The Fixer

Justice Series, Book 1

By: T. E. Woods

Narrated by: Christina Delaine

Never a doubt. Never a mistake. Always for justice. Never for revenge. She's the person you hire when you need something fixed-permanently. With a strict set of criteria, she evaluates every request and chooses only a few. No more than one job per country, per year. She will only step in if it's clear that justice will not be served any other way. Her jobs are completed with skill and precision, and never result in inquiry or police investigation. The Fixer is invisible - and quite deadly.

In the office of a clinical psychologist in Olympia, Washington, a beautiful young woman is in terrible emotional pain. She puts up walls, tells lies, and seems to speak in riddles, but the doctor is determined to help her heal, despite the fact that she claims to have hurt many people. As their sessions escalate, the psychologist feels compelled to reach out to the police, but it might be too late.

In Seattle, a detective gets a call from his son. A dedicated journalist, he wants his father's expertise as he looks into a suspicious death. Together they follow the trail of leads toward a stone-cold hired killer - only to find that death has been closer than either could have imagined.

©2013 Teresa Woods (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Pitch-perfect... Solid characters, unpredictable twists and excellent plotting; a must-read for those who enjoy crime fiction." ( Kirkus)

Fresh “noble assassin” thriller peaks at book 1

This takes the somewhat common “noble assassin” trope and comes at it from several different angles. I liked that we start off not knowing who The Fixer is and have to guess while getting to know several flawed, but very engaging, characters as their paths intertwine. My favorite character was detective Mort.

Minor quibbles for me included the narration, which I easily fixed by bumping up to 1.5x. At the speed, I was quite impressed by the variety of accents and voice impressions. I also rolled my eyes at the end, where the baddie stops to talk at length before the kill, like every Bond villain everywhere. The fresh plots and twists, however, far outweighed the little faults.

One thing that wasn’t an issue for me was the death and depravity. Some reviewers railed against animal harm. But, hello, this book is about an assassin who kills for justice, and therefore the author has to give us victims whose evil is worthy of them getting their just desserts outside of the legal system. If you can’t handle abvse themes, especially against animals and women, then a book about a noble lady assassin is not for you.

2023 update after listening thru book 6:
From here the series divides into three plots, with (1) the Fixer plot largely sidelined into a support role as it (2) becomes more focused on detective Mort and a crime procedural in each book and (3) builds a series arc antagonist who is heavily involved in the criminal underworld. If you didn’t like the animal abuse here, you will definitely not like the depravity in the next books which focus heavily on female victimization that is both violent and sexual. The series provided decent, but not stellar stories, worth my sale purchases. My hands down favorite aspect was the narration. For more engaging characters with strong female leads, I preferred the Lizzy Gardener series or JD Robb’s In Death series.

great

great book. I really enjoyed it . I would definitely recommend it to my friends.

Hitchcockian!

What did you love best about The Fixer?

Compelling story with unexpected twists and turns ...Grabs and holds you to end.

What other book might you compare The Fixer to and why?

Dashiell Hammett books

Which scene was your favorite?

Hard to choose ... many great scenes. The warehouse confrontation. Narrator Christina Delaine has to do a dozen different voices in a few minutes. From children to Barbara Streisand .. old men, young girls, English accent ... an amazing performance ...She nails it.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Justice is swift and deadly and final"

Any additional comments?

Read the book. Why are you wasting time reading this? Start Reading!

Ugly

What did you like best about The Fixer? What did you like least?

There really IS no best. I ought to have been guided by the reviews of other listeners, but thought the premise sounded interesting and so bought the audiobook. Between the overacting sytle of the narrator and the over-elaborate wordifications of the author it's hard to choose which I found worse. There were also runs of alliteration which I am sure the author did not intend to be humorous, but which were. Another listener described the narration as slow; I found it absolutely ponderous, especially the non-dialog narrative sections.

Has The Fixer turned you off from other books in this genre?

Nope, still love the genre. That was not the problem.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Very slow narration and annoying vocal impressions.

Could you see The Fixer being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Oh please no!

Any additional comments?

Live and learn.

A not every day spy thriller

Women in this role is not the norm for the genre. Add a female with a soul and desire for justice, and its nearly perfect. Excellent read “AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY”

Good story, but...

Entertaining story, and the author does a good job of weaving the characters together but it's very much over-dramatized and far too cliche at times.

Great book

Really enjoyed this mystery. I like the twist and turns in this book. Both main characters were likable and had a chemistry.

Just OK

Not a bad read but a little disappointed in the ending .... not sure I will continue the series.

Good psychological story and narration.

This was a very good story. It was entertaining, mysterious and you just couldn't help but root for the Fixer.

The story line and plot was very good. I think it it flowed very well and had several twists and turns. Quite engaging. I really liked Lydia a lot. I think her character was well done. Ole Mort was hard not to like too. I would have liked to know more about Savannah's character. That was missing for me. I like a female assassin story.

This was a long story and took me a while to get through it but it was definitely worth the time.

As for the narration, it was very good. This was my first listen to Christina Delaine and I think she did a great job on the male voices and the distinction between all the characters. She has a nice reading voice too.

Could not put it down

The best book l have listened to this year. The plot was full of interesting dialogue. The voicing of characters distinct. Clues were dropped and fun to try to predict. I will try to follow this author.