The Hit

Rating:
Summary: strong Mississippi Noir
Review: Before Nam and wealthy Tom Morris, Kinnerly was Luke Carr's beloved. After Nam and her marriage to Morris, Kinnerly remains his passion upon his return to the back woods of Mississippi. However, though they share illicit moments she claims only occurs when he desires sexual release. Luke knows all he has in the world is his bow and arrow and Adel the bird dog.

Before Kinnerly reentered his life, Luke decided that Morris owes him for stealing her so he plans reparations by taking the wealthy man's art collection. However, his perfect crime fails to consider his need for Kinnerly, who claims abuse; nor the call for him, the Iceman, to perform a hit no different than the confirmed nineteen he killed as an LBJ grunt in Nam. However, the simple hit turns into a series of twisted fiascos as Luke struggles to hide the crime with more crimes.

This Mississippi Noir could easily star McMurray and Stanwick as readers will enjoy the classic relationship between the disturbed vet and his femme fatale manipulator double crossing him. Through his first novel, Jere Hoar shows strong skills by writing an action-packed story line done in flashbacks using "notebooks" as chapters while Luke resides in a VA hospital driving his psychiatrist crazy. The cast is classic Noir and even the vividly descriptive rural setting feels right as this well written crime thriller should be a hit to sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: strong Mississippi Noir
Review: Before Nam and wealthy Tom Morris, Kinnerly was Luke Carr's beloved. After Nam and her marriage to Morris, Kinnerly remains his passion upon his return to the back woods of Mississippi. However, though they share illicit moments she claims only occurs when he desires sexual release. Luke knows all he has in the world is his bow and arrow and Adel the bird dog.

Before Kinnerly reentered his life, Luke decided that Morris owes him for stealing her so he plans reparations by taking the wealthy man's art collection. However, his perfect crime fails to consider his need for Kinnerly, who claims abuse; nor the call for him, the Iceman, to perform a hit no different than the confirmed nineteen he killed as an LBJ grunt in Nam. However, the simple hit turns into a series of twisted fiascos as Luke struggles to hide the crime with more crimes.

This Mississippi Noir could easily star McMurray and Stanwick as readers will enjoy the classic relationship between the disturbed vet and his femme fatale manipulator double crossing him. Through his first novel, Jere Hoar shows strong skills by writing an action-packed story line done in flashbacks using "notebooks" as chapters while Luke resides in a VA hospital driving his psychiatrist crazy. The cast is classic Noir and even the vividly descriptive rural setting feels right as this well written crime thriller should be a hit to sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Its a fast read; but better if you savor it like fine wine
Review: I couldn't get over the style...so crisp and sparse but wonderful: great word pictures. I could have finished the book in a couple of days but decided to savor it like fine wine. It moves fast and takes you along inside the mind of Luke Carr as he tries to make sense of his past(Vietnam) his present(an old love with Luke's number) and his future, which may or may not include money, love and escape from the law. The plot has several twists and all along the way the book is filled with interesting facts and bits of information from art to scent-tracking dogs. Reading the last page was like having a good friend leave town. I hope this isn't the last we hear of Luke...sign me up for the sequel! Reader in Ocean Springs

Rating:
Summary: A modern noir classic
Review: Just finished "The Hit" -- and it's a dandy. Hoar knows the genre well. So well, that he's unafraid of well worn cliched language, since he places it within a strong plot of cross and double-cross. For example, check out this late in the novel dialogue between the plotting lovers Luke and Kinnerly:

"You ever play chess, Luke?"

"I've never played the game."

"Answer this. If you put real mone in there, what are ou going to do if the worst you think is true? Track me to South America and kill me?"

"I wouldn't let ou get away with it. You're right about that and about me sending you ahead to see if I can trust you. But the money is real. It wouldn't be a test if it wasn't."

"We thought we were going to get through this, and still and love trust each other, too. But you're rotten, Luke."

"We're a pair. Don't tell me you haven't figured out that if we get caught I'll go to the chair."

"Yes, I thought of that." Her profile in the dash lights, with her hair blown back, looked as valiant as a ship's figurehead.

-- Sound familiar. You bet it does. Whether it comes from "From Out of the Past", "Touch of Evil", "Chinatown", or "Lost Highway", such dialogue captures best the dark romanticism of the night. Too often modern writers of noir mock their tradition through deliberately goofy plotting or the use of similar dialogue and setting done in a tongue in cheek manner (the over rated Crumley comes to mind.) With "The Hit" Hoar writes in the tradition with a select few of the past and present. I look forward to his future efforts.

Rating:
Summary: A modern noir classic
Review: Just finished "The Hit" -- and it's a dandy. Hoar knows the genre well. So well, that he's unafraid of well worn cliched language, since he places it within a strong plot of cross and double-cross. For example, check out this late in the novel dialogue between the plotting lovers Luke and Kinnerly:

"You ever play chess, Luke?"

"I've never played the game."

"Answer this. If you put real mone in there, what are ou going to do if the worst you think is true? Track me to South America and kill me?"

"I wouldn't let ou get away with it. You're right about that and about me sending you ahead to see if I can trust you. But the money is real. It wouldn't be a test if it wasn't."

"We thought we were going to get through this, and still and love trust each other, too. But you're rotten, Luke."

"We're a pair. Don't tell me you haven't figured out that if we get caught I'll go to the chair."

"Yes, I thought of that." Her profile in the dash lights, with her hair blown back, looked as valiant as a ship's figurehead.

-- Sound familiar. You bet it does. Whether it comes from "From Out of the Past", "Touch of Evil", "Chinatown", or "Lost Highway", such dialogue captures best the dark romanticism of the night. Too often modern writers of noir mock their tradition through deliberately goofy plotting or the use of similar dialogue and setting done in a tongue in cheek manner (the over rated Crumley comes to mind.) With "The Hit" Hoar writes in the tradition with a select few of the past and present. I look forward to his future efforts.

Rating:
Summary: Its a fast read; but better if you savor it like fine wine
Review: Just finished "The Hit."

Damn, what a thrill ride! Those final half-dozen or so chapters -- excuse me, notebooks -- were spellbinding and as fast-paced as Indy cars.

The final notebook and epilogue floored me. I never saw it coming. Brilliant.

It was every bit as gripping as a John Grisham novel, but with a much more more shocking conclusion and, no offense to Grisham, it is much more richly descriptive and evocative. I could feel what Luke felt, from his broken ribs to the stinging sleet blowing onto his face.

This book has juice, and I think it's going to be big. I expect I'll see it before too long in a movie theater.