Hit List

Block, Lawrence

ISBN 10: 0060198338 / ISBN 13: 9780060198336

Published by William Morrow, 2000

All pages and cover are intact. Dust jacket included if applicable, though it may be missing on hardcover editions. Spine and cover may show minor signs of wear including scuff marks, curls or bends to corners as well as cosmetic blemishes including stickers. Pages may contain limited notes or highlighting. "From the library of" labels may be present. Shrink wrap, dust covers, or boxed set packaging may be missing. Bundled media e.g., CDs, DVDs, access codes may not be included. Seller Inventory # COLV.0060198338.G

Synopsis:

Keller, the quintessential assassin and hero of Hit Man returns to continue his work, but he soon discovers that he has become the quarry and that a mysterious enemy has put out a contract on him. 75,000 first printing.

Review: Few mystery authors have a stable of protagonists as uniformly appealing as Lawrence Block. Whether Block is 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 has just vacated, he realises he narrowly missed a set-up, 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 sub-genres. After two such engaging books, can Hit Parade be far behind? --Barrie Trinkle

Bibliographic Details

Title: Hit List
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 2000
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: good