They were afraid I was going to do a hatchet job on them.hatchet jobˈhatchet ˌjob noun [countable] British English informal 
They were afraid I was going to do a hatchet job on them.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- He devotes several paragraphs to a hatchet job.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY They were afraid I was going to do a hatchet job on them.
a newspaper article, television programme etc that criticizes someone severely and unfairlyhatchet job on They were afraid I was going to do a hatchet job on them. They were afraid I was going to do a hatchet job on them.