Murder by Natural Causes, Helen Erichsen

Borrowed this one by sheer happenstance from the library in audio format. Turned out to be an excellent choice, as it was different, and cleverly done.

MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES is told in two timelines. In the current day, Cilla is a 22-year-old contract killer, specialising in "dry" killings - murders that are usually declared by natural causes, with no suspicions aroused. Her main source of work is Vladimir Haugr, owner of an exclusive London based bridge club, she does five jobs a year for him, in return for a flat, a retainer and expenses paid. She freelances as well though - those jobs are paid by the person requesting the kill, take a lot of research and setup to ensure they remain "dry", the money from those is going into her escape fund. She dreams of the day that she can disappear and lead a normal life. Because Cilla's life has been anything but normal. She looks, sounds, behaves and seems like a young English girl, granted one in an unusual line of work. But Haugr, and Cilla know better. The circumstances in which they met, and she came to work for him were more than a bit odd. Cilla was in England to kill him.

The second timeline is Cilla as a young girl, raised in a close, but poor family, with a younger brother that she was particularly attached to, older sisters, a hard-working mother, and a vaguely useless father. She was "talent spotted" at a very young age in her local school, plucked from there and sent to a special college, with other children around the same age from all over the country. Without her or any of the other children realising it, their unusual schooling was heading in one direction - trained killers, faithful servants of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Trained to pass perfectly as an English girl, Cilla is very young when she performs her first assignment, and quickly shows an aptitude for quiet, meticulously planned, ruthless killing. Underneath her willingness to undertake these tasks, however, there's an awareness that faithfulness to the Party will only get you so far, so she's prepared to use the skills she's been given to plan her own exit from the Soviet Union, and then out from under the control of Vladimir Haugr, regardless of what it takes.

The audio version of the book sailed along at a really good pace, and the pronunciation of names and places gave it an added authentic feel. As did the slightly deadpan reading style which actually made the asides and funnier observations, somehow slightly funnier. Warning though - there is a chapter which deals with Cilla being assigned to kill her favourite family member - their dog. I have no idea what happened or whether she went through with it or not. Totally skipped it - last thing I need in my life at the moment.

Aside from that slight storyline blip, MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES was unexpectedly engaging, and thoroughly entertaining.