Three Hitmen and a Baby
by Rob Hart
DETAILS: Series: Assassins Anonymous, #3 Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Publication Date: June 16, 2026 Format: eARC Length: 304 pg. Read Date: May 30-June 2, 2026
What’s Three Hitmen and a Baby About?
After the events of The Medusa Protocol, things have really settled down for the members of the recovery group. Up until the events of this novel, of course. Valencia gets word of some family trouble in California, and she needs to go help—but she can’t take her three-year-old with her. So Mark, Booker, and Astrid, her “uncles” (yes, even Astrid—Lucia’s not so great with gender concepts), volunteer to watch her. How hard could it be?
Spoken like people who haven’t spent that much time on their own with a toddler. Incidentally, 12-Step rules or not. If you’re going to watch someone’s child for a few days—you’d better know their last name. Our trio learns that the hard way. I’ll leave it at that.
At the same time, one debt that Mark owes a Russian mobster becomes due. They (on behalf of someone else) want Astrid dead. And who better to take care of that than her friend, Mark. They don’t care that Mark isn’t killing anymore, and they’d care even less to learn that Mark was her sponsor. And you don’t have to be a Friend of Bill to know that the relationship between sponsor and sponsee isn’t supposed to be ended with a murder. Then again, the mobster knows about Mark’s ex- and their child. So, he does have two compelling reasons to throw his sobriety out the window.
All in all, these three (ex-)hitman have quite the struggle.
Why did I pick this up? Why did I keep reading?
I can’t imagine stopping this series now. When the publicist emailed me about the book, I jumped on it without thinking.
I kept going because the story wouldn’t let me go. We get the comedy of these (former) professional killers being utterly inept when it comes to taking care of a toddler. And then this between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place that Mark finds himself in.
What’s the Underlying Theme?
This book is about a couple of things at the core—there’s the found-family connection between the members of this group—and a couple of other people they’ve collectively added along the way. But that’s something that’s been part of this series from the beginning (and will almost certainly continue to be).
The other core of this book is making amends. Step 9 of Assassin’s Anonymous—like all 12-Step Programs—is making amends. Now, it’s impossible to make amends to those they’ve killed. So they’ve each had to come up with ways to do that. Sometimes, it’s service. Sometimes, it’s talking to loved ones of the victim.
Not only do we see some attempts at amends to victims. We also see the toll that not being able to make them takes on members of the group. The nightmares, the way they’re haunted not by their past sins but their inability to do anything to ameliorate the situation or amend for them.
So, what did I think about Three Hitmen and a Baby?
I had a blast with this—and I’m having a hard time coming up with new things to say about this series (seriously, this would’ve been posted a week ago otherwise).
I do think this is slightly more successful than The Medusa Protocol overall, which is not to cast aspersions on book two. There’s less globe-trotting in this book than in either previous book, but that doesn’t keep the cast from being international. It just ramps up the pacing. This all happens in a much more contained period of time, keeping the pressure on throughout. There’s little downtime or breathing room (and most of that involves entertaining a three-year-old).
Hart really has the balancing act between light-hearted moments, soul-searing introspection/disclosure, and action down pat. The jokes about John Wick and other action films keep coming and haven’t lost their punch. There’s a great scene where Mark and Booker talk about their preferred entertainment and critique action tropes that I’ve read at least three times, just to watch Hart fill out these characters a bit (particularly Booker, we know Mark well enough now).
The way this one resolved was rewarding both plot-wise and character-wise, and did set up book four in a pretty solid manner, too.
This one really shouldn’t be missed, my friends/readers/utter strangers who happen to see this.
Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Putnam | G.P. Putnam’s Sons via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Read Irresponsibly, but please Comment Responsibly