'Hit and Run' is hard to put down
Keller is the consummate pro. He's killed hundreds of times, yet
the police don't even know his name. But you know how it is with
that final job. Something is bound to go wrong. Keller's seen
enough TV crime dramas to know it, too. He even jokes about it, but
you can tell the thought has him on edge.
In Des Moines, Keller's contact points out the target but tells
him the timing is wrong, that he should hang out for a few days and
wait for the go-ahead. The contact also gives Keller his choice of
murder weapons: a Glock semiautomatic or a revolver. Keller hefts
them both, then choses the revolver.
A few days later, as Keller is still waiting for the word, a
candidate campaigning in Iowa's presidential primary is
assassinated. With a Glock. And Keller's prints are on the gun.
Realizing he's been set up as the fall-guy, Keller runs for his
life.
It's the biggest fix Keller's been in since Lawrence Block
introduced him with 9 short stories for Playboy magazine more than
a decade ago. The stories formed the basis for "Hit Man," the
first Keller novel, in 1998. "Hit and Run" is the fourth in the
series from this prolific writer whose work also includes crime
novels featuring four other series characters: Matthew Scudder,
Evan Tanner, Chip Harrison and Bernie Rhodenbarr.
Like Keller, Block has been practicing his craft for a long time
and is every bit as good at it. In fact, he's such a superb
storyteller that in "Hit and Run," he seems to be showing off.
Virtually all the action in the book occurs in the first 22
pages and the final 40, leaving 222 pages in which not much
happens. Keller moves around from place to place, uses his skills
to build a new identity, eventually settles down in a new life as a
carpenter in New Orleans, and meets a nice young woman.
It should be deadly dull, but it's not. The crisp prose, the
pitch-perfect dialogue and richly drawn characters make the book
hard to put down. And, of course, you sense that by the end of the
book, something unexpected is going to happen.