Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle
Luke Jennings's Codename Villanelle is the source novel for the BBC America phenomenon Killing Eve, originally published as a series of e book novellas before being collected and reissued under the show's title. Eve Polastri, a smart but sidelined MI5 staffer, becomes obsessed with a series of high profile assassinations across Europe and quietly identifies a pattern: a single, immensely talented female killer behind them all. Villanelle, born Oxana Vorontsova, is a young Russian psychopath plucked out of prison and trained by a shadowy organization called the Twelve, and she conducts her hits with as much attention to her wardrobe as her weapons. Jennings, a longtime dance critic for The Guardian, writes leaner, drier prose than the show's flashy adaptation, leaning into procedural detail, the politics of Western intelligence agencies, and the slow buildup of a queer charged cat and mouse rivalry between Eve and Villanelle. The book is a sharp, propulsive read for anyone who loved the series.
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Villanelle is a Russian-born assassin pulled out of a prison sentence to kill for an off-the-books organization. Eve Polastri, a desk-bound MI6 officer, notices the pattern, and the chase begins. Source novel for the BBC series.
Yes. BBC America produced four seasons of Killing Eve from 2018 to 2022, starring Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri and Jodie Comer as Villanelle. The show was adapted by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in season one and other showrunners in subsequent seasons.
Luke Jennings has written four Killing Eve novels: Codename Villanelle, No Tomorrow, Die for Me, and Endgame. The book series and TV show diverged in plot and tone after the first season.
Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle was written by Luke Jennings, published in 2018.
Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle is 240 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle takes most readers 4 to 5 hours to finish.
Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle is a standalone novel by Luke Jennings, not part of a series.
Killing Eve: Codename Villanelle is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
