Hit Man by Lawrence Block

I really couldn't help but like John Paul Keller who is introduced by Lawrence Block in Hit Man (1998). Known simply as Keller, he lives a bachelor's life in New York City. He eats breakfast at a little diner in his neighborhood. He sometimes visits the zoo. He works the crossword puzzle in The New York Times. 

Keller is such a low-key character it is difficult to remember that he is a professional assassin!  He is not vengeful or hateful, it's just that he has chosen an unusual career path. In each episode or chapter the reader learns a bit more about this somewhat complicated and wistful man. It is never explained in this first book how he came to be an assassin which makes him all the more mysterious.

His contacts for contracts are an unnamed fellow referred to as 'the old man' who lives in White Plains and his assistant Dot. It is Dot who calls Keller to send him on his travels about the country to "take care of things" for the latest client. He likes to picture himself living in some of the towns that he visits. But after the job is finished, he always returns to his apartment in the city to await another phone call.

Lawrence has Keller dispatch his victims in just a sentence or two so for a novel that is made up of episodes about killing there is very little of it that goes on. Mostly we learn how cleverly Keller sets up his victims and how he spends his days in your average motel, eating alone in your average restaurants, and not making himself too visible. 

Sometimes his plans go awry, but he thinks on his feet and somehow the jobs always get done  - just maybe not how he thought they would. 

At one point he begins therapy but that doesn't work out too well for him or the therapist. He and Dot, really his only friend, have pleasant conversations about life over glasses of iced tea or lemonade. At one point she convinces him that he needs to find a hobby and he throws himself into his childhood passion for stamp collecting.  The reader gets quite a lesson in philately pursuits as Keller becomes engrossed in this pastime.

There are three more episodic novels in the series: Hit List, Hit Parade, and Hit Me (that was published this year) and then a full-length novel, Hit and Run. My library has them all in e-book editions which is a hit with me...

I am keeping Keller on my list. I just hope I never end up on his!

Introducing a Professional Assassin

Author Lawrence Block

I am moving on from children detectives (here and here). For something completely different, I downloaded from the library's ebook collection Hit Man by Lawrence Block. 

Mr. Block is probably best known for his characters Bernie Rodenbarr, professional burglar, and Matthew Scudder, private investigator. I have read a few books featuring these two fellows.

In Hit Man (1998) the reader meets Block's professional assassin John Paul Keller (known simply as Keller) who, when he is not tracking down his target, daydreams, collects stamps, and sees a therapist. Not at all what one might expect from a trained killer.

Keller is introduced here in a series of episodes that find him traveling from his home base in New York to pretty little towns that set him to wondering what his life would be like if he left the profession and moved into one of the town's nice neighborhoods. But he doesn't wonder for long as he needs to get the job done.

I like the episodic style of this book. Perfect for bedtime reading. There are four more in the series and only one is a full-length novel which I read many years ago. 

In many of Block's books there is a sense of comedy although it's pretty black in this case. But the killings are quick and the puzzles as to why and who Keller's next target will be are inventive. 

I once met Mr. Block at an author event when I worked at the bookstore and have an autographed copy of his book, Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. I don't know why I haven't been more consistent in my reading of his mysteries. He certainly has written plenty to keep me entertained. Perhaps that is about to change.