Amazon.com Review Few mystery authors have a stable of protagonists as uniformly appealing as Lawrence Block's. Whether Block's taking the reader into PI Matthew Scudder's world of dimly lit bars and basement AA meetings, quirky burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr's used bookstore, or the international hot-spot hangouts of Evan Tanner, the spy who never sleeps, he always provides good company. John Keller, star of Block's 1998 story collection Hit Man, is a typical Block invention: an unassuming, get-the-job-done-and-move-on New York contract killer who collects stamps, does the morning crossword, eats Vietnamese takeout, and falls for the occasional woman.
When Keller gets off a plane in Louisville, ready to do the job he's been hired for, something about it feels wrong from the start. And when two people are killed in the motel room he's just vacated, he realizes he narrowly missed a setup, but can't figure out why. Then he goes to Boston to do another job, and afterwards dines in a coffee shop where another patron has the misfortune of leaving with Keller's raincoat:
The Globe didn't have it. But there it was in the Herald, a small story on a back page, a man found dead on Boston Common, shot twice in the head with a small-caliber weapon.
Keller could picture the poor bastard, lying face-down on the grass, the rain washing relentlessly down on him. He could picture the dead man's coat, too. The Herald didn't say anything about a coat, but that didn't matter. Keller could picture it all the same.
Keller's agent, Dot, puts the pieces--including the death of another contract killer she books occasionally--together and comes up with the seemingly crazy idea that a greedy hit man is knocking off the competition. In between other legit hits, romancing a commitment-shy artist, visiting an astrologer, and a long stint on jury duty, Keller slowly moves closer to the faceless nemesis he and Dot dub "Roger." But it's Dot, the woman of action, who figures out what to do about him. Though Hit List is too introspective to be a caper novel, and too funny to be noir, it's bound to find a rapt audience with fans of both subgenres. After two such engaging books, can Hit Parade be far behind? --Barrie Trinkle
Product Description
Keller is a regular guy. He goes to the movies, works on his stamp collection. Call him for jury duty and he serves without complaint. Then every so often he gets a phone call from White Plains that sends him flying off somewhere to kill a perfect stranger. Keller is a pro and very good at what he does. But the jobs have started to go wrong. The realization is slow coming yet, when it arrives, it is irrefutable: Someone out there is trying to hit the hit man. Keller, God help him, has found his way onto somebody else's hit list.
A hit man you hate to loveOctober 28, 2000 Cynthia Chow(Kaneohe, Hawaii) 13 out of 16 found this review helpful
Keller is a hit man who works to finance his habit ofcollecting stamps. If this isn't a sign of the originality ofBlocks's killer for hire, the contrast between the gentleness of theman and the violence of his job is. While content with his job andand enjoying his verbal fencing with his middlewoman, Dot, a series ofnear misses on his own life cause him to suspect that HE has beenplaced on someone's hit list. Then, just when he thinks that he hasfigured out what's going on, all of his targets start dying before hecan get to them. While it's nice to be earning money without actuallykilling anyone, he soon becomes anxious about who's doing his job andhe and Dot plan how to hit the hitter.
Keller is one of the moreneurotic hit men who has no problem killing so long as it's part ofthe job and not for any personal. The pace moves along nicely, andhis moral debates with the matronly Dot over the ethics of his job arehilarious. Keller is a killer, but he still dutifully reports forjury duty between jobs and has a unique concept of innocentbystanders. A great follow-up to HIT MAN.
A hit man is the heroNovember 13, 2000 Harriet Klausner 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
John Keller's business requires frequent flyer miles and constant communication with his "agent" Dot. John relaxes by collecting stamps and dreams of one day settling in the towns and cities he frequently visits. If he ever honestly wrote his occupation on a 1040, John would describe his work as a HIT MAN.
John knows that many of his victims are innocent good people, but employment in the new economy has been booming lately as his skills are in greater demand than ever. However, John has a new problem as someone else is beating him to the hit, hurting his lucrative business that depends on reputation and completing the job, customized to meet the objective of the customer. As an unknown assailant hones in on his consulting services, John concludes that he personally has made the HIT LIST of a rival who plans to shut down John permanently.
HIT LIST contains all the humor and action that readers expect from a Lawrence Block novel. The story line is two parts amusement, two parts gloom and doom, and six parts irony. In spite of his profession and his tendency to languish in self-doubt, John retains a likable charm even if readers wonder why he continues to off decent folks. It is the killing of the innocent that leaves HIT LIST not for everyone, but those readers who relish a dark satirical look at life.
Harriet Klausner
A good, fast read.December 4, 2000 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm no professional like Patrick Picciarelli, just a somebody who enjoys a good read, and this is yet another of along list from Mr. Block. I highly recommend it.
put it on your hit list ...November 11, 2001 Horselover_Fat(Groveport, OH USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
lawrence block is one of my favorite writers; the way he blends together worlds and personalities and can create very memorable characters (such as Rodenbarr, Scudder, or Tanner - and now Keller). the dot/keller relationship is intriguing to say the least and ppl criticize it for being long and drawn out, but so does the rodenbarr/carolyn relationship - it seems this is the only kind block knows and he's good at it, so why change all of a sudden? this book has a very familiar feel to it - not in terms of storyline, but in terms of atmosphere. i would say that its atmosphere best resembles the rodenbarr mysteries. simply said if you like lawrence block's rodenbarr mysteries, then you'll like his keller series.
HIT LISTMarch 28, 2001 sunsetwatcher(USA) Always wanted to be a contract killer? I thought not. Neither would I, but Lawrence Block's Keller, the protagonist of HIT MAN, has made another killing (or two) with the follow-up HIT LIST. Maybe I'm perverted, but this is the funniest book I've read since -- well, HIT MAN. Black humor abounds, along with superb irony and an askew perspective on the universe that is irresistible. The matter-of-fact Keller saves his passion for his stamp collecting and survives another midlife crisis as well as the murderous attempts of another hit man looking to improve the supply/demand picture. Surprisingly, no gore here, and if you can handle an amoral world, this is the book to read.
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