Rating: 
Summary: Hit Man WAY off the Mark
Review: Disclaimer - I have read all of the Block stuff and enjoyed each and every one. Hit Man, however, is a genuine bummer. Exceedingly boring. A total waste of time, save your $$$. Or, if you have trouble sleeping, this dribble is the perfect cure for insomnia.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to Block's standards.
Review: This is not a novel: it is a marketing concept. The concept is to double dip by writing a series of stand-alone short stories that could be sold for big bucks to expensive glossies like Playboy, and then put them all together and sell them again to Block's regular readers. At some point in the book I realized that I didn't know the "hero", didn't have any feel for him, and didn't care about him. Another review here talks about one of the characters not being fleshed out. Actually, none of the characters have any substance. Block's previous works are great. Scudder is real; Keller is a non-person. Let's forget about him and get back to the good stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Killer with a Heart!
Review: Block has created another of his fine, well-rounded characters, to delight and entertain. Keller is the hit man with morals, a sense of humour and a love of dogs. He does his job, and does it well, but stops to ponder the more important aspects of his life...like why doesn't he feel guilty and should he? If you loved Matt Scudder, you'll be begging for more Keller!
Rating:
Summary: Why a 10 indeed??
Review: This book is very average. This is not a compliment. Readers who gassed all over the place and gave it a 10 need to start reading some better books!. For example, the character of Dot is not fleshed out. She's witty and sardonic, but is she Maude or Mary Tyer Moore? I agree that after 180 pages, this story went nowhere. The stamp thing was pointless since Keller did not change his work. The fact that he was almost never caught or in danger was ridiculous.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad but this is not the cup of tea of Mr.Block
Review: First of all, I'm a loyal fan to LB. So-- 1)This book, in general, is not a bad, but Block has wasted a lot of pages on Keller and his shrink and other irrelevant stuff that I have to leap forward to skip them; 2)Block should learn more techniques to portray a hit man's killing skills, not just by choking targets' necks almost all the time; especially Block has numerously described that most of the targets were huge, tall and sometimes, overweighted guys. It just made me wonder during the reading how he could have done it by just choking these giants? Maybe Block has watched too many WrestleManias, or what? 3)It has lost the steam after 180 pages, the final three chapters simply became the stamp collecting hobby report that Block might getting from his own recent newly pickupped interest. Interesting but I couldn't care less; 4)Basically, the new hero created by Block is quite okay but before formally being developed into a series, Block should do some more in-depth studies in this kind of specified profession in order to avoid more unprofessional weakness; 5)Block has provided us with some interesting killing scenarios but in the meantime, he also failed to give the reader a more satisfactory reading by omitting and/or skipping lot of details of such cases that he should described more clearly and more logically. But this kind of failure might be explained that even Block he himself could not find a way to explain how Keller did it every time. So, unless Block himself could find a reasonable way to let readers know HOWHEDIDIT, he should not just put many empty files with just file names but nothing in them; 6)Most important, Block should be aware more than before not to digress himself in writing since the age would become a bad factor more and more, and such problem would also inevitably appear more often and serious.
Rating:
Summary: Why All the 10s?
Review: Having read all the glowing reviews for Lawrence Block's Hit Man, I was expecting something great. Well, this book is OK, but I have to wonder at all the people giving it 10s. Don't throw them around so cavalierly--reserve them for truly brilliant works like Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain. Block's book is interesting, as is his character Keller the killer, but for a supposedly professional cleaner, the guy makes some whopping mistakes that one would think would get such an individual killed or caught in real life. These blunders (see "Keller's Karma," "Keller In Shining Armor" and "Keller's Last Refuge")are the marks of an amature. When the reader can see the hero heading for a set-up a mile away, and he can't, you have to wonder about the skill of the author and/or the intelligence of the hero. Also, for a supposedly professional hit man, average Joes sure don't have a hard time figuring out what Keller does for a living. All in all, this was a neutral read, even a little disappointing, after all the grand reviews. Keller fails to really charm the reader, Block's characterization's aren't great, his plots are familiar and predictable, and his knowledge of weapons and the cleaning profession underwhelm. I was expecting the realism and research you find in John Le Carre. But, the writing is OK and Block has a few good moments--especially in the first story of the book, "Answers to Soldier." The final story, "Keller in Retirement," is cute, if not a little predictable and pat.
Rating:
Summary: HIT MAN. What a hoot!
Review: I finished this book with a rollicking laugh--loud and long.I suspected tongue-in-cheek early on ("Call me Tex."?) butcouldn't be absolutely certain at that point. Had the suspicion not lingered, however, I doubt whether I could have continued to read through to the end. Indeed, the uncertainty was what kept me turning the pages. I had to know. I have to say, though, that had the finish revealed a HIT MAN to have been taken seriously, I'd have been angry for failing to sense that direction and for wasting my time and energy reading something I'd have found quite unpalatable. (All shadows of all doubts were convincingly erased with the introduction of philately.) I wonder how many authors could have pulled this off successfully. Thanks, Mr. Block, for a deliciously spicy read. Now, how about more Matt Scudder.
Rating:
Summary: At last, a hit man who is not miscaninthropic.
Review: This is another boonie dog book review by Wolfie and Kansas. Lawrence Block's "Hit Man" is a breath of fresh air in the contract killer genre. Hit men in books have tended to be miscaninthropic. Rex Feral included a section on the elimination of guard dogs in "Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors". Donald Goines' Daddy Cool murdered a German shepherd in cold blood. However, Block's hit man, Keller, likes dogs and is a tolerably conscientious companion to a dog for a portion of this book. Block's "Hit Man" is a collection of short stories which, taken together, form as coherent a whole as any novel. The reader witnesses Keller's moral development over time. We hope that Block continues writing Keller stories and developing this character. Keller has the potential to become a canine rights activist like Rex Miller's Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski.
Rating:
Summary: Lawrence Block is a genius-read this book and see why
Review: Keller is a paid assassin, a professional killer, who defies the classic stereotype. Instead, his lifestyle is that of the traveling businessman who is just another Manhattan single male when he is home. He does the Times crossword every morning while sipping his coffee. He has tried therapy and purchased a dog to help him with his growing loneliness. However, the therapy made him even more introspective and the dog left him for his former girl friend. He never cooks (even with a microwave) as he lives on take out or dining out. His lonely existence is only broken by his high paying jobs at various locations around the country. When he is not on the job, he reflects on his life and wonders about his victims' families. HIT MAN is a short story collection about one of the best characters to arrive on the urban crime noir scene in years. Instead of being a hero, Keller is an anti-hero. The stories are all trademark Lawrence Block: gritty, exciting, and entertaining. However, what makes this terrific book so appealing is that Keller could be the guy next door taking out your sister on a date. To make matters even more interesting, Keller, despite his profession, is a likeable character. Let's hope for more Keller works in the near future. He is fascinating! Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Linked prize-winning stories with a new character
Review: I'm not Lawrence Block's book publisher, but his magazine editor, and I published most of the dazzling stories that make up this extraordinarily original book. A number of them were nominated for Edgar awards--most unusual to get multiple nominations for stories in a series--and one of them, "Keller's Therapy," won. Fans will want to know that this is a new character for Block, and a new tone--closer to Scudder than to Bernie, but with a sardonic humor that can elude Scudder.
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