The Cult of the Female Assassin

 

The Cult of the Female Assassin

Why she’s deadlier than the male

 

The archetype of the cold-blooded assassin has fascinated people through the ages. The figure of a man or woman stealthily approaching an unsuspecting target leaves the audience breathless with anticipation, stirring up feelings of dread and excitement in equal measure.

Who is an assassin?

The Oxford Dictionary’s definition is ‘a person who murders an important person for political or religious reasons’.

The name is derived from the Latin assassinus, which is a variation of the Arabic word hasisi or al-hashishiyun, meaning hashish-eater! The tradition dates back to the Crusades (11^th to 13^th centuries AD) when a certain sect would use hashish before proceeding on murder missions. No doubt that helped dull the brutality of it all. But that’s just a name; hired killers have been around from the time man decided to bump off his neighbour. Why, King Darius of Persia used a hidden blade to finish off King Xerxes I in 5^th Century BC!

Some famous assassins

Among the notable ones are:

-John Wilkes Booth: shot dead US President Abraham Lincoln at a theatre on April 14, 1865. Booth himself was gunned down by federal troops on April 26 the same year.

- Nathuram Godse: a divisive figure till date! He shot Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi on January 30, 1948.

- Lee Harvey Oswald: shot dead US President John. F. Kennedy at Dallas on November 22, 1963. Two days later, while being transferred from a jail cell, Oswald was shot dead by a Dallas Night Club owner Jack Ruby. Tried and found guilty of murder, Ruby was sentenced to death but died of cancer in jail in 1967.

-James Earl Ray: shot Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, Tennessee on April 23, 1968. He was apprehended by London Police at Heathrow the same year while trying to flee under an assumed name.

- Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos The Jackal, imprisoned since 1994. Planned some high-profile attacks on political figures in the 1970s and 80s.

- One of the world’s most infamous assassins is Julio Santana of Brazil, who has over 500 hits to his credits and has a book written about him called ‘The Name of Death’ by Klester Cavalcanti.

What’s the difference between an assassin and a murderer?

A murderer commits the crime spontaneously or in a premeditated way. He’s usually motivated by personal feelings of revenge or jealousy or greed over property disputes.

An assassin is a paid hitman who acts with careful forethought and planning. His reasons may be political, religious or even personal. It’s considered cold-blooded because of the premeditated nature of the crime and because the assassin may not be acquainted with the target.

The Female Assassin

She’s more elusive, more effective and, in the words of Rudyard Kipling, the female of the species is ‘more deadly than the male’.

Female killers have been depicted in literature and cinema but they’re a rare breed. They evoke a greater sense of dread because the trope goes against the grain of women being nurturers, more refined, the gentler sex. Lady Macbeth, while contemplating the murder of King Duncan, called upon the powers of darkness to ‘unsex her’.

Over the years, the female assassin has been portrayed as

-smart and self-assured

- physically attractive, so she can lure men in

- trained in unarmed combat and the use of weapons.

Hollywood raised her profile through action flicks like Kill Bill, Colombiana, Proud Mary and The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Interesting Fact

In 1975, not one but two women tried to kill US President Gerald Ford!

Both attempts were independent and unconnected.

The first assassin was a 26 year-old called Lynnette Fromme, a devotee of Charles Manson. On 5^th September 1975 she pulled gun on Ford at a park but didn’t fire.

17 days later, Sara Jane Moore, a woman with left-wing sympathies and severe mood swings, fired a revolver at the President outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco but missed.

Both women were arrested and found guilty of attempted murder but freed after Ford’s death.

What makes assassins so captivating?

People have such an enduring fascination with assassins that the internet is filled with queries about them including- believe it or not- ‘Where do I go to become an assassin’?

One of the replies is ‘go join a branch of the military.’ I guess they’re referring to army snipers. Come think of it, James Bond can be considered a Government assassin.

The term assassin conjures up images of flashy cars and gadgets, adrenalin-soaked chases and characters like Beatrix Kiddo (The Bride) from Kill Bill.

But what if she’s not like that? What if she’s vulnerable and conflicted? What if she lives an ordinary life? What if she’s one of us?

That’s my character in Killer Kavita, The Girl With The Poison Touch, a novel just released by Tara India Research Press under their imprint 4 Hour Books. She’s an assassin with a heart of gold. Killer Kavita is the moniker she’s given by the public on account of her propensity to send her targets a poetic warning declaring the date and time of their death, before eliminating them! Hot on her trail is a brilliant CBI detective Aarav Singh Rana, whose famed powers of deduction make him a legend in the Police Force, despite his young age.

Check out the awesome promo video for Killer Kavita!

The novel is currently available for ordering on Amazon. Here's the link below:

https://www.amazon.in/Killer-Kavita-Sharon-Gupta/dp/818386192X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=15IEHXUHB60PY&keywords=killer+kavita&qid=1641446438&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C243&sr=1-1

Should be out in stores as soon as the restrictions due to Omicron are lifted.

Happy Reading!