Available on Bookshop
Write a review
Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
"John Keller is everyone's favorite hit man: a new kind of hero for a new, uncertain age. He's cool. Reliable. A real pro: the hit man's hit man. The inconvenient wife, the aging sports star, 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. "What happens is you wind up thinking of each subject not as a person to be killed but as a problem to be solved. Now there are guys doing this who cope with it by making it personal. They find a reason to hate the guy they have to kill. I don't know what's a sin and what isn't, or if one person deserves to go on living and another deserves to have his life ended. Sometimes I think about stuff like that, but as far as working it all out in my mind, well, I never seem to get anywhere."" "But while Keller might be a pragmatic and crack assassin, he's also prone to doubts and loneliness just like everybody else. There was a psychotherapist once. A dog. Even a woman. And though he's got Dot, his wisecracking contact and sometimes confidante, and his precious stamp collection, 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 and find a nice little house in the desert. Only problem is, retirement takes money. And to get money, he's got to go to work.Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author and master of the modern mystery returns with a fierce and poignant new novel featuring his acclaimed killer-for-hire, Keller. 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...
Hit Parade, the third novel featuring the fascinating Keller, displays the hallmarks that distinguish Lawrence Block's award-winning fiction: the intelligence, the clever plotting, the humor, the tricky twist and ironic turns, the darkness and emotional complexity — and, above all else, the humanity.
The Washington Post - Kevin Allman
Block writes in the same terse, laconic style that his antihero employs, with rat-a-tat dialogue and a matter-of-fact attitude toward the business of death. Should Hollywood attempt to revive the sly, dark "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" anthology, Keller's adventures would be a fine blueprint. With two other classic series under his belt, Block has accomplished what few other mystery writers have: a detective trifecta.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewAfter a six-year hiatus (following 1998's Hit Man and 2000's Hit List), Lawrence Block's affable assassin John Keller is back for more highly unusual contract hits, wry social commentary, and deep existential contemplation. In Hit Parade -- a series of interconnected vignettes -- Keller's targets include a much-heralded baseball player, a jockey, a disgruntled business partner, a golf-obsessed retiree, and a killer pit bull named Fluffy.
Floyd Turnbull is an aging major league baseball player. Just shy of 400 careers home runs and 3,000 hits, the designated hitter's multimillion-dollar salary is ruining his team's chances for success. But when Keller gets the call to kill Turnbull during a team road trip, he roots for the "dead man hitting" to reach the 3,000-hit plateau before the inevitable end. A murderous pit bull is the cause of two New York City women's ire; but when Keller accepts the highly unusual case, he realizes he has unwittingly stepped into a steaming pile of something that has nothing to do with unruly dogs…
The John Keller saga brilliantly exemplifies the dark narrative mastery of the iconic Block, who was honored as a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994. Keller is the cold-blooded killer of dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of people, yet readers can't help but root for him and his ever-expanding stamp collection. Reminiscent of Max Allan Collins's series in the 1970s featuring hired killer Quarry, Block's quirky Keller novels are a cult favorite of crime fiction fans. Who knew contract killing could be so much fun? Paul Goat Allen
Kevin Allman
Block writes in the same terse, laconic style that his antihero employs, with rat-a-tat dialogue and a matter-of-fact attitude toward the business of death. Should Hollywood attempt to revive the sly, dark "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" anthology, Keller's adventures would be a fine blueprint. With two other classic series under his belt, Block has accomplished what few other mystery writers have: a detective trifecta.— The Washington Post
Marilyn Stasio
… when his broker, Dot, casually refers to this consummate craftsman as a sociopath, it occasions droll bouts of soul-searching. Keller even considers retiring and becoming as dull as the rest of us. While much of this ruminating seems pro forma (Oh, come on, Mr. Paganini, couldn’t you play us one more tune?), an exceptional story called “Keller’s Adjustment” suggests a good cause for the hit man’s malaise, something just about every reader can share - even with a sociopath.— The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
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). (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Library Journal
In Block's third novel about the introspective hit man, Keller continues to receive job assignments from his lady friend Dot in White Plains, NY, and crisscrosses the country from New York to Detroit to Scottsdale, AZ, to San Francisco killing people for hire. But in the aftermath of 9/11, the increased security makes Keller's job more difficult, and his doubts about his profession lead him to think more about retirement and spending time on his stamp collection. To raise the needed money for the retirement fund, though, Keller needs more work, which means more killing. The book's episodic plot line, focusing on one hit after another, is secondary to Block's fascinating character development of Keller, presenting a sympathetic portrait of a person willing to kill with little remorse. The section where Keller attends a stamp auction in San Francisco provides an interesting glimpse into philately. Block also provides an excellent narration; a solid addition to all audio collections.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
Hit man John Keller, the pro's pro, returns in a volume that makes gestures toward being a novel but is mostly a cycle of ten stories, half of them reprints. How can a man root for the Yankees, collect stamps and worry about the fate of fictional bunnies while he's making a living killing strangers? Keller, wondering if he's a sociopath, decides at length that he's not, because the brutal implications of his profession wouldn't bother a sociopath, and it truly bothers Keller to kill a friendly acquaintance who's just made him a generous gift. Several of his current adventures concern relatively routine assignments: an aging baseball player on the brink of two big records, an amateur basketball player whose associates plan more murders than his, a jockey who threatens to upset a race. The most resonant stories mingle problems in the contracts-Keller's difficulty adjusting to 9/11, his halfhearted attempt to drum up some business on his own, his apprehensions about his legacy-with his deepening reflections on his own mortality. Most of the stories don't expand the territory mapped out in Hit Man (1998) and Hit List (2000). But one of them, in which Keller is hired to kill a dog and ends up killing four people along the way, is worth the price of admission.Book Details
Published
May 1, 2007
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages
336
Format
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN
9780060840891