The Hit Man and Me (Hit Man - Lawrence Block)

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	Hit Man - Lawrence Block
Date:	21/08/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Dark humour, brilliantly written, dry and intelligent

Disadvantages: Too grim for some

Things to do today:
1. Feed neighbour's cat
2. Do the washing
3. Kill a man
Being a hit man is unlikely to be a job that takes up 100% of your time. For every moment putting a bullet into the back of a snitch, there will be countless others waiting around for them to turn up. A hit man, like any sort person, needs to be defined not by their job, but by their own personality. Why not start a hobby or get a pet? Anything that will while away those lazy days waiting for the next button man to expunge. Could a book that concentrates on the blander sides of being an assassin work? Lawrence Block hopes to prove it can be done with 'Hit Man'.

John Keller waits by the phone from the call from Dot. Dot is the dispatch who tells him where to go and who to kill. 'Hit Man' is a series of short stories about Keller and the different cases that he has been asked to execute. If you have the choice to kill the cheating husband or the lying wife who would you go for? Why not both of them? What happens when your psychiatrist tries to manipulate you when they discover you are a killer? A calm and methodical man Keller is not in the job for the thrills, but the bills. With the money he makes he can earn enough to retire and perhaps move to a quiet town away from New York. What type of man makes a good assassin, read 'Hit Man' to find out.

From the very first chapter you realise that 'Hit Man' is not your conventional crime thriller. Each chapter is part of a greater arch, but essentially they act as ten short stories each examining an adventure in Keller's life. This is a dangerous and difficult style to pull off, but Block manages it will accomplished ease. In fact, each story is so good that you are happy that you get 10 for the price of a single book. With moments that range from strangling a man in the back of a photocopy shop to launching a stamp collecting hobby, 'Hit Man' touches on all aspects of being an assassin. It is the moments of patience and downtime that are standouts and like in real life the kill itself is fleeting.

It is perhaps the character of Keller that is the strongest element of the book. As an author it must be tempting to paint a hit man as an unhinged monster who loves the thrill of killing. Keller is the exact opposite of this and treats the job like any other. He has an effortless cool that allows him to compartmentalise what he does for a living and what he does with his own time. Over the chapters Block uses the stories to explore different aspects of Keller's character. Almost all of them see him in a tricky situation, but being such a composed guy, Keller always manages to organise an intuitive and intelligent escape. By the end of the book Keller is still an enigma as we never really get below the surface. However, what we do see means that we get to like him, even though he is arguably evil.

The book is a crime novel, but also a very dry comedy. Block does not paint Keller as a bad guy and never tries to explore whether the targets deserve death or not. The book is not about the kills, but the killer. The moments of serendipity and stupidity are highlighted in the book in a very dry manner. The likes of Elmore Leonard try to write with this effortless cool, but only manage to make boring books. Block uses his humour to make the book laid back, but also highly entertaining. With the entire book being about death it takes a while for you to realise that there are relatively few moments of darkness.

'Hit Man' was a book that I enjoyed immensely. It was a refreshingly different take on the crime genre. Block did not try to over exploit the violence of being a hit man and instead spent more time looking at the mundane aspects of the life. Over the 10 stories you learn to like Keller for his cool reflection and professional attitude towards the job. Block is a brilliant writer who is able to find humour in everything from the most violent deaths to the moments of luck that make up life. With such a dark theme 'Hit Man' has an extraordinary good heart making the reader care about Keller and see him as a human, not just a killer. Is Keller a nice person? Certainly not, but the fact that you end up respecting him is down to Block's brilliant writing.

Sammy Recommendation

Author: Lawrence Block
Year: 1998
Price: amazon uk - £0.01 second hand
play.com - £4.99

Summary: Keller - portrait of a serial killer