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Title details for Hit Parade by Lawrence Block - Available

Hit Parade

#3 in series

by Lawrence Block
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

John Keller is everyone's favorite hit man. He's cool, reliable, a real pro—the hit man's hit man. The inconvenient wife, the business partner, the retiree with a substantial legacy ... he's taken care of them all, quietly and efficiently.

Keller's got a code of honor, though he'd never call it that. And he keeps the job strictly business. But while Keller might be a pragmatic and crack assassin, he's also prone to doubts and loneliness just like everybody else. And though he's got Dot, his wisecracking contact and sometimes confidante, these days it doesn't seem to be enough.

Keller's been at this business a long while. Just maybe it's time to pack it in. Only problem is, retirement takes money. And to get money, he's got to go to work.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Keller

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    August 2, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780792744672
      • File size: 228097 KB
      • Duration: 07:55:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The prolific and successful Block returns as writer and narrator of another series of yarns about hit man John Keller. Block should not give up his word processor. He's a much better writer than reader. After just a few minutes, his croaky monotone makes you want to shut down the CD for good. But his stories about Keller's adventures are so entertaining in themselves that you plod on. For example, you learn what happens when Keller is hired to kill a millionaire's ferocious dog, which is killing other animals in Central Park. The irony in Block's performance is that once each story is over, Block's voice, in retrospect, doesn't seem all that bad. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 1, 2006
      Block's assassin, John Keller (Hit Man
      ; Hit List
      ), returns in these loosely linked, well-crafted vignettes of the protagonist on assignment, blithely but expertly eliminating a grab bag of targets: a philandering pro baseball player, a jockey in a fixed horse race, two women who hire him to put down a neighbor's dog, a Cuban exile and more. Manhattan-based Keller works through his agent, Dot, who assigns murders from her home just north in White Plains.Keller, a loner by temperament and trade, has an easy camaraderie with Dot. The two entrepreneurial colleagues strike a casual tone in conversation—but they're discussing death (sometimes in gory detail). With dry wit, Block tracks the pursuits of the morally ambiguous Keller, who hunts rare, pricey stamps for his extensive collection when he's not "taking care of business." Four-time Shamus- and Edgar-winner Block has the reader queasily rooting for the killer as well as the victims, unsettling the usual point of identification and assumptions about right and wrong.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 7, 2006
      Block's latest collection of darkly funny, morally ambiguous short tales featuring the philatelist–hit man John Keller and his wisecracking "manager," Dot, is being called a novel. This disingenuous designation is clarified in the published version by separate story titles, which are missing from the otherwise unabridged audio version. The loosely linked stories are flowed like a continuous novel, but one with plot line and characters shifting without much warning. It's an unnecessary distraction from Block's brilliantly twisted tales, otherwise happily enhanced by the author's droll, surprisingly effective narration. Not only has Block created one of crime fiction's more remarkable protagonists—a hired assassin who is somehow likable without the need of redemption by penance, charm or even regret—he proves to be an excellent audio interpreter of his antihero's sometimes hilarious homicidal capers. The author's voice is reedy and a bit nasal, but he knows his characters and his timing is impeccable. The best episode (identified in the print edition as "Keller the Dogkiller") is so cleverly and wickedly convoluted, with the Keller-Dot recaps so deliriously funny, that it alone is worth the price of the package, especially with Block's distinctive voice taking us through every hairpin twist and turn with an air of sublime nonchalance. Simultaneous release with the Shaye Areheart Books hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 13).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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