This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon and Libro.fm. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.
Verdict: A cold, elegant assassin thriller with some of the best-praised prose in lesfic and a genuinely unsettling lead, held back by a romance built on a power imbalance that not every reader can get past.
Best for: Readers who want a lesbian thriller first and a love story second, who enjoy an unrepentant ice queen, and who can sit with dark content and a morally grey heroine who never asks to be forgiven.
Heat level: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 — on-page and occasionally graphic, but never the point; not indexed on romance.io)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.1/5 — a 4.19 Goodreads average across roughly 4,950 ratings, with criticism that is real but taste-driven rather than craft-driven)
Tropes: Assassin and target, ice queen, morally grey heroine, opposites attract, sunshine love interest, hidden identity, crime thriller, musician heroine, power imbalance, happy-for-now.
Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter is a 2016 lesbian romantic suspense novel from Ylva Publishing, reissued in a new edition in 2025, set in Melbourne, where a world-class cellist named Natalya Tsvetnenko moonlights as the contract killer Requiem — and where her newest target, an unremarkable administrative assistant called Alison Ryan, turns out to be the one job she cannot make sense of.
It holds a 4.19 average across roughly 4,950 Goodreads ratings, 4.6 stars from 983 Amazon ratings, a Lambda Literary Award finalist spot in Lesbian Mystery and a Golden Crown Literary Society win. The praise is close to unanimous about the writing. The dissent is small but pointed, and it is almost entirely about whether you can love the woman at the centre of it. Both are worth understanding before you start.
What Is Requiem for Immortals About?
Requiem for Immortals is a crime thriller with a romance inside it, not a romance with a thriller wrapped around it. Goodreads readers shelve it as thriller, crime and mystery alongside romance, and the order matters: the engine is a contract, a mystery about who wants an innocent woman dead, and a killer’s professional code coming under strain. That puts it in character-driven territory, where interiority and moral pressure do more work than meet-cute beats.
Natalya is the whole book’s gravity. She is brilliant, cold, contemptuous of nearly everyone, and entirely at peace with what she does — she only kills the corrupt, and she considers that justice. What she lacks is any practice at being surprised by another person. Alison is her opposite: kind, overlooked, stuck with a family that treats her badly, and apparently guilty of nothing. The book’s interest lies in watching Natalya’s certainties meet someone who does not fit them, and in how little Winter softens her along the way.
What Makes This Lesbian Assassin Thriller Work
- The prose: Elegant, economical and musical are the words readers keep reaching for. It is the most consistently praised element in the Goodreads reviews, often described as a cut above typical genre fiction.
- Natalya herself: The most-praised element by a distance. Readers love that Winter makes her flawed and keeps her flawed, rather than thawing her into someone safe by the final act.
- The twists: Goodreads reviewers repeatedly call it unputdownable, and bloggers describe having to stop and stare at the wall. The plotting is tight and it withholds well.
- The music: The cello is not decoration. Readers repeatedly note how the musical passages carry emotion that Natalya will not express any other way.
- An ice queen who stays icy: Opposites-attract pairings often let the warm one do all the changing. Here, even readers who loved it note that Natalya’s arrogance never fully leaves.
Book Synopsis
Natalya Tsvetnenko plays the cello for Melbourne’s elite, and she plays it better than almost anyone alive. She is also Requiem, an assassin who takes contracts only on people who deserve them — corrupt figures from the city’s underworld who have escaped every other kind of justice. She works alone, trusts no one, and has built a life in which nothing touches her that she has not allowed.
Then a contract arrives for Alison Ryan. Alison is an administrative assistant with a modest job, a hostile family and no obvious enemies. Nothing in her life suggests she belongs on Requiem’s list, and Natalya does not take jobs she cannot justify. So instead of finishing the work, she starts watching — and then she starts asking questions, which is the one thing a professional in her position is never supposed to do.
The closer Natalya gets to Alison, the less the contract makes sense and the more dangerous it becomes to walk away from it. Someone wants this woman dead badly enough to hire the best, and Natalya’s own rules are now the thing standing between them. The question driving the rest of the book is not only who ordered the hit, but what happens to a woman like Requiem when, for the first time, a target becomes a person.
My Review
The writing here is the real thing, and I want to say that first because it is the reason this book has outlasted a decade of newer releases. Winter spent three decades as a journalist before turning to fiction, and it shows in how little she wastes. The sentences are clean, the Melbourne setting is specific, and the passages built around Natalya’s playing carry more feeling than any of her dialogue does. That is deliberate, and it is the book’s best trick.
The second strength is Natalya. A lot of ice-queen fiction promises coldness and delivers a woman who is merely reserved. Natalya is genuinely unpleasant — arrogant, contemptuous, convinced of her own superiority — and Winter does not apologise for her. The thriller plot is well built around that, with reveals that land because Natalya is too proud to see them coming.
Where it struggles is the romance, and the objection is less a flaw in execution than a question of what you can accept. The criticism is not loud — 5% of Goodreads ratings sit at one or two stars — but it is consistent. A handful of readers find Natalya’s edginess overwrought rather than chilling; several find Alison too passive for too long, patient with abuse from several directions; a couple feel the second half slows for backstory. One blogger found the power dynamic between an assassin and the woman she was hired to kill uncomfortable enough to spoil the love story, and another flagged dubious consent alongside the violence. None of this is a majority view. All of it traces back to the same design choice.
One expectation to reset: this is not a romance novel in the way most books on this site are. The relationship matters, and it is where the book ends up, but the thriller drives. If you came for a slow-burn love story, calibrate; if you came for a smart crime novel and worried it would turn into mush, relax.
My honest note: A superbly written thriller with a heroine who never asks for your sympathy, which is exactly why some readers will not give it. If you need the romance to feel equal, this will frustrate you; if you want a killer who stays a killer, it is one of the best books the genre has.
| Element | In Requiem for Immortals |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Natalya Tsvetnenko & Alison Ryan — assassin and the target she will not kill |
| Core tropes | Assassin and target, ice queen, morally grey heroine, opposites attract, hidden identity, crime thriller |
| Setting | Contemporary Melbourne — concert halls and the city’s underworld |
| Heat level | 3/5 — on-page, occasionally graphic, secondary to the thriller |
| Series | Standalone novel with a happy-for-now ending; continued in the novella Love Is Not Nothing |
| Content notes | Graphic violence and death, torture, human trafficking, dubious consent, abusive family, animal cruelty, fatphobic remarks; StoryGraph readers also tag child abuse, dementia and ableism |
How Dark and Spicy Is Requiem for Immortals?
A 3/5, and that number needs sourcing because romance.io does not index this book at all — which is itself telling, since that database catalogues adult romance and this is shelved first as a thriller. Reader reports fill the gap. Several Goodreads reviewers describe the love scenes as steamy and well written, one book blogger lists graphic sex among her content notes, and most reviews barely mention the heat at all. It is on the page, it is not coy, and it is not what anyone is reading for.
The darkness is the bigger question. Reviewers flag graphic death, torture, trafficking and an abusive family, and at least one reader names dubious consent and erotic asphyxiation as specific notes. No reviewer I found describes it as gratuitous. If you want a comparable heat level with a lighter touch, The Brutal Truth, also by Winter, sits in the same open-door band; for a much darker take on the same premise, Blood Debt runs far hotter.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want a thriller with genuinely good prose, you like your ice queens to stay cold, you enjoy morally grey heroines with no redemption speech, and you are happy for the romance to share the stage with a mystery.
You may want to skip it if: you need an equal footing between the leads, you have little patience for a passive love interest, you want heat to be a primary draw, or violence, torture and consent ambiguity are hard limits for you.
In short: a beautifully written crime novel with a romance at its heart and a killer at its centre — and whether it works depends on whether you can love her.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
This is a backlist book with no current buzz, and that is the finding. There is no meaningful Reddit footprint that turned up, no BookTok moment, and no Kirkus, Publishers Weekly or Library Journal review. What it has is a decade of steady word of mouth: roughly 4,950 Goodreads ratings accumulated since 2016, awards recognition in its first year, and a 2025 reissue from Ylva that keeps it on the shelf. Its other discovery channel is audio. Tantor Media released the audiobook in August 2019, narrated by Anais Inara Chase and running 11 hours 58 minutes, and her performance is praised with near-total consistency — The Lesbian Review singled out her deliberate pacing as a match for Natalya’s precision.
Prefer audio? Listen to Requiem for Immortals on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Natalya, first and most consistently — her complexity is the thing Goodreads reviewers name most, and the praise is specifically for how Winter keeps her flawed. Then the prose, which reviewers call elegant, economical and poetic. The twists come third; bloggers describe being blindsided, and Curve Magazine called the plotting constantly surprising. Readers also value the moral ambiguity and the music, and the narration gets its own following. Several reviews go further than a book usually earns, calling it the best thing they had read in years, and The Lesbian Review’s only listed con was that it made other books hard to read afterwards.
What readers argue about and complain about: Natalya, again — the same trait that wins most readers loses a few. One 1-star Goodreads reviewer calls her a “teenage edge-lord” (Mehta, Goodreads), and one blogger found her superiority monologues repetitive. The second theme is Alison, whom several readers find too passive and too patient with the people mistreating her; the same blogger called her mother cartoonishly horrible. Third, the power imbalance: The Queerblr gave it three out of five and said the romance felt weak and the dynamic uncomfortable, adding that it “falls into the not-quite-for-me category.” Lesser notes cover a slower second half and a few content objections — dubious consent, animal cruelty, fatphobic remarks — raised by individual reviewers rather than a crowd. Opinion genuinely splits on the ending, which is happy-for-now rather than a conventional HEA; most reviewers think that suits the characters.
The standalone question worth asking first: it resolves. The mystery closes, the relationship lands on a hopeful note, and one blogger described wanting more “not in the frustrating cliffhanger kind of way.” Ylva files it as book one of The Law Game, but that is a multi-author imprint series with no shared plot. The only true follow-up is Love Is Not Nothing, a roughly 10,000-word novella set two years later that readers describe as an epilogue; it rates slightly higher, at 4.27 across about 1,270 Goodreads ratings. After that, Winter’s The Brutal Truth averages 4.33 across more than 8,000 Goodreads ratings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Requiem for Immortals a romance or a thriller?
Both, but the thriller leads. Readers shelve it as crime, thriller and mystery as well as romance, and the relationship develops inside an assassination plot rather than driving it.
Does Requiem for Immortals have a happy ending?
A happy-for-now rather than a conventional HEA. The mystery resolves with no cliffhanger, and the novella Love Is Not Nothing revisits the couple two years later.
How spicy is Requiem for Immortals?
A 3/5. romance.io does not list it, but readers describe the love scenes as steamy and on-page, with at least one reviewer calling them graphic. Heat is not the book’s main draw.
Is there an audiobook?
Yes. Tantor Media released it in August 2019, narrated by Anais Inara Chase and running 11 hours 58 minutes. Listeners praise her deliberate, precise delivery of Natalya.
Do I need to read The Law Game series in order?
No. The Law Game is a multi-author Ylva series with no shared storyline, and Requiem for Immortals stands alone. The only direct sequel is the novella Love Is Not Nothing.
If You Loved Requiem for Immortals, Read These Next
If it was Winter’s frost that hooked you, The Brutal Truth moves her ice-queen craft into a workplace romance with better banter and the same open-door heat. For the assassin-and-target premise with the dark dial turned all the way up, Blood Debt is shorter, crueller and much more explicit. And if you want a hitwoman romance that plays the same set-up for laughs, Manic Pixie Dream Assassin is the lighter, spicier option. We also have a full list of books like Requiem for Immortals.
For more in this register, browse our lesbian mystery and thriller books guide or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Requiem for Immortals is a lesbian thriller that asks you to fall for a woman who kills people for a living, and it mostly succeeds. The prose is elegant, Natalya is one of the most fully realised ice queens in the genre, and the plotting keeps its secrets until it is ready to use them. It is also built on a power imbalance some readers cannot shake, a love interest who waits too long to push back, and a romance that plays second to the crime story. If you want a smart, dark, beautifully written thriller with a love story inside it, few books do this better. Check Requiem for Immortals on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Requiem for Immortals ranks as a modern lesfic thriller classic — elegantly written and anchored by an uncompromising killer, limited by a romance that never quite feels equal, and best approached for Natalya and the prose rather than the love story.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ 4.19 average across roughly 4,950 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ Lambda finalist and Goldie winner in 2017
- ✓ Still selling a decade on, reissued 2025
- ✓ Power imbalance divides a vocal minority
Romance ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Opposites-attract pairing with real contrast
- ✓ Chemistry praised despite the imbalance
- ✓ Earned without thawing Natalya
- ✓ Secondary to the thriller, unequal footing
Characters ★★★★☆ 4.4/5
- ✓ Natalya the most-praised element
- ✓ Flawed and allowed to stay flawed
- ✓ Genuine moral ambiguity, no redemption speech
- ✓ Alison too passive for several readers
Writing ★★★★★ 4.5/5
- ✓ Elegant, economical prose praised widely
- ✓ Music carries the emotional weight
- ✓ Tight plotting with well-placed reveals
- ✓ Second half slows for backstory
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.1/5
- ✓ Readers describe being unable to move on
- ✓ Natalya’s code under strain lands
- ✓ Real menace behind the contract
- ✓ One critic left emotionally hollow
Heat Level ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ On-page scenes, described as steamy
- ✓ Graphic per at least one reviewer
- ✓ Not indexed on romance.io
- ✓ Dubious consent flagged by one reader
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ Mystery resolves, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Happy-for-now suits the characters
- ✓ Epilogue novella rated 4.27
- ✓ Not a conventional HEA
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ Prose rewards a slower second read
- ✓ Chase’s 11h 58m narration widely praised
- ✓ Novella pulls readers back to the couple
- ✓ Twists lose their shock on return
Affiliate disclosure: Lesbian Romance Reads participates in the Amazon Associates Program and the Libro.fm affiliate program. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.