Nadia Stafford is the star of a modern day semi-spy series written by Kelley Armstrong. She is a former-cop-turned-assassin [she prefers the term "hit-woman"], and the series follows her and some of her friends/acquaintances in the biz.
How does a good cop, from a long line of cops, become a hired gun? Blame the Canadian judicial system. As a teen, Nadia was kidnapped, along with her cousin/best friend. Nadia escaped to get help; her cousin was killed by the kidnapper. He was eventually brought to trial based on Nadia's testimony... and let off, again based on Nadia's testimony.
Years later, all grown up and a cop like her daddy before her, she runs into a similar case. Nadia snaps and shoots the perpetrator. Fired from the force, unable to cope with the dichotomy she's treated with (half heroine, half worse-than-the-criminal villain) she somehow stumbles onto an odd offer, to play clean-up crew for a certain Family in New York. She's not part of the Family, mind, and only comes in occasionally, to clean up those who just won't get with the modern program. Not a bad job, she thinks - she's still getting criminals off the streets, right? She opens a nature lodge with the money, running it as a sort of adventure/training camp for corporations looking for "team building" and similar clients (Cops always get good prices.)
She avoids most others in her line of business, only having real contact with her mentor "Jack", about whom she tries to learn as little as possible. Until the day, on a job for her employers, Nadia witnesses another assassination. A random assassination. And discovers that when a hit-man goes rogue, it's up to the rest to stop it.
This book series contains examples of the following tropes:
- All a Part of the Job: How Nadia gets dragged into the plot of Exit Strategy; who else is going to clean up the mess? And besides, the rogue is making everyone else look bad.
- At the Opera Tonight: In Exit Strategy, while chasing the rogue. Not sure any of the good guys even know what's being performed...
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Nadia Stafford and her allies are hitmen who often cold-bloodedly kill mooks and work for the mob for pay, but have a moral code. In contrast, the guys they face in this series are genuine monsters such as serial killers, pedophiles and Human Traffickers.
- Card-Carrying Villain: In his true persona outside of his façade, Sebastian Koss is a gleeful sociopath who flat-out admits that not only does he enjoy raping and killing young girls, but that he is completely bereft of morals.
- Hitman with a Heart: Nadia Stafford is a hitman who works for the mob but has a moral code forbidding her from targeting the innocent. She is a genuinely good friend and family member and is dedicated to ridding the world of evil.
- Human Traffickers: The novel Made to be Broken follows a ring which has been kidnapping teenage mothers, stealing their babies and killing the mothers afterwards. The babies are then sold by an illegal adoption agency.
- Rape as Backstory: As a young teenager, Nadia Stafford and her cousin were sexually assaulted by Drew Aldrich and his friend. Nadia was able to escape from them, but her cousin was not so lucky and ended up murdered. This has left her with traumatic mental wounds which she uses to fuel her drive to ensure that no innocents need to get hurt by monsters like Drew.
- Serial Killer:
- Exit Strategy: The Helter Skelter killer is a Serial Killer who is framing his murders as the work of the son of Charles Manson, even leaving notes from the Helter Skelter book about Manson and his followers.
- Wild Justice: Sebastian Koss is a monstrous sociopath who preys on young girls. Koss uses his position as a trusted community member to scout for victims and than rapes and murders them.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Sebastain Koss is a beloved figure to the Canadian public: a Canadian crown prosecutor who has been instrumental in the pursuit of justice for rape victims and is beloved by both police and rape activists for his work. It is a shame that that's a façade. You see, in reality, Koss himself is a Serial Killer and Serial Rapist of young girls, using his position to gain information to scout for victims. He is a creepy pedophile who preys on young girls, and if they fight back, he kills them.
