Master storyteller Stephen King, whose “restless imagination is a power that cannot be contained” ( The New York Times Book Review ), presents an unforgettable and relentless #1 New York Times bestseller about a good guy in a bad job. Chances are, if you’re a target of Billy Summers, two immutable truths apply: You’ll never even know what hit you, and you’re really getting what you deserve. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business—but he’ll do the job only if the assignment is a truly bad person. But now, time is catching up with him, and Billy wants out. Before he can do that though, there’s one last hit, which promises a generous payday at the end of the line even as things don’t seem quite on the level here. Given that Billy is among the most talented snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, and a virtual Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done, what could possibly go wrong? How about everything . Part war story and part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, this spectacular thriller of luck, fate, and love will grip readers with its electrifying narrative, as a complex antihero with one last shot at redemption must avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. You won’t ever forget this stunning novel from master storyteller Stephen King…and you will never forget Billy. Praise for Billy Summers Named a Best Book of 2021 by BookBub, Booklist, Esquire, Goodreads Choice Awards, Kirkus, Parade, Scribd, Apple Books, Tampa Bay Times, and The Wall Street Journal! “ Billy Summers is an ambitious, controlled and compelling shapeshifter of a book: combat novel, platonic romance, noir caper, portrait of an artist coming of belated age. Its pleasures are numerous, and it touches the mind, heart and nervous system in equal measure." — The Wall Street Journal " Billy Summers is the perfect summertime treat – solidly crafted, deliciously suspenseful and surprisingly heartfelt. King plays to all his strengths: deep characterization, clever plotting and this time an ending that seems both logical and well earned… Billy Summers might be King’s most bookish thriller to date, an incisive character study wrapped inside a road novel, coupled with a very unconventional love story." — Portland Press-Herald “Not to put too fine a point on it, but BILLY SUMMERS is the best Stephen King novel in a while… [it] has the irresistible forward motion that’s characteristic of just about every story Stephen King ever wrote... [what] sets this book apart [is] its stylistic brilliance... I was blown away by this book... a variety of voices, sharply tuned to the personae of one character, are measured, developed and explored across a truly gripping adventure story... one of Stephen King’s masterpieces.” —Dana Wilde, Central Maine “A tense, absorbing story about a brainy hitman struggling to go straight — and the author’s best novel in many years... an engrossing read, deftly plotted, suitably hard-boiled, and at times almost magically imagined." — The Los Angeles Review of Books "King’s latest stars a killer-for-hire whose final assignment involves moving to a small Southern town and taking cover as a writer, a job that turns out to be as rewarding as killing bad guys. As for the hit, it doesn’t go so well, but that’s part of the allure of this twisty, multilayered thriller." — The Washington Post “A noirish, unputdownable thriller that’s also King’s best book about his own craft since On Writing .” — People Magazine “Multifaceted… hard-to-put-down… It’s two stories for the price of one, and King gives readers their money’s worth.” —Amanda St. Amand, The St Louis Post-Dispatch “King writes beautifully about both the seemingly humdrum details of small town living, the seedier backwaters of America and of the idiosyncrasies of Summers, as compelling a main character as he’s ever written…a refreshingly straightforward, often wildly entertaining and intricately plotted tale of revenge and redemption.” —Emily Burnham, Bangor Daily News “A testament to its author’s undimmed energy and confidence. His eye for detail, especially at the dreckier end of roadside culture, is sharp…lively and vivid.” — The New York Times Book Review “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… The passages where Billy writes his life story are some of the best in the book… It’s when [Billy] finds an audience for his story that the book really starts to find its groove.” —Rob Merrill, The Associated Press “A first act of stunning formal control… a delicious engine of tension… a delightfully tense crime thriller… somehow both hard-boiled and human, and on par with much of King’s best work… King can still build tidal waves of tension from the smal