I didn’t know when I started reading Bob Hart’s The Medusa Protocol that is was the second book in the Assassins Anonymous series. And while I had no problem following the story I very much intend to go back and read the first book. So what is the book about? Imagine if the John Wick films were dark comedies. Yes, the book is filmed with assassins. Only most of them have tried to quit killing, thus their Assassins Anonymous support group meetings. Astrid, a deadly assassin (that’s probably redundant. I mean when is comes to assassins, deadly is a given, right?) has gone missing. Mark, her sponsor and the once deadliest assassin in the world, isn’t sure if she still alive. But when an olive covered pizza gets delivered to their meeting, Mark realizes she is asking for help. And after escaping an attack on the group, he and another member of AA set out to track her down and rescue her. This is a fun, action filled adventure and as I have a dark sense humor this one was right up my alley. I only wish I’d read the first book before starting this one. Something I shall rectify shortly. I’d like to thank PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of The Medusa Protocol.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2OLVL4Q4BOD0Q/ref=pe_123899240_1043597390_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Thank you to Putnam for providing ARCs to attendees at the #bookhuddle Victoria Retreat!

Astrid, a recovering assassin in Assassin's Anonymous, is kidnapped by someone who is trying to recover important information from her past. Her sponsor, Mark, goes looking for her and tries to free her while still holding to his "sobriety" from killing.

This was highly readable and very enertaining. I'm not always a fan of flashbacks in books, but the interludes from Astrid's past in this novel really worked to advance the story. Having not read the first book in the series, I was a little worried about jumping into this one, but I didn't feel lost or have any problems following along. 4 stars!

Okay, so, I had no idea this was a sequel until after I started it. Problem with that is, while I realized fairly quickly, I was already too invested to stop, and now I’m kicking myself for not reading book one first because it’s probably also great.

This book is FUN. I was hooked immediately. It’s got major action movie vibes. Lots of intrigue, lots of danger, lots of explosions. I loved the ragtag group of characters with their interesting backstories, I loved the flashbacks giving hints as to how we got here, and I loved the dual POVs. It was just an exciting book to read and I almost certainly will goback to read the first now even if I’m out of order.

Thank you to GP Putnam’s Sons and Netgalley for the ARC. The Medusa Protocol is out today!

I was hooked from the beginning. Alternating between Astrid and Mark, the story unfolds in a way that is sometimes suspenseful, sometimes humorous, and always engaging. I really wasn't sure who was going to survive and it kept me flipping pages.

I too like olives on my pizza. Green ones. Go Astrid!

Again a story with lots of flashbacks to the triumphs of the assassin's past, only this time it's embedded in alternating PoVs of Astrid, and Mark from book one; it sounds like it should be confusing but Author Hart is very explicit about the changes between the varying frames of reference. Thank goodness for that! There are also a lot of spoilers for Assassins Anonymous, so don't read them out of order. Astrid's career as an assassin wasn't as interesting to me as Mark's was. I'm no longer fresh to the idea, so that was inevitable.

This read is a lot more about the sense of found family, of a genuine loving community, formed under these truly unique pressures and these impossible-to-share life experiences. I really found that facet of the story very relatable and quite moving. The family Astrid and Mark share is so powerfully bound that they risk everything to help one of their own out of a threatening situation...and redouble their efforts when they learn how bad it really is.

This statement is deeply profound, and both useful and insightful in this time of increasingly-prevalent found families:
“You know that saying, blood is thicker than water? It’s a misinterpretation. The full saying is: The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. It means that the blood you choose is thicker than the blood you’re born with. The point is, family isn’t blood, it’s who you bleed for.”

Astrid, the character developed in the flashbacks and the one enduring a deeply unpleasant present, comes across as someone you'll believe the found family of Assassins Anonymous will risk this much to rescue. It could easily, absent those moments where she's really working her program, been very much otherwise.

Solid job, Author Hart. You've solidified this series on my "read soonest" list.

Long before the weird mismatched tattoos and adopting the catch-phrase 'Everyone matters or No one matters' as LAPD detective Harry Bosch, Titus Welliver was the myth that defined LOST in 2004. Rocking the TV world when old school TV programs could still wow audiences, LOST toyed with the incarnation of evil and those who sought to escape the island. The black smoke and later 'The Man in Black', as personified by Welliver, enraptured audiences as much as divided them, and was, for those on the island -- real or imagined -- a force to be reckoned with that, if unleashed on the world, would be the 'end of everything good.' Much like the Ezekiel 25:17 reciting hitman in PULP FICTION, Mark, aka The Pale Horse summons his greatest weapon, that black smoke that lived in his core and consumed everything, filling him with HIGHLANDER like god-energy; and usually that meant that your ass was grass. Ancient history as he's a changed man. The ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS group gloriously returns in THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL and Mark and the gang are still trying to stay out of trouble and avoid killing at all costs. The world of assassins-for-hire, however, doesn't grant 'quitsies' because BLOOD IN BLOOD OUT and trouble has a way to violently find former Hashshashins when it's most inconvenient.

Reading like an old school Robert Ludlum novel, Pale Horse is back, though not back back. Still in the help group for contract killers, Mark's trying to walk the straight and narrow, stay away from killing and all that jazz. And he's trying, Ringo, he's trying real hard. Tai Chi in the park, a move from West Manhattan to the East Village, a steady beau and stale donuts a couple times a week whilst meeting and chewing the fat with other former death dealers. Mark wants serenity now! and he's found it in therapy. But it's all going to hell. A modern day gaggle of Musketeers, it's one for all and all for one, especially when one of their own is forcibly renditioned to Brazil in her Lululemons while Ramen shopping at the corner bodega. When she ingeniously gets word to her comrades-in-arms in their GHOSTBUSTERS-like sanctuary minus the fireman's pole, it's on like Donkey Kong. It's Islar Nublar or bust, no ifs ands or buts about it. They're crashing the party at the commercial black site and the only way out is through.

In a world that glorifies brutal bloody-toed ballerinas and gun-fu martial artists of the John Wick stripe, body count in the stratosphere, THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL as well as its predecessor offers an interesting scenario and character dilemma for those who just like THE TERMINATOR heading towards Judgment Day in 1991 promised that they won't kill anyone: to escape sticky situations without the blood and guts routine, JSOC mentality of SHOOT TO KILL first and ask Christian Slater. Again filled with cool epigraphs, THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL asserts that only monsters put olives on pizza and manages crafty shoutouts to the characters John Locke, Kate Austen and UNFORGIVEN. Once again steeped in AA lore, THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL nonetheless stays hilarious with phrases like HALTing and 'the dreaded 8th Step', letting the reader definitely feel the weight these killers carry on their shoulders and their desire to lighten the load which they never can. Part THE PROFESSIONAL, part PAPILLON and THE ESCAPE PLAN, THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL is a reckoning that's unavoidable. Fast, quirky, hilarious and utterly violent despite best intentions, THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL is the kind of summer blockbuster popcorn thrills that snakes into your head and doesn't leave. One day at a time, killers, one day at a time.

Family isn't who shares your blood...

...it's for whom you are willing to bleed.

Welcome to Assassins Anonymous, where those who made a living out of killing others come to keep from killing again. A twelve-step program for assassins who want to live a normal life and never kill again, complete with coffee and donuts. Astrid (former code name: Azrael) became a killer due to an abusive childhood; her first victim was the father who sold her when he needed money to buy drugs. She had been attending meetings with Mark (formerly the Pale Horse) as her sponsor, although she had yet to share her personal experiences and reasons for wanting out of the life, but suddenly disappeared without word. The group still puts out a chair for her, hoping that she will reappear and wondering if she has gone back to killing, or has she herself been killed? When a pizza arrives at the weekly AA meeting, the varitey that only Astrid orders, Mark and the others know that Astrid sent it....a message they are sure means that (a) she is alive and (b) she needs help. They are correct on both scores; Astrid is being held in a black site detention facility on a snake infested island off the shore of Brazil. Her "stay" is being paid for by someone from her past who wants information that only she can provide, and the doctor who runs the facility is using his version of truth serum to extract that information. Astrid is not the only killer being held there, and to ensure his own continued well-being the doctor has developed the Medusa Protocol to ensure that, if he is killed, everyone on the island will die. Can Astrid find a way to escape this veritable fortress without either dying or losing her "sobriety"? Or can Mark and the other AA members track down her location somehow and rescue her without being becoming victim to the venomous snakes that surround the facility, all while upholding their own vows to never kill again?
This sequel to last year's Assassins Anonymous is, like its predecessor, an entertaining thriller loaded with action and black humor. When dragged back into a life or death situation Mark, Booker, Valencia, Astrid and some new additions to the roster juggle their former skills and tactics without resorting to what was once their stock in trade - killing. The various scenes of conflict become all the more interesting when the characters mentally cycle through what they can, and cannot, do as well as weigh what might be important enough for them to break their sobriety if that is the only choice that remains to them. With a nod to government black sites and Epstein Island, the story unfolds and the reader learns what led Astrid to become the hardened assassin she once was, and what still can trigger the blinding rage she directs at certain opponents. A quirky premise and a rogues' gallery of characters whose own story arcs may fuel future outings in the series, I found it a quick and engaging read (though perhaps a shade less intriguing than the first book in the series). Fans of books where morality is firmly centered in the gray and the humor is quick and black should give this book a try, including readers of Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X series, Barry Eisler's John Rain books and Luke Jennings' Killing Eve stories. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/G. P, Putnam's Sons for allowing me access to this tale of action and redemption in exchange for my honest review.

If you have read Assassin’s Anonymous then you already know how much fun this book is going to be! Mark and the gang is back at their AA meetings and Astrid has also become a member but something is amiss when Astrid stops coming to the monthly meetings. When they realize Astrid is in trouble the gang gets together to find her and use whatever non-lethal means possible to save her. This book did not disappoint me is as good as the first. This book could be read as a stand alone but I think you’d be missing out if you didn’t read the first one. I just read that there will be a third book and I can’t wait to read it.

A fun, fast-paced follow-up in a comedic thriller series about assassins who have joined a program to work on their addiction to killing. In this installment, newly sober assassin Astrid is the focus, as she is snatched off to a black site prison in Brazil. The story alternates between her past, her present, and Mark's POV as he and the other members of their sobriety group mount a rescue attempt. I'm not sure where Hart can take the story next, but I do hope there is a book three. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for a digital review copy.

Another 4.5 Stars!

Having loved the first book, this second installment about killers who choose to kill no more was just as entertainingly suspenseful and poignantly heartbreaking. The struggle is very real as all members of Assassins Anonymous fight years of intense dopamine hits and rigidly honed muscle memory to consciously decide every day to fight the dark pull of what they do best, and that’s unaliving people.

Here, the story continues with Mark, Booker, and Valencia where last we saw them, they had welcomed Astrid into their circle, supporting each other in ways that only shared experiences can. When Astrid doesn’t show up to their regularly scheduled meetings, Mark must face the harsh truth that perhaps she wasn’t quite ready to “retire” or maybe sadly, her past caught up to her. The worst thing about the situation is just not knowing the truth and facing the reality that they may never know.

One day though, Mark and company get a cryptic delivery which can only mean one thing. Astrid is alive, and she’s calling for help.

What unfolds is a compelling read as Hart weaves in Astrid's origin story along with the present day dual storyline of Astrid methodically planning to get out of her dire predicament and Mark going to extensive lengths to get her back, all of which makes for propulsive reading as they are both committed to their recovery despite the deadly challenges that lay ahead of them.

Full of expected action and mostly nonlethal fight scenes, this expands on the world of hired killers (and the mysterious Agency), bringing some good ole fun along with hitting the angsty notes with painful precision. I loved Astrid, who just like Mark, tries to live with her regrets, who tries to make healthier decisions and atone for her actions which have brought, and will continue to bring, many difficult challenges. Never though is she, nor Mark, weak, nor should one mistake mercy for kindness as they do what must be done to save each other and survive.

Overall, this series is about choices, choices that destroy, condemn, forgive, and redeem. It’s about the consequences of one’s past and how that past shapes who they are and the future they want for themselves. It’s about deciding what you want and how you choose a path forward with the found family you’ve now built.

Again, Assassin's Anonymous was my introduction to Rob Hart, and this sequel just proves that I’m still a major fan of his work. This ends on a triumphant note, where Hart has set up this engaging addictive series to delve into many more characters seeking a different path and all the players and factors that don’t want them to.

More please!

Thank you to the author and GP Putnam’s Sons via NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review

Astrid is a member of a support group of former assassins who are striving to leave their pasts behind
When she stops showing up for meeting. the group fears an enemy from her past has abducted her.
When Astrid wakes up from a drugged sleep, she has no idea where she is or who is behind her
abduction, As she learns more about her environment to plan an escape, her past is revealed. The
group is determined to find and free her, which will result in encountering former enemies and
unexpected alliances. Filled with action and adventure with interesting characters.
#TheMedusaProtocol #GPPutnam #NetGalley

The Assassins Anonymous series presents readers with an interesting thriller reading experience. The Medusa Protocol is the second book in the series and certainly can be read as a standalone - however, reading Assassins Anonymous first gives background that adds so much enjoyment in reading this one. The concept of a group of assassins, who have decided that they no longer want to kill, who form a support group based on the principles of AA is unique. When actions in their former lives come back to haunt their current lives, they have to find non-lethal ways of dealing with the situation or risk their ‘sobriety’. Astrid has been snatched off the street and dumped into an off the grid prison where the inmates are being used as lab rats. She must find a way to escape before it’s decided that she is no longer useful. Meanwhile her AA family is on a mission to find her. This book is a purely entertaining, high octane, action packed thrill ride!

Assassins Anonymous grabbed me from the start with its premise and once I heard a sequel was not far behind, I leapt at the chance to get my hands on it. Reading the first book is pretty much a requirement before picking this one up.

I can’t pinpoint why I didn’t love this one as much as the original but I still enjoyed the ride. You get much more insight into Astrid’s past before, during and after her time with The Agency.

Her decision making is often questionable throughout the book but it helps to further humanize her to her AA family.

The prison would make for a fascinating story on its own.

Both books are fun reads if you’re a thriller/assassin story fan.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for the opportunity to read and review.

This is such a fun book. Professinal killers who have joined an “AAA” to try and stop killing creates the perfect environment especially when one of their members is kidnapped and they must go and save them, all while trying to keep with their pledge to not kill. This book is fun, engaging, and just a great read. Readers are going to fall in love with it. I also loved that I had never read the first book but was able to pick this one up with no issues. I always find that to be a plus.
Thank you to Penguin Group Putnum and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

I didn’t read the first novel in this series, but it didn’t matter. The Medusa Protocol is a fast-paced novel about former assassins coming together to save one of their own. Super speedy pace to this novel. I honestly can say I don’t think there’s a dull moment.

Mark is a former assassin. He frequents a meeting in the basement of a now defunct Catholic Church. The meeting is for those who have left the ranks of hit men and assassins. Assassins Anonymous is based off the more common AA, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Astrid has been off the grid for a bit of time now. Mark is concerned that she’s either fallen back into the killing lifestyle or something terrible has happened to her. When a pizza is delivered to the meeting with a cryptic message, they all know it’s Astrid sending up a signal. What they don’t know is what is about to happen next.

I had previously read Rob Hart’s The Paradox Hotel and loved it. Similar in some ways, both novels tackle an alternative profession and world. Most of us cannot imagine what it’s like to live the life of someone who kills for a paycheck. Or imagine what it takes to be a person that is comfortable with that. In the Medusa Protocol a lot of the background of these people is explained.

The novel is told from the points of view of Mark and Astrid, mostly. At times the novel truly makes light of their profession, though it’s anything but. Very well written and fun to read. The novel is complete as a standalone. I suspect I’ll be reading the first novel, Assassin’s Anonymous in the not too distant future.

Great read. Lots of violence.



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If you’re in the mood for something a little different, come to Assassins Anonymous with Mark, Astrid, Booker, Valencia, and Ms. Nguyen. The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart is unique and filled with dark wit, action, and thrills. When Astrid stopped showing up for meetings most of the group in Manhattan thought her past had caught up with her. Only Mark, her sponsor, hopes that she is somehow alive. During the latest meeting, a special pizza delivery arrives with olives on it. Only Astrid liked olives. Is she trying to send them a message?

Meanwhile, Astrid wakes up in a cell in a black site prison on a remote island. A doctor subjects her to mysterious memory experiments looking for a clue from her past. She’ll do anything except kill anyone to escape. Can it be done?

Astrid tends to only trust herself and is deeply suspect of all men. However, she and Mark have become friends of a sort. She’s also feeling somewhat vulnerable and having a hard time forgiving herself. However, she is committed to giving up killing others. Mark is the leader of the group and was one of the most feared assassins on earth. He is still stuck on step eight, making amends.

This is a high-energy and dynamic story with points of view from both Mark and Astrid. There are also some well-labeled flashback scenes to events in Astrid’s past. Which one of them is related to her capture? The story is full of travel, adventure, poisonous snakes, non-lethal weapons, an evil doctor, a harrowing helicopter ride, and unusual friendships. Rob Hart has the ability to create dialogue that has readers laughing and engaging with the characters as they fly through the pages.

The author does a great job on giving readers a sense of place as well as giving the main characters depth. The plot has plenty of twists and turns with some surprises along the way. There are also some subtle hints that makes this thought provoking as well. The pace is fast and readers are in for a wild ride. Actions have consequences, found family, unlikely friendships, and more themes run through the story.

Overall, this is an intriguing, fun, suspenseful, and action-filled thriller with dark wit, a great sense of place, and a unique premise. I am looking forward to finding out what happens in the next book and which assassin will be the focus of it. This novel works as a standalone novel, but readers will get more background and backstories if they start with book one.

PENGUIN GROUP Putnam – G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Rob Hart provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for June 24, 2025. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Like with previous reviews of books in a series, I will start with a warning:

If you have not yet read Assassin's Anonymous, STOP READING THIS NOW!

My review below is of its sequel, The Medusa Protocol, which will contain some mild spoilers for Assassin's Anonymous, but not for this book. And if you've never heard of Assassin's Anonymous and are intrigued, my review of that first book in the series is here—it's good! A high 4-star read...

—

It's been a six months since the twisty events of Assassin's Anonymous. Mark is still sober—meaning he still hasn't killed anyone since he's been in recovery— and he is now sponsoring Astrid, who is struggling to open up during group sessions but is maintaining her own sobriety. When Astrid stops showing up for meetings, Mark is worried. His calls go to voicemail, and when eventually her phone is disconnected, Mark fears the worst. "It was only a matter of time, I suppose. It sounded like the period on the end of a sentence. Confirmation she was back in the game, or dead."

The meetings continue, in the basement at St. Dymphna's. The same cast of characters we were introduced to in Assassin's Anonymous are back—Ms. Nguyen, Booker, Valencia—plus the newest addition, Valencia's three-week-old daughter, Lucia, who the reformed assassins have come to all love as their own. "She bound us tighter, giving us someone to love together," Mark narrates. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure this kid grows up safe and loved."

Part of that commitment to Lucia's safety included purchasing St. Dymphna's and outfitting it with a state-of-the-art security system and escape routes. Those modifications soon prove prescient, when shortly after the start of the meeting alarms blare and security feeds show hordes of black-clad attackers descending on St. Dymphna's. Just before that, however, the group received a coded message in the most random way possible—a pizza was delivered to the AA meeting, with toppings (black olives) that no one but Astrid would ever order. It was a sign: she's alive, and it was time to find out where she was.

The novel traces the journey the group takes to locate Astrid and their attempt to extract her from her captivity. Like most sequels, it carries forward many of the things that made the preceding book(s) a success. But it also deals with the challenge of a novel idea no longer feeling new. In Assassin's Anonymous, you initially think the whole "twelve steps to avoid killing" is sort of a tongue-in-cheek joke. But author Rob Hart takes a faithful look at recovery programs and applies those principles—along with the conviction required to stay sober—to his characters. In The Medusa Protocol, that conviction is amped up to even higher levels, with multiple characters going to tremendous lengths to avoid killing, even if it puts their own life in great peril.

Overall, it's a faithful continuation of the series more than an elevation of what was started. It feels at times a bit forced, as if this was more of a contracted follow-on rather than a story that was aching to spill out of Hart. It's missing the novelty of the original, of course, but it's also missing most of the misdirection and intricate plotting that helped make that first novel so strong. The result is a pretty straightforward locate-and-extract mission, that explores how a small team would do that when the most important component of the mission was ensuring they kill no one. It's still more good than bad, but it's a step back—albeit a small one—from Assassin's Anonymous.

In 'The Medusa Protocol', Rob Hart delivers a sharp, high-stakes sequel that builds on the clever premise of 'Assassins Anonymous' with even more intensity and heart. This time, the story splits between two urgent missions: Astrid, kidnapped and held on a mysterious island where memory experiments are underway, and Mark, desperate to find her while navigating the fragile rules of the no-kill recovery group they both once relied on.

Hart's greatest strength remains his ability to blend action with emotion. The fight scenes are inventive and fast-paced, but they never overpower the deeper moral questions at play - can killer truly change? What does redemption look like in a world built on violence? Both Astrid and Mark struggle with these questions in their own ways, and the dual perspective structure gives the book a rich, layered texture.

There's plenty of dark humor and razor-sharp dialogue to balance the grim subject matter, and the supporting cast of assassins-in-recovery remains a highlight. While Astrid's sections occasionally feel more reactive than revelatory, the pacing stays tight, and the payoff is worth it.

'The Medusa Protocol' is a gripping, morally complex thriller with a surprisingly big heart. Readers who loved the first book will find this is a worthy, action-packed contribution - and newcomers could easily jump in here and still be hooked.

4.25/5 stars

I went back and read the first book in series before reading this one (Assassins Anonymous), and I highly recommend doing that in order to continue the flow of the story seamlessly. This was a good next outing for our world-renowned reformed assassin Mark (aka the Pale Horse) and his motley crew of friends/colleagues.

This one picks up a year and a half following the events of the first book. The premise of this series centers around a recovery program (based and very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous) specifically for assassins who want out of the business and are striving to take no more lives and make amends for those taken in whatever means they can. This adventure is focused on the kidnap, imprisonment and torture of Astrid, the newest member of the group and Mark's sponsored person. The purpose of her torture (mostly medical...specifically the retrieval of memories) is kept murky until the denouement so the "who" and "why" keep us guessing. Meanwhile, Mark and friends begin to piece together her whereabouts and launch a rescue mission. There's lots of action, more bits and pieces adding to our overall pictures of each group member and of course, inventive ways of disabling other assassins/villains without actually killing them.

This is a fun albeit over-the-top subject for a book series. Obviously, there's humor. But there's enough action to keep the reader entertained. There's comradery, but not overly sappy. But my favorite parts of the series so far are the growing friendships and respect that the group members have for each other and the glimpse into each of their past lives that have led them to the current day. Mark, Booker, Valencia, Ms. Nguyen and Astrid are all flawed characters who are struggling to be better humans and to make amends as best they can for their past dastardly deeds. And yes, while this is definitely fiction, the on-going story of their struggles and efforts are inspiring and brave in a very real way.

I'm enjoying the series more than I originally thought I would and look forward to more from adventures from this endearing gang of misfits.

My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam / G. P. Putnam's Sons for providing the free early arc of The Medusa Protocol for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

The Medusa Protocol was a fast-paced thriller, filled with dark twists and turns. So good! You don’t have to have read Assassins Anonymous to get into the novel, but I think it would help follow the story overall. And why wouldn’t you read AA first? It’s excellent! Huge thanks to the author, publisher, and netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!