Audiobook Review: The Hit

Author: Delilah S. Dawson
Narrator: Rebekkah Ross
Series: The Hit, #1
Released: April 15th 2015
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: Audible

NO ONE READS THE FINE PRINT.

The good news is that the USA is finally out of debt. The bad news is that we were bought out by Valor National Bank, and debtors are the new big game, thanks to a tricky little clause hidden deep in the fine print of a credit card application. Now, after a swift and silent takeover that leaves 9-1-1 calls going through to Valor voicemail, they’re unleashing a wave of anarchy across the country.

Patsy didn’t have much of a choice. When the suits showed up at her house threatening to kill her mother then and there for outstanding debt unless Patsy agreed to be an indentured assassin, what was she supposed to do? Let her own mother die?

Patsy is forced to take on a five-day mission to complete a hit list of ten names. Each name on Patsy's list has only three choices: pay the debt on the spot, agree to work as a bounty hunter, or die. And Patsy has to kill them personally, or else her mom takes a bullet of her own.

Since yarn bombing is the only rebellion in Patsy's past, she’s horrified and overwhelmed, especially as she realizes that most of the ten people on her list aren't strangers. Things get even more complicated when a moment of mercy lands her with a sidekick: a hot rich kid named Wyatt whose brother is the last name on Patsy's list. The two share an intense chemistry even as every tick of the clock draws them closer to an impossible choice.

Delilah S. Dawson offers an absorbing, frightening glimpse at a reality just steps away from ours—a taut, suspenseful thriller that absolutely mesmerizes from start to finish. 

Delilah S. Dawson is an author whose previous work I thoroughly enjoyed. Her adult paranormal romance series fought through my PNR allergies thanks to Ann Aguirre’s wholehearted recommendation, so when Delilah started writing in a genre I actually enjoy, I was over the moon. Her first YA book, Servants of the Storm, certainly had its problems, but it was delightfully creepy overall and I really enjoyed the tone. Hit is a very different book, with a very different dynamic, although no less spine-chilling.

Hit takes us to a near future, the very beginnings of a dystopian society, with most citizens still blissfully unaware. What was formerly known as Valor Savings bank (and now just Valor Savings) bought out the government and all institutions and is now, quite legally, the owner of America. They don’t actually need more money, but they want the debt reduced, so they send out collections agents free to kill people who can’t instantly return what they owe.

Each able-bodied person gets a choice: either work for Valor Savings as their agent for five days (which of course means becoming a cold-blooded killer), or forfeit your life to the bank. The fine print on people’s credit card contracts makes the blackmail and murder entirely legal – not that there’s anyone left to enforce the laws. Presented with the same choice due to her mother’s debt, Patsy makes the decision to spend five days working for Valor Savings. She gets a gun, a mail truck, and a list of ten names.

Patsy is the protagonist of this story, but she is by no means a heroine. She is a killer, and while she might be shaped by her circumstances, her constant claims that Valor Savings left her with no choice sounded like empty excuses. She chose to kill ten people in order to saver herself and her alcoholic mother, she chose to do what they told her to work off her mother’s debt. It was hard to follow her sometimes, seeing how she neatly convinced herself that things were completely out of her hands.

Rebekkah Ross is a fabulous narrator and she saved this book for me at times, especially when it became too hard to sympathize with Patsy. Her voice is well suited for a young character, and her characterization is excellent, even for male voices.

Although it poses many questions, Hit gives us very few answers. We still don’t know the true nature of Valor Savings or their plan, we know nothing of Patsy’s mother and especially her father, and we don’t know whether her plan actually worked. The answers will hopefully be revealed in Strike, but we’ll have to wait until March 2016 to get them.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No consideration, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.