stomach churning, ruthless, sex slave trafficker of your worst nightmares..
Victor is multi-skilled, focused, has a sense of humour, superb observational abilities and is even known to be compassionate. He is an utterly compelling character who has a strong intuitive sense of survival and his own deep rooted morality. He shows mercy to a target on a train in Russia by allowing him to choose the method of his demise. There is a spectacular action sequence on that train. This is not an easy contract killing for Victor, he has to contend with leaks from the British end that put him in jeopardy and is a target himself for another assassin. He finds himself tested to his limits. He connects with a sex slave looking for her own revenge on Milan Rados. Victor becomes better acquainted with the criminal underbelly of Belgrade as he looks for justice in this action packed story full of twists. There is a thrilling finale.
This is an entertaining and absorbing read. It is well written and plotted to maximise tension and suspense. It has a fast paced narrative and a central character who is mesmerising. This is an ideal read for those who like action packed reads and anti heroes. Thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.
Victor is multi-skilled, focused, has a sense of humour, superb observational abilities and is even known to be compassionate. He is an utterly compelling character who has a strong intuitive sense of survival and his own deep rooted morality. He shows mercy to a target on a train in Russia by allowing him to choose the method of his demise. There is a spectacular action sequence on that train. This is not an easy contract killing for Victor, he has to contend with leaks from the British end that put him in jeopardy and is a target himself for another assassin. He finds himself tested to his limits. He connects with a sex slave looking for her own revenge on Milan Rados. Victor becomes better acquainted with the criminal underbelly of Belgrade as he looks for justice in this action packed story full of twists. There is a thrilling finale.
This is an entertaining and absorbing read. It is well written and plotted to maximise tension and suspense. It has a fast paced narrative and a central character who is mesmerising. This is an ideal read for those who like action packed reads and anti heroes. Thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC.
September 21, 2016
I think it is well known from all my many friends that Tom Wood is one of my favourite authors, and Victor one of my favourite characters.
So it is great to Victor The Assassin number 6 !!
If the assassin known only as Victor once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. Yet some men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just money.
One such is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil.
But Victor isn't the only one who wants Rados dead. A woman, whose family was butchered on the tyrant's orders, will do anything to see Rados' blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally - but an army stands between them and justice.
Tom Wood has brought here a slightly darker story with lots of twists, plots and loads of action, all these we expect from these great action books.
Although through each book we get to know Victor the assassin and his wicked dry humour, carefully many things are held back by the author keeping his character and past so interesting which so much intrigue.
Fast paced, action packed, but with a little more edge to the story, a powerful story and a great but unexpected ending few chapters.
I am ready for number seven, as always highly recommended.
So it is great to Victor The Assassin number 6 !!
If the assassin known only as Victor once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. Yet some men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just money.
One such is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil.
But Victor isn't the only one who wants Rados dead. A woman, whose family was butchered on the tyrant's orders, will do anything to see Rados' blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an unlikely ally - but an army stands between them and justice.
Tom Wood has brought here a slightly darker story with lots of twists, plots and loads of action, all these we expect from these great action books.
Although through each book we get to know Victor the assassin and his wicked dry humour, carefully many things are held back by the author keeping his character and past so interesting which so much intrigue.
Fast paced, action packed, but with a little more edge to the story, a powerful story and a great but unexpected ending few chapters.
I am ready for number seven, as always highly recommended.
August 28, 2019
A Time To Die is an excellent novel.
November 29, 2025
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
“Assassination is the highest form of triage, its ultimate ratio being to save society rather than destroy it.” — Robert B. Baer, CIA Officer.
"I prayed all night long for my master. Till the first of March; and all the time he was bringing people to look at me, and trying to sell me. I changed my prayer. First of March I began to pray, ‘Oh Lord, if you ain’t never going to change that man's heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.’” — Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist.
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” — Patrick Henry, Revolutionary.
Human trafficking—after drug manufacturing and arms dealing—is one of the profitable unholy trinity of criminal enterprises still in existence. With over 800,000 men, women and children shipped around the world each year to highly unpleasant ends, the business generates a cool $32 billion according to current UN estimates. Even with the abolition of slavery in the West, courtesy of Britain’s Wilberforce and America’s Lincoln, the fact remains that there are monsters out there who see a business opportunity in ruining the lives of multitudes through enforced servitude.
A Time to Die by Tom Wood deals with this living nightmare. The sixth novel in the series starring Victor the Assassin, this entry takes the purest anti-hero in contemporary spy fiction down to the Balkans, where—through an odyssey in the treacherous underworld of Belgrade, Serbia—he must hunt a monster who may have more in common with Victor than the killer himself wishes to admit. After the events of book 5, which put his retainer with the CIA’s NCS on indefinite hiatus, “Tricky Vic” has begun diversifying his list of clients once more. In book 4, he accidentally provided a permanent solution to the Director-General of the UK’s SIS. No good deed goes unrewarded, and soon Victor finds himself with a new patron—an intelligence service that does not have a dedicated paramilitary unit in real life, and is more than happy to let their shiny new deniable asset start bumping off Britain’s enemies, foreign and domestic. And in this book, Victor sets to work executing his new mandate for Queen and Country. Now to the review. What happens when the devil you know comes face to face with an evil greater than himself?
The novel begins on the Red Arrow train in western Russia. The locomotive is screaming towards St. Petersburg, having departed from Moscow. On board is Victor who, in his usual role as the dealer of death, homes in on his target: a middle-aged man. The target is an SIS officer whose incompetence has burned operations at the SIS Hong Kong Station and handed the PRC’s MSS mountains of intelligence. After some chit-chat, the SIS man finally realizes he’s speaking to the firm’s new deniable asset and has only minutes to live. Victor makes it plain that the Englishman is to die from natural causes and slams down a bottle packed with painkillers.
The SIS officer refuses to take them and surprises Victor by begging him to come up with another method to send him on his way. Victor accepts the man’s request and tells him to head to the dining car and choke to death on a piece of steak. Once the intelligence officer has begun his journey to a better place, Victor realises he’s being hunted by another assassin. Attempting to trap the man in his sleeping compartment, Victor is shocked when the trap is reversed. What follows is a duel in the grand Ian Fleming tradition of train-based violence. The killer draws a Glock 17, and Victor proceeds to try to clobber the man to death.
He’s nearly successful, but circumstances force both parties to flee the train and live to die another day. Returning to London, Victor is met by the SIS handler assigned to him with a new job. Having received intelligence that Milan Rados, a Serbian war criminal whom the SAS barely missed killing five years previously, is still alive, Vauxhall Cross decides to send their new hired gun to ensure that the one who got away will not perform another vanishing act.
Victor returns to his hotel, makes his preparations, and—after deep-sixing another hired killer who tried to seduce him—flies to Belgrade to begin the reconnaissance phase of the operation. After conducting his usual procedures and acquainting himself with the Belgrade underworld, Victor pays a visit to one of the properties owned by Rados. There he’s greeted with an unexpected surprise. Rados isn’t a drug lord, as the intelligence suggested, but a sex-slave trafficker. Adjusting his plans appropriately, Victor proceeds to make Rados’ employees look like fools before fleeing into the night. With what appears to be an opportunity to infiltrate the syndicate opening up—and a potential ally who could provide him the intelligence he needs to stay one step ahead of the most powerful criminal in the Balkans—Victor finds himself in one of the most precarious situations he has ever worked in. With an unpredictable adversary on one side and another hunter closing in fast, the most ruthless of contract killers has never had a better time to live fast and avoid dying hard.
In terms of plot, I would describe A Time to Die as the happy medium. It seeks to balance the minimalism of book 5 with the style of the first four books. And despite the stakes shrinking slightly from the previous entry, I find A Time to Die superior to its predecessor in every other way. The action scenes maintain the usual cinematic brutality of the series, the level of research is spot-on, the story is one of the most surprising in the series, and the characterization takes on a much more prominent—and welcome—role.
In this story, unlike books 4 and 5 where Victor was doing close protection and trying to stop a mass-casualty incident, here Victor is back to doing his actual job: hunting targets and killing them for profit. And the apex predator is back at the top of his game, deftly navigating the treacherous tactical dynamics required to put his target in the right place to die.
Next, action and setting. With five full-length novels and one short story under his belt, crafting almost balletic scenes of cinematic violence is old hat for the author. In this book, there are several highlights worthy of the Victor series. From the opening crazy-train killing on the Red Arrow, to a surprising double-cross at the site of a war crime, the book then climaxes with a duel between contract-killing legends in a Belgrade scrapyard—where Victor’s skills and planning abilities are put to their ultimate test.
As for the backdrops on which the action takes place, this book has many surprises. Wood once again brings to life, with aplomb, a part of the world few readers will ever visit. Victor journeys from the smoky bars of Belgrade and its pleasant open squares down into the depths of the twisted underworld of the city itself—the brothels, criminal enterprises, and the mansions where depravity hides behind curtains of opulence and fear.
Research? More than in the previous book, which is a welcome surprise. Unlike when his retainer with the CIA was active, Victor’s new client at SIS is far less generous with care packages. Hence he’s gone for a minimalist loadout: nothing but a suppressed FN Five-seven and a Chinese NDM-86 for company. Nonetheless, more guns does not equal good research. Mr Wood continues to impress with the unarmed-combat techniques Victor uses in several pivotal scenes.
He also, as mentioned above, brought Belgrade to life to an extraordinary degree—something few writers would expend the effort to do. Other highlights include the textbook asset-cultivation dynamics that become plot-relevant when Victor uses them to keep his unexpected ally from betraying him. But perhaps the most enjoyable bit of research is the counter-sniper tactics Victor utilises in conjunction with an AK-47 to save himself in the climax.
Now for the characters. Many stand out in this book, but I’ll focus on three: Victor, Eva, and Rados.
First, Victor. The formidable badass once again proves himself contemporary spy fiction’s true anti-hero. For those unfamiliar with him, Victor is the metaphorical personification of death. No nationality, no past, and no creed—unlike, say, James Bond or Mitch Rapp. There is no ponderous backstory, which gives him a mythical aura and allows readers to construct their own theories about who he really is. I should know, because I have.
He is far more morally grey than the legion of macho “counter-terrorism operatives” that have taken over contemporary spy fiction in the last decade. He is under no self-righteous illusions, does not wrap himself in a flag to sanitise his deeds, and has no dreams of retirement. He is a killer, pure and simple—a man who takes lives for the highest bidder and will readily shoot men and women dead for clients who pay on time. Despite the dark day he endured in book 5, Victor is once again at the top of his game here.
In this book, Victor gets a chance to demonstrate his strategic abilities to a much greater extent than in the past. He grandly exhibits how—even without a gun or his fists—he is even more dangerous when he’s manipulating human behaviour like Francis Urquhart of the BBC’s House of Cards. From the opening scene, where he structures events to create an escape plan, to the final gambit where he performs a lethal version of checkmate by sacrificing a pawn to kill the kingpin, Victor—compared to the current crop of government assassins—operates on an entirely different level. While certainly willing to use brute force, he is no one-trick pony, and this book illustrates why he’s more effective, kill-for-kill, than his fictional equivalents in other works.
Next we have Eva. A sex slave who fell into the clutches of Rados’ syndicate, she is—when Victor walks into her life—a woman at the end of her rope, willing to ally herself with a ruthless professional killer she barely knows in order to escape the hell on earth in which she is trapped. Despite having no training and being in the worst possible situation a woman can face, Eva is no shrinking violet. Cunning, wise beyond her years, and a true survivor, she fights a battle throughout the book to decide whether she is a player or a pawn—one which may very well determine her fate.
Finally, Milan Rados. Rados is by far the most complex and entertaining target Victor has ever hunted, and a massive improvement over book 5’s antagonist. He shares some similarities with Kasakov from The Enemy, in that his characterization is highly layered, like a Russian nesting doll. But the similarities end there. Unlike the violent yet sympathetic arms merchant, Milan Rados is in no way deserving of sympathy. A tranquil, smug sociopath, Rados possesses a nihilism that trumps even Victor’s. Obsessed with life, death and power, and possessing intellectual pretensions of grandeur, Rados loves to babble about philosophy and his views on life, boasting about his superiority.
The well-read Victor humours his target’s ego, engaging in a witty sparring match, deftly responding to and dodging the verbal bullets Rados fires. These scenes recall the literary Bond villains of Fleming’s original books, yet modernise the template of the cultured, monologue-spouting madman for 2016. For all his attempts at refinement, Rados is still a dangerous monster—far more of a devil than our anti-hero. From laying off employees who failed him via a cruel joke involving an unloaded Beretta, to callously disposing of the sex slaves he imprisons with a chilling serenity, Rados easily takes the crown as the most loathsome antagonist in the Victor series, egotistical philosophising notwithstanding.
Now, constructive quibbles. I have one: Krieger. He’s the middle-aged German assassin trying to hunt Victor. The man is a competent badass who, despite his age, keeps up with Victor throughout the novel. However, while the lion’s share of characterization went to Victor, Eva, and Rados, Krieger drew the short straw.
Far more stable than the previous talented individuals who have come close to nailing Victor’s head to the mantelpiece, Krieger didn’t quite pique my interest. He seemed like a character with enormous potential and he does very well against Victor—especially compared to the last man who tried to wipe him out—but he ultimately remained a cipher, unlike Mr Sinclair and Mr Reed from previous books. He lacked the spark of madness and unpredictability that made those characters a blast to read. His stability worked against him. That said, the enjoyment of the story is completely unaffected, and knowing Mr Wood’s formidable writing abilities, I’m sure the seventh book will feature a killer worthy of standing up to Victor.
Overall, A Time to Die is a well-crafted novel in a steadily maturing series by one of the most gifted contemporary British thriller novelists working today. Book 6 shows a writer striving to be creative in a world of copy-and-paste plots about Islamic State terrorists or great-power conflicts. While smaller in scale than other books I’ve read and reviewed this year, A Time to Die is none the worse for it. In fact, the smaller backdrop—departing from the high stakes of book 5—serves the story well, allowing an exploration of the more wretched parts of humanity and a Victor at his most ruthless and cut-throat.
A solid plot with vivid, smooth, cinematic writing—combined with a cast of amoral, unpredictable characters—marks a triumphant start to a new chapter in the life of Victor the Assassin. With Her Majesty’s Secret Service looking for ways to punch above its weight, and a troubleshooter who doesn’t need a licence to kill, the future looks bright for Victor, who most certainly has many more bullets left in his gun.
VERY RECOMMENDED.
[ACTUAL RATING: 4.64 stars, rounded up to five]
“Assassination is the highest form of triage, its ultimate ratio being to save society rather than destroy it.” — Robert B. Baer, CIA Officer.
"I prayed all night long for my master. Till the first of March; and all the time he was bringing people to look at me, and trying to sell me. I changed my prayer. First of March I began to pray, ‘Oh Lord, if you ain’t never going to change that man's heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.’” — Harriet Tubman, Abolitionist.
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” — Patrick Henry, Revolutionary.
Human trafficking—after drug manufacturing and arms dealing—is one of the profitable unholy trinity of criminal enterprises still in existence. With over 800,000 men, women and children shipped around the world each year to highly unpleasant ends, the business generates a cool $32 billion according to current UN estimates. Even with the abolition of slavery in the West, courtesy of Britain’s Wilberforce and America’s Lincoln, the fact remains that there are monsters out there who see a business opportunity in ruining the lives of multitudes through enforced servitude.
A Time to Die by Tom Wood deals with this living nightmare. The sixth novel in the series starring Victor the Assassin, this entry takes the purest anti-hero in contemporary spy fiction down to the Balkans, where—through an odyssey in the treacherous underworld of Belgrade, Serbia—he must hunt a monster who may have more in common with Victor than the killer himself wishes to admit. After the events of book 5, which put his retainer with the CIA’s NCS on indefinite hiatus, “Tricky Vic” has begun diversifying his list of clients once more. In book 4, he accidentally provided a permanent solution to the Director-General of the UK’s SIS. No good deed goes unrewarded, and soon Victor finds himself with a new patron—an intelligence service that does not have a dedicated paramilitary unit in real life, and is more than happy to let their shiny new deniable asset start bumping off Britain’s enemies, foreign and domestic. And in this book, Victor sets to work executing his new mandate for Queen and Country. Now to the review. What happens when the devil you know comes face to face with an evil greater than himself?
The novel begins on the Red Arrow train in western Russia. The locomotive is screaming towards St. Petersburg, having departed from Moscow. On board is Victor who, in his usual role as the dealer of death, homes in on his target: a middle-aged man. The target is an SIS officer whose incompetence has burned operations at the SIS Hong Kong Station and handed the PRC’s MSS mountains of intelligence. After some chit-chat, the SIS man finally realizes he’s speaking to the firm’s new deniable asset and has only minutes to live. Victor makes it plain that the Englishman is to die from natural causes and slams down a bottle packed with painkillers.
The SIS officer refuses to take them and surprises Victor by begging him to come up with another method to send him on his way. Victor accepts the man’s request and tells him to head to the dining car and choke to death on a piece of steak. Once the intelligence officer has begun his journey to a better place, Victor realises he’s being hunted by another assassin. Attempting to trap the man in his sleeping compartment, Victor is shocked when the trap is reversed. What follows is a duel in the grand Ian Fleming tradition of train-based violence. The killer draws a Glock 17, and Victor proceeds to try to clobber the man to death.
He’s nearly successful, but circumstances force both parties to flee the train and live to die another day. Returning to London, Victor is met by the SIS handler assigned to him with a new job. Having received intelligence that Milan Rados, a Serbian war criminal whom the SAS barely missed killing five years previously, is still alive, Vauxhall Cross decides to send their new hired gun to ensure that the one who got away will not perform another vanishing act.
Victor returns to his hotel, makes his preparations, and—after deep-sixing another hired killer who tried to seduce him—flies to Belgrade to begin the reconnaissance phase of the operation. After conducting his usual procedures and acquainting himself with the Belgrade underworld, Victor pays a visit to one of the properties owned by Rados. There he’s greeted with an unexpected surprise. Rados isn’t a drug lord, as the intelligence suggested, but a sex-slave trafficker. Adjusting his plans appropriately, Victor proceeds to make Rados’ employees look like fools before fleeing into the night. With what appears to be an opportunity to infiltrate the syndicate opening up—and a potential ally who could provide him the intelligence he needs to stay one step ahead of the most powerful criminal in the Balkans—Victor finds himself in one of the most precarious situations he has ever worked in. With an unpredictable adversary on one side and another hunter closing in fast, the most ruthless of contract killers has never had a better time to live fast and avoid dying hard.
In terms of plot, I would describe A Time to Die as the happy medium. It seeks to balance the minimalism of book 5 with the style of the first four books. And despite the stakes shrinking slightly from the previous entry, I find A Time to Die superior to its predecessor in every other way. The action scenes maintain the usual cinematic brutality of the series, the level of research is spot-on, the story is one of the most surprising in the series, and the characterization takes on a much more prominent—and welcome—role.
In this story, unlike books 4 and 5 where Victor was doing close protection and trying to stop a mass-casualty incident, here Victor is back to doing his actual job: hunting targets and killing them for profit. And the apex predator is back at the top of his game, deftly navigating the treacherous tactical dynamics required to put his target in the right place to die.
Next, action and setting. With five full-length novels and one short story under his belt, crafting almost balletic scenes of cinematic violence is old hat for the author. In this book, there are several highlights worthy of the Victor series. From the opening crazy-train killing on the Red Arrow, to a surprising double-cross at the site of a war crime, the book then climaxes with a duel between contract-killing legends in a Belgrade scrapyard—where Victor’s skills and planning abilities are put to their ultimate test.
As for the backdrops on which the action takes place, this book has many surprises. Wood once again brings to life, with aplomb, a part of the world few readers will ever visit. Victor journeys from the smoky bars of Belgrade and its pleasant open squares down into the depths of the twisted underworld of the city itself—the brothels, criminal enterprises, and the mansions where depravity hides behind curtains of opulence and fear.
Research? More than in the previous book, which is a welcome surprise. Unlike when his retainer with the CIA was active, Victor’s new client at SIS is far less generous with care packages. Hence he’s gone for a minimalist loadout: nothing but a suppressed FN Five-seven and a Chinese NDM-86 for company. Nonetheless, more guns does not equal good research. Mr Wood continues to impress with the unarmed-combat techniques Victor uses in several pivotal scenes.
He also, as mentioned above, brought Belgrade to life to an extraordinary degree—something few writers would expend the effort to do. Other highlights include the textbook asset-cultivation dynamics that become plot-relevant when Victor uses them to keep his unexpected ally from betraying him. But perhaps the most enjoyable bit of research is the counter-sniper tactics Victor utilises in conjunction with an AK-47 to save himself in the climax.
Now for the characters. Many stand out in this book, but I’ll focus on three: Victor, Eva, and Rados.
First, Victor. The formidable badass once again proves himself contemporary spy fiction’s true anti-hero. For those unfamiliar with him, Victor is the metaphorical personification of death. No nationality, no past, and no creed—unlike, say, James Bond or Mitch Rapp. There is no ponderous backstory, which gives him a mythical aura and allows readers to construct their own theories about who he really is. I should know, because I have.
He is far more morally grey than the legion of macho “counter-terrorism operatives” that have taken over contemporary spy fiction in the last decade. He is under no self-righteous illusions, does not wrap himself in a flag to sanitise his deeds, and has no dreams of retirement. He is a killer, pure and simple—a man who takes lives for the highest bidder and will readily shoot men and women dead for clients who pay on time. Despite the dark day he endured in book 5, Victor is once again at the top of his game here.
In this book, Victor gets a chance to demonstrate his strategic abilities to a much greater extent than in the past. He grandly exhibits how—even without a gun or his fists—he is even more dangerous when he’s manipulating human behaviour like Francis Urquhart of the BBC’s House of Cards. From the opening scene, where he structures events to create an escape plan, to the final gambit where he performs a lethal version of checkmate by sacrificing a pawn to kill the kingpin, Victor—compared to the current crop of government assassins—operates on an entirely different level. While certainly willing to use brute force, he is no one-trick pony, and this book illustrates why he’s more effective, kill-for-kill, than his fictional equivalents in other works.
Next we have Eva. A sex slave who fell into the clutches of Rados’ syndicate, she is—when Victor walks into her life—a woman at the end of her rope, willing to ally herself with a ruthless professional killer she barely knows in order to escape the hell on earth in which she is trapped. Despite having no training and being in the worst possible situation a woman can face, Eva is no shrinking violet. Cunning, wise beyond her years, and a true survivor, she fights a battle throughout the book to decide whether she is a player or a pawn—one which may very well determine her fate.
Finally, Milan Rados. Rados is by far the most complex and entertaining target Victor has ever hunted, and a massive improvement over book 5’s antagonist. He shares some similarities with Kasakov from The Enemy, in that his characterization is highly layered, like a Russian nesting doll. But the similarities end there. Unlike the violent yet sympathetic arms merchant, Milan Rados is in no way deserving of sympathy. A tranquil, smug sociopath, Rados possesses a nihilism that trumps even Victor’s. Obsessed with life, death and power, and possessing intellectual pretensions of grandeur, Rados loves to babble about philosophy and his views on life, boasting about his superiority.
The well-read Victor humours his target’s ego, engaging in a witty sparring match, deftly responding to and dodging the verbal bullets Rados fires. These scenes recall the literary Bond villains of Fleming’s original books, yet modernise the template of the cultured, monologue-spouting madman for 2016. For all his attempts at refinement, Rados is still a dangerous monster—far more of a devil than our anti-hero. From laying off employees who failed him via a cruel joke involving an unloaded Beretta, to callously disposing of the sex slaves he imprisons with a chilling serenity, Rados easily takes the crown as the most loathsome antagonist in the Victor series, egotistical philosophising notwithstanding.
Now, constructive quibbles. I have one: Krieger. He’s the middle-aged German assassin trying to hunt Victor. The man is a competent badass who, despite his age, keeps up with Victor throughout the novel. However, while the lion’s share of characterization went to Victor, Eva, and Rados, Krieger drew the short straw.
Far more stable than the previous talented individuals who have come close to nailing Victor’s head to the mantelpiece, Krieger didn’t quite pique my interest. He seemed like a character with enormous potential and he does very well against Victor—especially compared to the last man who tried to wipe him out—but he ultimately remained a cipher, unlike Mr Sinclair and Mr Reed from previous books. He lacked the spark of madness and unpredictability that made those characters a blast to read. His stability worked against him. That said, the enjoyment of the story is completely unaffected, and knowing Mr Wood’s formidable writing abilities, I’m sure the seventh book will feature a killer worthy of standing up to Victor.
Overall, A Time to Die is a well-crafted novel in a steadily maturing series by one of the most gifted contemporary British thriller novelists working today. Book 6 shows a writer striving to be creative in a world of copy-and-paste plots about Islamic State terrorists or great-power conflicts. While smaller in scale than other books I’ve read and reviewed this year, A Time to Die is none the worse for it. In fact, the smaller backdrop—departing from the high stakes of book 5—serves the story well, allowing an exploration of the more wretched parts of humanity and a Victor at his most ruthless and cut-throat.
A solid plot with vivid, smooth, cinematic writing—combined with a cast of amoral, unpredictable characters—marks a triumphant start to a new chapter in the life of Victor the Assassin. With Her Majesty’s Secret Service looking for ways to punch above its weight, and a troubleshooter who doesn’t need a licence to kill, the future looks bright for Victor, who most certainly has many more bullets left in his gun.
VERY RECOMMENDED.
[ACTUAL RATING: 4.64 stars, rounded up to five]
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June 21, 2018
Audiobook - 10:20 Hours - Narrator: Daniel Philpott
5.0 stars out 0f 5.0
An outstanding effort by Tom Wood to lift his creation, Victor the Assassin, to even great heights in "Time to Die". I have scored all my previous Victor books to date as four stars, and I am an absolute fan of the genre as written by Tom Wood. The books of some other authors of the genre seem unable to develop protagonists who possess the sensitivity that Wood generates for his character, a highly paid professional assassin, and Wood allows readers/listeners to feel some sense of empathy and connection with Victor, who is truly a very wicked person by any standards.
Definitely an excellent and highly enjoyable novel which has forced me to instantly load #7 "The Final Hour" onto my iPhone for immediate consumption!
5.0 stars out 0f 5.0
An outstanding effort by Tom Wood to lift his creation, Victor the Assassin, to even great heights in "Time to Die". I have scored all my previous Victor books to date as four stars, and I am an absolute fan of the genre as written by Tom Wood. The books of some other authors of the genre seem unable to develop protagonists who possess the sensitivity that Wood generates for his character, a highly paid professional assassin, and Wood allows readers/listeners to feel some sense of empathy and connection with Victor, who is truly a very wicked person by any standards.
Definitely an excellent and highly enjoyable novel which has forced me to instantly load #7 "The Final Hour" onto my iPhone for immediate consumption!
September 24, 2021
Victor is not your run-of-the-mill assassin. He is an incredibly well-trained, well and broadly experienced, multilingual, fabulously talented, fearless and quite clever killer. Although Wood has recently written a couple of books that I thought were just okay, in my not-so-humble opinion, he has really hit his stride again with A Time to Die, the sixth book in the series.
He is given an assignment by the British Intelligence (no, that is not an oxymoron), known as MI5 or MI6 or MI27 or something that will wipe away all traces of bad things that Victor has done on British soil - although one must ask, "Has he done things to the British that are worse than the things they have done to themselves?" But I am critiquing a book rather than a nation, empire, queendom or whatever the hell they are today.
Victor is sent to the wilds of Belgrade to seek out and kill a man named Rados (I pronounced it ra' dosh in my head as I read because that somehow made him seem more Serbian to me). Rodos runs a great deal of the underworld in Belgrade including, but not limited to, drugs, murder, kidnapping and trafficking in young women to be turned into prostitutes.
He kills people right and left, including his own men when they screw up, yet he sees himself as an philosopher and a pundit in all areas, possessed of a massive intellect.
Wood has creates a wonderful character in Rados. He is clearly very bright, thoughtful, vicious, and without even a fragment of doubt about his actions. Wood's plot is intricate, clever, fun, a little twisty and quite engaging. Wood also writes quite well, which is becoming increasingly rare. In my view, this is his best Victor book.
Reading previous Victor books will help create context but A Time to Die also stands on its own quite nicely and will help you avoid a couple of very ordinary books in the series.
Over and Out
He is given an assignment by the British Intelligence (no, that is not an oxymoron), known as MI5 or MI6 or MI27 or something that will wipe away all traces of bad things that Victor has done on British soil - although one must ask, "Has he done things to the British that are worse than the things they have done to themselves?" But I am critiquing a book rather than a nation, empire, queendom or whatever the hell they are today.
Victor is sent to the wilds of Belgrade to seek out and kill a man named Rados (I pronounced it ra' dosh in my head as I read because that somehow made him seem more Serbian to me). Rodos runs a great deal of the underworld in Belgrade including, but not limited to, drugs, murder, kidnapping and trafficking in young women to be turned into prostitutes.
He kills people right and left, including his own men when they screw up, yet he sees himself as an philosopher and a pundit in all areas, possessed of a massive intellect.
Wood has creates a wonderful character in Rados. He is clearly very bright, thoughtful, vicious, and without even a fragment of doubt about his actions. Wood's plot is intricate, clever, fun, a little twisty and quite engaging. Wood also writes quite well, which is becoming increasingly rare. In my view, this is his best Victor book.
Reading previous Victor books will help create context but A Time to Die also stands on its own quite nicely and will help you avoid a couple of very ordinary books in the series.
Over and Out
July 12, 2016
The darkest venture into Victor’s world yet and certainly one of Wood’s finest!
It is hard to imagine a more repulsive occupation than to kill for the highest bidder, is it? But is the hitman only known as Victor really an evil man and what happens if he is confronted with someone who has no morals at all?
“A Time to Die” explores this question in a very intriguing and wildly entertaining way. Even writing this review, it is hard for me to find anything not likable about Victor. He is ruthless, lives by very few morals and uses other people for his advantage. All true, but he is honest to his faults and doesn’t pretend to be anything else than a man driven only by his instinct for survival. Somehow that makes him more likable and most of all much more compelling than his righteous counterparts of the genre. He even shows semblances of compassion in situations where it gets him into trouble.
However at the end, he is still a “bad man” by normal standards. This makes him the perfect fit to go after Milan Rados, a former Serbian warlord, who became a kingpin of organized crime in Belgrade. The charming psychopath sees a kindled spirit in our favourite assassin and the contract seems to be manageable. But as always things aren’t that simple. Victor’s client – the MI6 – has a leak, there is a prize on Victor’s head, an assassin on his tail, who has already fooled him once, and to top it all of, an Armenian girl in distress, who could either be the key to kill Rados or the one getting Victor killed…
From the emotional and action-packed beginning on a train to dark ending in a Belgrade hospital, “A Time to Die” is a brilliant read, showing Tom Wood at his very best!
Damn it, now I have to wait another year for the next one! But I know it will be worth it!!!
It is hard to imagine a more repulsive occupation than to kill for the highest bidder, is it? But is the hitman only known as Victor really an evil man and what happens if he is confronted with someone who has no morals at all?
“A Time to Die” explores this question in a very intriguing and wildly entertaining way. Even writing this review, it is hard for me to find anything not likable about Victor. He is ruthless, lives by very few morals and uses other people for his advantage. All true, but he is honest to his faults and doesn’t pretend to be anything else than a man driven only by his instinct for survival. Somehow that makes him more likable and most of all much more compelling than his righteous counterparts of the genre. He even shows semblances of compassion in situations where it gets him into trouble.
However at the end, he is still a “bad man” by normal standards. This makes him the perfect fit to go after Milan Rados, a former Serbian warlord, who became a kingpin of organized crime in Belgrade. The charming psychopath sees a kindled spirit in our favourite assassin and the contract seems to be manageable. But as always things aren’t that simple. Victor’s client – the MI6 – has a leak, there is a prize on Victor’s head, an assassin on his tail, who has already fooled him once, and to top it all of, an Armenian girl in distress, who could either be the key to kill Rados or the one getting Victor killed…
From the emotional and action-packed beginning on a train to dark ending in a Belgrade hospital, “A Time to Die” is a brilliant read, showing Tom Wood at his very best!
Damn it, now I have to wait another year for the next one! But I know it will be worth it!!!
May 19, 2016
A masterpice as the rest of the series. 4th time reading this book barely a month since it s on the shelves. Simply adore this series.
September 7, 2023
Book Review - Now that professional assassin Victor is working with British Intelligence, he is tasked with eliminating the worst of the worst. One such man is Milan Rados, a former Serbian paramilitary commander wanted for war crimes and now head of an organized criminal network in Belgrade. He has escaped justice once already, so it's Victor's job to take the justice to him. I really enjoyed author Tom Wood’s "A Time To Die." This 'assassin thriller' is one of my favorite books in the Victor series. All six books have been exceptionally good so far and especially the audiobooks by narrator Rob Shapiro. They are all well worth the read/listen. Great action and strong character in Victor, the assassin.
April 25, 2019
A lot of twists and turns and surprising decisions taken during this book. I thought I was getting to know Victor well having read all his previous books- he still left me surprised.
July 31, 2016
Boom. Yep. Review to follow nearer paperback release.
May 26, 2016
Tom wood I officially absolve you from your past blunders (in the last two books in the 'victor series': 'Better off dead' and 'The darkest day') and I take this opportunity to apologise profusely for my lack of fair judgement when I criticised those two books. I would like to congratulate you for turning that criticism into something soo magical that it seems I am reading a book by someone who is experienced, excellent, exceptional and creative in terms of skills evident in this book ,which you portray abundantly. Infact the next books in the 'victor series' should follow this book as a template. THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT, EXCEPTIONAL, INVIGORATING, ABSORBING, INTRIGUING, and worth every single cent you invest on it.
Excellent: action, sequence of events, dialogue between characters, intriguing characters, unique locale, and a sherlock holmes feel ;)
Excellent: action, sequence of events, dialogue between characters, intriguing characters, unique locale, and a sherlock holmes feel ;)
April 11, 2019
A great book I love this series. It is a bit dark and frustrating at times! Wow I did not see that kind of ending not sure I liked it but did at the same time. This author toys with the readers emotions!
August 8, 2016
Does not disappoint.
May 18, 2021
A Time to Die is the 6th Victor the Assassin book by Tom Wood. This is another one that stands on it’s own – though you’d probably want to read/listen in order.
This one is a little darker than previous books – beyond assassins and the mob, this plot also involves human trafficking including sexual slavery. While I didn’t consider it overly descriptive, folks sensitive to such themes should be aware. (If you need to skip this subject, as far as I can tell – you could skip this book and still be fine understanding the series.)
It’s all new action, suspense, and thriller elements yet being completely consistent with Victor’s established personality. Despite all his planning and propensity to anticipate all possible scenarios – Victor finds himself much closer to his target than he could have imagined. He’s also faced with threats from multiple angles.
I love that Wood pulls you in from the opening line…
"Killing was the easy part, getting away with it was the true skill."
… and then never lets go. Wonderful mix of mystery, suspense, thriller, and Victor’s trademark dry humor.
Narration:
Rob Shapiro continues to be a great match for Wood’s writing. One of the things that really struck me about this narration was the subtle shift in how Shapiro performed various POVs. Not only does this help keep each character’s perspective easy to distinguish – he does a really chilling voice for Krieger enhancing his menacing persona.
This one is a little darker than previous books – beyond assassins and the mob, this plot also involves human trafficking including sexual slavery. While I didn’t consider it overly descriptive, folks sensitive to such themes should be aware. (If you need to skip this subject, as far as I can tell – you could skip this book and still be fine understanding the series.)
It’s all new action, suspense, and thriller elements yet being completely consistent with Victor’s established personality. Despite all his planning and propensity to anticipate all possible scenarios – Victor finds himself much closer to his target than he could have imagined. He’s also faced with threats from multiple angles.
I love that Wood pulls you in from the opening line…
"Killing was the easy part, getting away with it was the true skill."
… and then never lets go. Wonderful mix of mystery, suspense, thriller, and Victor’s trademark dry humor.
Narration:
Rob Shapiro continues to be a great match for Wood’s writing. One of the things that really struck me about this narration was the subtle shift in how Shapiro performed various POVs. Not only does this help keep each character’s perspective easy to distinguish – he does a really chilling voice for Krieger enhancing his menacing persona.
July 2, 2022
Victor the Assassin is an nasty ruthless killer, weird huh? This one has lots of action and some bullets entering characters and those characters ceasing to exist, there's knives and treachory and front and backstabbing and choking. A typical nasty bunch of killing, likely good for ages 4 and up.
April 26, 2025
I was expecting a book the likes of Clive Cussler and his ilk; formulaic but fun once in a while. On the contrary, Victor is a believable character - thoughtful and meticulous. A most enjoyable read.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
July 18, 2020
I can’t decide who is the best assassin ever....Victor or John Rain. No one is as good as these two - except maybe Jack Reacher. But, of course, he’s not an assassin.....yet! Sorry Mitch Rapp, I love you, but your not quite the bad ass these three are. John Puller could be, but it seems like Baldacci has abandoned him. Is there a community on Goodreads devoted to these guys?
August 18, 2016
This is a riveting thriller that keeps you on your toes until the unexpected ending.
Author Tom Wood has created a mesmerizing protagonist in Victor, a professional assassin. You know Victor is a killer for hire, but you can’t help but like this enigmatic man.
If you’re a Jason Bourne fan, you’ll love the covert situations Victor finds himself in. Wood does an excellent job placing the reader in the scene with Victor through his picturesque descriptions of the various settings.
The story flows quickly and smoothly The characters are well-developed and engaging. The story is well-balanced as you’re taken on an adrenaline-fueled ride.
The six installment in the Victor series, A TIME TO DIE can be read on its own. This exhilarating tale is action-packed and you won’t be able to put it down until you know Victor’s outcome.
FTC Full Disclosure – A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. The thoughts are completely my own and given honestly and freely.
Author Tom Wood has created a mesmerizing protagonist in Victor, a professional assassin. You know Victor is a killer for hire, but you can’t help but like this enigmatic man.
If you’re a Jason Bourne fan, you’ll love the covert situations Victor finds himself in. Wood does an excellent job placing the reader in the scene with Victor through his picturesque descriptions of the various settings.
The story flows quickly and smoothly The characters are well-developed and engaging. The story is well-balanced as you’re taken on an adrenaline-fueled ride.
The six installment in the Victor series, A TIME TO DIE can be read on its own. This exhilarating tale is action-packed and you won’t be able to put it down until you know Victor’s outcome.
FTC Full Disclosure – A copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my review. The thoughts are completely my own and given honestly and freely.
October 23, 2016
I am a fan of the series but this one didn’t quite hit the mark as has previous novels. Victor (our “hero”) is a blank slate and deliberately void of much personality. To balance this, the books are all about his tradecraft and placing him in strong plots. In this he takes a commission to take out an ex-war criminal, now crimelord in Belgrade. At the same time someone has put a price on his head so while working on his task, Victor has to keep an eye over his shoulder. Which he does anyway. All the time.
So he infiltrates the bad guys, and finds he has a few things in common with the guy he is out there to kill. He shows a slightly softer side on occasion, but generally this is all about Victor keeping a few steps ahead of everything and generally being cleverer than everyone.
The problem is that we have seen much of this before and the plot is not strong enough to carry repetition and a lack of personality.
So this was okay but not up to the high standards the author has set with his previous books.
So he infiltrates the bad guys, and finds he has a few things in common with the guy he is out there to kill. He shows a slightly softer side on occasion, but generally this is all about Victor keeping a few steps ahead of everything and generally being cleverer than everyone.
The problem is that we have seen much of this before and the plot is not strong enough to carry repetition and a lack of personality.
So this was okay but not up to the high standards the author has set with his previous books.
November 11, 2016
* I received a copy of the book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review *
A Time To Die is in my opinion Tom Wood back at his best.
I just felt that Victor had hit a sort of mid life crisis moment in book 3 and he wasn't the same guy I was rooting for through the first couple of books. But that's totally gone here and Victor is right back to his intelligent and observational old self.
I liked Kreiger too and it would have been interesting had it not went that way to have seen what Tom would've done with him in other books. But if you've followed Victor as eagerly as I have then any other outcome would've had you ripping the pages out in protest.
I'm clearly going off on a tangent, my apologies.
So this is definitely an excellent chapter in Victors already distinguished career, I can't recommend this enough to thriller lovers out there.
I'm already beginning to concoct theories on where Victor is now and what he's up to. I do hope you're writing Mr Wood.
A Time To Die is in my opinion Tom Wood back at his best.
I just felt that Victor had hit a sort of mid life crisis moment in book 3 and he wasn't the same guy I was rooting for through the first couple of books. But that's totally gone here and Victor is right back to his intelligent and observational old self.
I liked Kreiger too and it would have been interesting had it not went that way to have seen what Tom would've done with him in other books. But if you've followed Victor as eagerly as I have then any other outcome would've had you ripping the pages out in protest.
I'm clearly going off on a tangent, my apologies.
So this is definitely an excellent chapter in Victors already distinguished career, I can't recommend this enough to thriller lovers out there.
I'm already beginning to concoct theories on where Victor is now and what he's up to. I do hope you're writing Mr Wood.
July 15, 2016
This is the second book I have read in this series. Just like the first one I instantly gobbled this one up. It is like crack. I can't get enough of Victor. He has this unapologetic aura about him with a touch of egomaniac. Yet, he can have a big attitude all he wants when he is the best. There is a trail of bodies (if you can find the bodies) to prove it.
Although, Victor is not the only best thing about this book or series. It is the storylines as well. Everything from the other characters, to the worldwide locations, the beginning, middle and end. A Time to Die is like experiencing an awesome movie. You better hurry and purchase your ticket as you won't want to miss this ride.
Although, Victor is not the only best thing about this book or series. It is the storylines as well. Everything from the other characters, to the worldwide locations, the beginning, middle and end. A Time to Die is like experiencing an awesome movie. You better hurry and purchase your ticket as you won't want to miss this ride.
December 31, 2020
Another fantastic book about victory assassin. (Audible review)
What an amazing character. This series is absolutely a must read/listen. Everything about it is great, the writing the storylines the characters, just everything.
Action, adventure, mystery, killing and factor.
And the narrator Rob Shapiro just gives the story life. I think the narrator also makes you just love Victor. This was a perfect combination author narrator.
I totally recommend this series if you haven’t listen to it you’re missing out.
What an amazing character. This series is absolutely a must read/listen. Everything about it is great, the writing the storylines the characters, just everything.
Action, adventure, mystery, killing and factor.
And the narrator Rob Shapiro just gives the story life. I think the narrator also makes you just love Victor. This was a perfect combination author narrator.
I totally recommend this series if you haven’t listen to it you’re missing out.
May 12, 2016
Maybe it is time for Mr. Wood to retire Victor as this is a rather pedestrian entry in the series. Sure, it's an easy read and the story line moves along but there is no real further development in Victor's personality. And that's a pity because that was what drew me back from book to book. For those who have read the previous five books, by all means, read this latest but don't be surprised if it fails to satisfy in the end.
June 6, 2016
Absolutely fantastic. I like reading the inside workings of Victor's mind, the planning he does. He's cunning and can read people well. He's not apologetic about his actions and very few people stir his emotions. A great combination of action, character and plotting.
July 1, 2017
Victor the assassin - suspenseful and entertaining.
August 19, 2018
An easy 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 A huge improvement on Victor’s last outing, book 6, ‘A Time To Die’ was a non-stop, nail biting rollercoaster ride. Probably my favourite of the series so far.
March 31, 2020
Started late to the series, with this my first one. Now looking to get back to the start. What a joy to find out there's a large back catalogue of this wonderfully conflicted character.
November 28, 2018
This book has some of the best opening chapters about professional assassin Victor. Than he is hired by MI6 to kill a Serb criminal. Political motive? No, he is just a bad guy. True or not, this doesn't work in fiction, MI6 just wanting a bad guy dead. The the whole book unravels. Instead of him hunting or being hunted like in the beginning, he starts working for the guy he needs to kill! Why? He can kill him from 800 meters with a rifle! It is like Victor has become a spy, but without a motive. And then the worst part starts, 75 pages of endless chatty posturing and power display between these two men, which has nothing to do with the book that comes to a complete stop. You can skip pag. 140 to 230 without missing anything story-wise. After that there is a great scene in the woods, but it is all a muddle by an author who doesn't know the rules of his own genre and story (where were his editors!!!). What a pity because he can write.
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