Our book club’s book for May was Circle of Assassins, by Steven Rigolosi. Each month we try a different type of book or selection process. For May, we decided to read a book with multiple viewpoints; this was based on a discussion we had last month about how much we enjoyed An Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears, and how much we liked a story that is told from different perspectives.

Circle of Assassins starts with an advertisement placed in The Clarion, a New York City newspaper. It begins “Revenge is Sweet” and promises to help people get back at someone who has hurt them or someone they love. The people who answer the ad come from all walks of life and are motivated by extremely different circumstances. One is an older woman who’d worked all her life to afford her own home, only to find her peace and quiet threatened when a drug dealer moves into the neighborhood. One is a telephone lineman who harbors a murderous resentment against his brother-in-law to be. One is a feminist college professor who has serious issues with her dean. And so on.

The person who placed the ad, known for much of the book as “A” (though his/her identity is eventually revealed, and it’s a shocker when it is), offers them a deal: Kill the target chosen by another member of the “circle of assassins,” and someone will return the favor for you. It’s an ideal setup because everyone has the perfect alibi.

If it sounds like Strangers on a Train, it is, in a way. But events take very odd and unexpected turns as the assassins go about their plots. There are a lot of mysteries in this very tight little book. Who, exactly, are the assassins? (We find out, little by little.) Do the victims “deserve” to die? (We find out as the author explores their lives, showing us a side of them that is often at odds with their enemies’ perceptions.) Who is the person behind the ad? Will the assassins go through with their plots, or will their morality win out?

This is without a doubt a book for readers who like the unexpected. 8 out of our group of 10 agreed that reading it is like watching two trains on a collision course—you expect a terrible outcome, and you can’t look away, and the outcome is pretty terrible but not at all what you expected. We thought the author did an absolutely amazing job of giving voice to a very diverse set of characters, speaking in their own voices and letting us see them from a variety of perspectives. One reader said that the book was like a Shakespearean tragedy, and that the tragedy of it all made her cry pretty much all the way through. Several of us were in awe of the way the author managed to juggle plot, character, and narrative structure so effectively.

But the book is not for everyone. Two of our members struggled through the first part. The author is doing so many things simultaneously that you really have to just go with the flow, or you may be tempted to give up. Also, this is far from a traditional whodunit, so anyone who likes a linear narrative with one murder to be solved will not be a fan (one of our members said, “This isn’t a murder mystery, it’s a book that tries to solve the mystery of murder,” which caused a lot of heads to nod). Also, don’t expect a lot of humor (or any humor, for that matter.) Circle of Assassins is pretty serious, though it stops short of being grim.

All told, we were impressed by this author’s skill as a plotter and a structuralist, as well as his characterizations, and we admired his successful attempt to do something different. This book really is unique (almost as unique as Martin Amis’ Night Train, which we’d read several months ago) and ambitious. It’s a book you can discuss for a long time, and continue to think about after turning the last page.