Hit Man

Rating:
Summary: It had it's moments....
Review: Lawrence Block writes with a dry sense of humor. Although the book is an easy read, I found myself at a loss when it came to relating to the lead character, Keller. Certain points along the way made me laugh and then others just made me think what kind of person just kills for the sole sake of money? Isn't there more to life than just waiting for the phone to ring for the next kill? Lastly, I kept hoping at the end that Keller would have some redeeming qualities, but it never happened. I would have thought the ending more fitting if Keller, himself, had been killed. Hit Man was good, but it was not Block's best.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry
Review: I kept waiting for a plot to arrive and one never did. A guy goes around mindlessly killing people and then collects stamps. And then the book ends, which I find to be the best part. It's finally over. Pointless.

Rating:
Summary: Block at His Best
Review: If you've never read Lawrence Block read this and you'll be sold. This combines the good writing you find in all but his earliest books, the humor of the "Burglar" series and the hard-boiled sense of the Scudder series. I can't wait for the sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Well written pathology
Review: It grieves me to have to give a Lawrence Block book anything less than four or five stars. Block has provided some of the best light reading I have ever known and continues to do so, but not in this book. All his many skills as a writer are in evidence, but the book ultimately doesn't satisfy - me, anyway. The book is really like a collection of interconnected short stories, each dealing with a contract that Keller, the 'hitman' of the title, must perform. Like traditional war and crime comic books, each story has a central theme or moral and I think that is a limitation rather than a strength. The book felt like a kind of writing exercise - an experiment in giving some human dimension to a professional murderer, yet however much internal dialogue we hear and however philosophical his musings may be, he still murders with no apparant sense of the enormity of the deed. This separates this character so fundamentally from most of us that it's hard to imagine how most readers relate to Keller unless they have become so desensitized to killing that it doesn't register. Even Matt Scudder, Block's most down and dirty character, suffers guilt and regret when he has to kill.

I found reading this book an interesting - but disturbing - experience. If Block gives us more Keller books, I will pass.

Rating:
Summary: Lonely, single assassin loves dogs and stamp collecting...
Review: Don't let the title fool you, this is not the memoir of a cold blooded contract killer. In fact, Keller's occupation basically serves to get him on the road, meeting interesting characters, and placing him in interesting situations, much like a traveling salesman...the difference being that he is eliminating the targeted prospects. There is no exploitation of violence, or mythical treatment of the assassin's lifestyle. Most of the contracts are fullfilled between paragraphs, or treated as background. Upon completing the novel, the reader has learned more about Australian cattle dogs, stamp collecting, and small towns in Oregon, than he/she could hope to learn about the favored tools of the killer trade. Keller does his job because it is what he knows and does well, to the point that he rarely has to think about it. Thus, the trip through Keller's mind makes only brief stops for business purposes, while rolling down the everyday track to the final destination we all share. The lesson I walk away from this novel with: It is important to have a hobby.

Rating:
Summary: Laughing Out Loud Through the Entire Night
Review: From the title and the cover, I certainly never expected to find a really humorous story inside. I started the book late Sunday afternoon while my husband watched car racing...he went to bed hours before I did because I couldn't put this book down. I don't know what I kept expecting to heppen, but whatever it was...didn't. What a character sketch Mr. Block has given us. I loved every part of this book. So these are the things a hit-man thinks about between assignments: crossword puzzles, real estate listings, and Australian cattle dogs! A good read for a rainy Sunday afternoon and evening.

Rating:
Summary: A fun and thought-provoking book
Review: If you have a sense of irony that can appreciate Pulp Fiction or South Park, chances are, you'll like Hit Man. It's possibly one of the funniest books I've read this year, but it's so much more than that. It's thought-provoking, subtle, complex, and best of all, brilliantly written. It's at turns noirish caper and gentle parody. If (when?) another Keller book comes out, I'm going to RUN to the nearest bookstore and grab a copy. Block has created a very, very good thing with Keller and Hit Man.

Rating:
Summary: It's a Keller-diller
Review: I see that most people enjoyed this book,too I finally figured out that most people wouldn't read a book all the way through unless they liked it anyway, hmm? Years ago I heard John Cheever lecture and I asked him what his favorite books were and he said "Anything I can get through the first three pages of."

I found "Hit Man" to be a metaphor for "Novelist." Keller lives other peoples' lives, wants to be them or live where they live, and then has to kill them (read: end them). As a fiction writer I have sometimes felt this way - sort of "empty" - and so I have to "fill myself up" with imaginary lives; I'm happiest when I'm "into" my characters; in fact, sometimes it gets kind of scary.

I identify with Keller's...identity problem.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book on tape, darkly humorous and wry
Review: I picked up this book thinking that it was another mafioso, ininspired tale. I was pleasantly surprised by the humor in unexpected places and the unlikely hero of the tales. This is a book that I wish I could write, but failing that, it was a pleasure to listen to. Forester's deadpan delivery of the words is similarly on target. Viva Block!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, ironic (audio) book. I loved it!
Review: When I picked up this audio book, I was prepared for a Mario Puzo-like Mafia book. But I was mistaken. To the author's credit, by the end of the first cassette, I was glad it wasn't a "godfather book." Block creates a "hero" who is a hit man by profession. We get to like him, root for him, and feel a fine satisfaction when he finally finds himself. The matter-of-fact delivery of Robert Forster is right on target. I loved the way he said Keller's name. I loved the characters in this book. And I loved that dog!