Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seventeen / Agent Seventeen | 2022 | John Brownlow | Buy |
| 2 | Assassin Eighteen | 2023 | John Brownlow | Buy |
The Last Man Standing series is John Brownlow’s assassin thriller franchise. Seventeen (2022) introduces a hitman who holds the title of the world’s top assassin — the seventeenth person to do so, each having killed their predecessor. Assassin Eighteen (2023) raises the stakes further. The concept is simple and propulsive: be the best, or be dead.
Brownlow came to fiction from screenwriting, and the pacing shows it. Seventeen reads like a film treatment turned into a novel, with short chapters and constant forward motion. The book was published in the UK as Agent Seventeen. Assassin Eighteen picks up the succession theme and puts the protagonist in an even more dangerous position.
The series has drawn comparisons to the Bourne and John Wick franchises, though Brownlow’s writing has a more self-aware quality. The numbered assassin concept gives the books a built-in structure: each title refers to the latest person to hold the top spot. Readers who want fast, violent thrillers with a clever premise will find both books hard to put down.