Review: Stephen King's 'Billy Summers' stars a hitman writer

Billy Summers, the star of Stephen King’s new novel of the same name, fancies himself a “garbageman with a gun,” but when the hitman for hire starts having doubts about his last job, only a young woman that fate drops on his doorstep can save him

“Billy Summers,” by Stephen King (Scribner) Among the many remarkable things about Stephen King is that he has yet to run out of ideas. Or put another way: He’s very good at finding new ways to explore themes that have interested him his entire career. “Billy Summers” tells the story of the title character — his past and his present. A sniper in the Iraq war, now an assassin for hire, Billy displays a “dumb self” to his clients while inside he’s very curious and introspective, having “even plowed his way through ‘Infinite Jest.’” So when he takes one last job that requires him to have a long-term cover story, he chooses writer. In what other profession could he keep such weird hours and be responsible to no one but his creative muse, right? The passages where Billy writes his life story are some of the best in the book. King’s adept at shifting voices, from the “dumb self” narrative voice Billy uses in his story, to the killer whose brain never stops wondering who’s trying to manipulate him. “Billy saves what he’s written, gets up, and staggers a little because his feet feel like they’re in another dimension,” writes King. “He feels like a man emerging from a vivid dream.” It’s not hard to imagine King himself somewhere in Maine doing the same decades ago after bringing a chapter of “The Stand” to life.