Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: HIT MAN Lawrence Block Avon Feb. 1999 ISBN: 038072541X Buy It Here A humorous mystery about a hired killer who is going through a mid-life crisis. This is a hard-boiled, page-turning mystery. Lawrence Block has written a series of Keller novels. Read them all you will be glad you did. Kellerman, known as Keller, is a just normal guy who lives in a nice apartment until his phone rings... then he becomes a hit man, only now he wonders why he does what he does. Story by story Keller grows on us, but you have to remember he is a cold-blooded killer who likes movies where you can tell the good guys from the bad guys, but in this book you can't always tell which is which. Pam Stone
Rating: 
Summary: It's like reading out of a hit man's journal.
Review: The book the Hit Man by Lawrence Block is a book that is full of enthusiastic drama that makes you want more. This story's main character, J.P. Keller, is a contract hit man. In this book, Keller deals with many problems about his life and has many adventures in doing what he does, which is killing people. This is a great book of short stories about a hit man's personal and impersonal life. Keller is confused and doesn't know whether he should keep his job, that has him killing people, or leave it and live a normal man's life. As a hit man, he sometimes has to kill people that he likes. How does Keller deal with it? What would you do if that were you? Well to find out and to know more about what goes on in a hit man's mind read this book. I give Hit Man a 5 and recommend this book to any body that likes to read exiting short stories.
Rating: 
Summary: The perfect bathtub book
Review: Entertaining and fast-paced - the character of Keller is very well done. Block manages to seamlessly incorporate humor and humanity with the macabre responsibilities of a hit man. Unique and interesting with more than a few grains of truth about the human psyche.
Rating:
Summary: Some Unfortunate Reviewer Comments Below
Review: I know most of these reviews are off-the-top-of-head remarks, but a few of these people are revealing more about their inability to read than anything else. I finished this book today and was amazed at how Block provided a great mix of entertainment and food for thought. It is more subtle than any other book by Block that I have read, and I guess some of these reviewers are zooming through it too fast to pick up on such finesse. Or maybe they don't care. There is one great passage when Keller, the hit man, goes to a zoo and starts feeling sad but doesn't know why: "It's not that it bothered him to see animals caged. From what he understood, they lived longer and stayed healthier. They didn't have to spend half their time trying to get enough food and the ohter half trying to keep from being food for somebody else. It was tempting to look at them and conclude that they were bored, but he didn't believe it. They didn't look bored to him." Keller goes away "unaccountably sad." I stopped reading and thought about this. What a great way for Block to suggest a number of things about this character: that he sees and grapples with the predatory nature of his world, that he fights boredom, that at some level he seems to desire and fear a contentedness comparable to the animals. The book has clever plotting, sharp dialogue, occasional humor, a rich interconnectedness among the stories, but the insights into the life of the main character deepen the book greatly. It is natural to read a popular, bestselling author rather mindlessly, but this book offers both entertainment and a personality to ponder. It is a book to savor.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Good
Review: The book was written well by the author but only in his use of words. I felt by the limited experience of the author it really didnt do the subject matter justice. Keller seemed as though he was in a daze most of the time and in dire need of mental confinement. This character lacked the true emotional stability necessary for his line of work. Furthermore, the character remained so unfocused throughout his "hits" that it seemed highly unlikely he could have completed the contracts or get away with the act. The "hits"and there descriptions were so novice that had there actually been a real need for an assasination I doubt very seriously that the author could have interpreted it to paper.P.S. I read both Hitman and Hit list and neither was worth the time nor the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Hero? Anti-Hero? Does it matter when it is this much fun?
Review: Keller rules. I know that sounds like a 6th grade endorsement of this zippy novel (or short story collection?), but I'm just wild about Block's book. It was fun (and quick) read that is perfect for summer. Keller is killer as he well knows. The stories are funny and sometimes surprising. Even more, Keller gets to us. He is a decent and moral man in his own way. Block and Keller have a new fan. I'll be reading "Hit List" soon...
Rating:
Summary: Trivializing murder
Review: This book is easy to read, with lots of conversation. It did hold my interest. I felt like I was reading Lawrence Block's fantasies, which they clearly are. "If I were a hit man, what would I do?" Keller, the hit man, lives in New York City, like Block. His comings and goings in various U.S. locales (mostly the mid-west it seems) bring to mind Lawrence Block traveling in these places, how he would react, the people he would meet. A nice fantasy, but with one exception: Lawrence Block doesn't really murder people, but Keller does.Keller is obviously a sociopath. Essentially, this means he can murder and feel no remorse about it. I'm pretty sure there are youngsters out there in the world who want to emulate Keller, but is it right to trivialize his conduct and make him appear an Everyday Guy? Well, whether it's right or wrong is not the issue I guess, but what holds interest. Or is it? This attraction to criminals and murderers, which apparently is a long-standing love affair for humanity, definitely says something about we humans. Is it any wonder we need God? Without a higher power, we'd really be at the edge of extinction, because, who else would keep us all from trying to be little Kellers, little "wanna be hit men" (and women?). Oh, that's right, this is a "men's" book: It's the men who idolize these killers and cool hit men, isn't it? Keller's business associate Dot seems to be an exception, in that she also seems to vicariously enjoy his hits, but isn't that unusual for women, that is, to enjoy the idea of murder (and to benefit financially from it)? I think most women would be a little more upset about Keller, and take less vicarious interest in him, than men. So thank Heaven for little girls! It's them and God keeping us from bloodthirsty Chaos Itself (Hell?). Diximus.
Rating:
Summary: An Exceptional Piece of Writing
Review: Keller is a character that you want to like...and after the first chaprter you do. He's Mr. Anybody, maybe like you and me, except, that is, what he does for a living. Although the book is about a hitman, I found that it was not particularly violent. He kills people, but these events are secondary to Keller's little observations about life. I think you will find it hard to put down, and I highly recommend you pick it up!
Rating:
Summary: Quite Possibly The Greatest Book Ever
Review: I just finished this book, and I was simply blown away. Great writing, as well as a love/hate him protagonist, puts this novel at the top of my list. Anyone who likes an in-depth look at a normal person with a decisive career would likely share my opinions.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, Like A Car Crash
Review: Although written in a light and wryly amusing tone, I found this to be a somewhat disturbing book. It features a hit man (naturally) who goes by the name of Keller. Keller is a seething mass of emotional contradictions. He thinks nothing of garrotting a man to death, yet gets all choked up himself when he sees animals in captivity. I found that each time I started to empathise with Keller I was jolted by the realisation that - hang on, the man is a heartless murderer! It was quite a difficult hurdle to overcome. What was even harder for me to reconcile was the humorous mood of the book that dealt with the murders as quickly and efficiently as Keller himself did. This was probably the tone and the effect that Lawrence Block was hoping to achieve, but it was unsettling all the same. Now, having expressed the aspects of the book that made me uncomfortable, I should point out that I found it very compelling reading and could virtually not put it down. A bit like driving past a road accident I suppose. Lawrence Block manages to portray the anti-hero very well in many of his books and almost pulls it off again here. When Keller's not working you could almost class him as a nice guy.
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