You can’t change the future.
Logline
Two worlds collide in this contemporary thriller set in London. Mark, a BBC Arts presenter, is married to Sophie, a charity worker who suffers from severe OCD about global warming, but his friendship with Arabella, a successful artist, and a terrible act of violence brings them into contact with hit man Leon and his feckless accomplice Rob, with fatal consequences.
The words of Nima Shayeghi, an Iranian philosopher that Mark interviews, have never been more apt: “Despite our best endeavours, we all have primeval urges that shape our every thought, our every action; in spite of our virtue-signalling, our veneer of values, the truth is that people do what they are compelled and destined to do from the very beginning of time.”
SYNOPSIS
Leon, a hitman, discovers that he has inadvertently assassinated an associate of the Docherty crime family. Needing to disappear he resolves to carry out one more hit in order to get the money to leave the country. Meanwhile, Mark, a radio and TV presenter, interviews Nima, a philosopher, who believes that our lives are predestined by the laws of physics and biology. Mark invites Nima and a young artist, Arabella, to his home for a dinner party. We learn Mark is having an affair with Arabella behind his heavily pregnant wife Sophie’s back.
Leon’s regular hit partner Sam refuses to join him on his final hit as he wants to retire. Sam drafts in his nephew Rob to take his place. Rob is tasked with getting a gun. Meanwhile, Sophie, who has OCD begins to obsess about the climate crisis. Leon is cornered by the Dochertys but escapes by taking Willie Docherty as a hostage. He later releases Willie unharmed. Leon visits his mother and offers her money but she rejects his offer.
Mark realises Sophie is becoming mentally unwell. He drives to Kent with Arabella intending to break off their affair. However, Arabella misunderstands his intentions and assumes he is leaving Sophie. They make love in the woodland. When Mark receives a text from Sophie saying she is about to commit suicide he quickly breaks up with Arabella and rushes to his car. Enraged at this sudden rejection Arabella pushes Mark in front of a speeding car that is being driven by Rob on his way to the hit with Leon.
Leon is stunned when Rob stops and tries to save Mark’s life. Leon commands Rob to kill Mark and Arabella. When Rob refuses, Leon attempts to shoot Arabella who runs for her life. However, the gun doesn’t work. Enraged, Leon cuts Rob’s throat and pursues Arabella, who comes across the philosopher, Nima as he hikes in the area. Nima tries to protect her but Leon overpowers him and stabs him to death.
Leon chases Arabella back to the scene of the collision where Mark has now bled to death. Arabella grabs Rob’s discarded gun which now fires and hits Leon. Wounded, Leon lunges and stabs her. As she drops the gun Leon picks it up to finish her off but it jams. Leon is suddenly struck by a speeding Range Rover. Willie Docherty steps out and stands over Leon. He tells him they have ‘taken care' of his mother and then puts a bullet in Leon’s head. Arabella dies alongside Mark at the roadside while Sophie dies of her overdose at home.
Sam, relaxing in the sun, learns of everyone’s demise as he listens to a radio report on the veranda of his beachfront retirement home in Thailand.
Comments
Smart, slick, well-written…
Smart, slick, well-written with an engaging hook to get us into the narrative. I felt that the VO podcast went on a bit too long as we get an insight into multiple lives that may or may not be 'vehicles' for what is a really interesting premise. By page 10, I would have expected that the link between the initial murder and the direction of the developing narrative would have been more obvious.