Hit List

Rating:
Summary: I Called It "Hit & Miss" Instead
Review: The first book in this two book series (to date), "Hit Man", is a loosely connected series of short stories, most originally published in Playboy, and slightly reworked for this novelized format. The stories were interesting snapshots in the life and times of a hit man's career, character and conscience. This second entry in the series, "Hit List", continues the good insights and casual banter between Keller and Dot, who really do compliment each other well. That's the "Hit" part. The "Miss" part is in the fact that this full novelized sequel simply has no engaging suspense. Someone is supposed to be trying to "hit the hit man", but you'd never know it until about half way or more into the book, and then it's all so fluffy, (cozy rather than hard boiled), that boredom sets in with the ease of a knife through soft butter. But would I buy a third installment in the series? Yes. I would still be curious as to what happens to Keller and Dot next. Hopefully, their adventures would be both more exciting and unusual as befits the personalities of each, a potential not realized in "Hit List.

Rating:
Summary: Skip it
Review: This is the first Lawrence Block book I've read. It was really disappointing. The interactions between Keller and the woman who set up his contracts were pathetic. No one talks like that. The conversations were just stupid.

I felt like Block tried to think of the two most unrelated subjects ("hit man" and "stamp collecting") and tried, in vain, to make a story about them. To top it off I had to suffer through all the palm reading garbage.

By the end of the book, I was wishing Keller would kill every other character and then himself.

Rating:
Summary: Weird
Review: I got this book and "Sins of the Fathers" at the same time and liked the latter one better. Maybe it was having the protagonist be a hit man and his contractor that put me off, or the fact that no one else much gets to say of anything. I don't know. But I just didn't like this one.

Keller seems to be a little dense at times and Dot is just a smart aleck. No reflection on Mr. Block's writing abilities, it's just I didn't like these particular characters or the plot.

Rating:
Summary: put it on your hit list ...
Review: lawrence block is one of my favorite writers; the way he blends together worlds and personalities and can create very memorable characters (such as Rodenbarr, Scudder, or Tanner - and now Keller).
the dot/keller relationship is intriguing to say the least and ppl criticize it for being long and drawn out, but so does the rodenbarr/carolyn relationship - it seems this is the only kind block knows and he's good at it, so why change all of a sudden?
this book has a very familiar feel to it - not in terms of storyline, but in terms of atmosphere. i would say that its atmosphere best resembles the rodenbarr mysteries.
simply said if you like lawrence block's rodenbarr mysteries, then you'll like his keller series.

Rating:
Summary: The only Lawrence Block to bore me.
Review: Hit List could have been told in a short story. Way to much ponderous, inane conversations that took forever to get to the point.

What plot there was was great but it took to long to get to it and spent to little time exploring it.

I like Keller & Dot but this book did nothing for either of them.

Rating:
Summary: It's All About Character
Review: I understand the complaints about the banter between Dot and Keller, and I understand the complaints about the lack of a plot. To me, neither of these things are weaknesses because they're very close to being what the book is about. The relationship between Dot and Keller is very close, but at the same time there's a distance and wariness between them that comes through in their digressive, joking discussions. As for the lack of a plot, though this is billed as a novel it's really nearly as episodic and fragmented as "Hit Man," the collection of short stories that introduced Keller. How much you like the book is going to depend a lot on how interesting you find Keller. I find him very interesting, particularly in his inability to face the violence that is central to his life; Keller lives in continual denial of the fact that he is a monster. The thread tying the book together, then, is not the barely-there plot, but Keller's continual, subutle shifts of mood and attitude. Block is going somewhere with this, I hope; there should eventually be a Keller book in which he really has to come to terms with what he does. In other words, this book is very light on the surface, but I think Block--and the attentive reader--are conscious of much deeper levels of meaning.

Rating:
Summary: Hey, Wassa Matta?
Review: Some of my best friends are readers of mysteries, ya know? And being readers of mysteries, big fans of Laurence Block. And they hated this book...And I can't imagine why. Am I missing something here?

Well, ok, it's not nice to be a hit man, and Keller qualifies as the original guy in "denial", but the dialog's witty, the protagonist likeable and you get to travel around a lot, finding the best Mexican restaurants. I myself once thought of moving to Roseburg, Oregon and bought a guitar there. So, I like the guy.

Also, I learned a lot. If I ever meet a guy with a funny thumb, I'll keep it to myself. It'll be safer that way.

Rating:
Summary: Can a hit man be fuuny?
Review: The answer, if the hit man is Keller and arises from the fertile imagination of Lawrence Block, is an unequivocal YES! As in the first book about this character, aptly and simply titled Hit Man, Block sends Keller flying about the country to fulfill certain "contracts." In this case, however, there is a fly in the ointment. Keller himself may be on someone else's list, some competitor whose intent seems to be to reduce the field and thereby increase his own standing. Along the way to fulfilling his responsibilities and to finding out who the mysterious other hit man may be, Keller engages in repeat conversations with his employer, Dot, and these dialogues are guaranteed to bring outright bursts of laughter.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not on my hit list
Review: This is a casual hodgepodge of corny repartee and a feeble plot involving a stamp collector who is a contract killer. The author devotes pages to repartee between the killer and his agent, both of whom are as cute as they can be trading bons mots for endless pages. None of this has much if anything to do with the plot, such as it is. Here and there along the way, our hero treks off and kills someone, although the author elides all the nasty stuff that might make our hero less cuddly. It's like a play in which all the interesting action happens offstage, leaving the actors merely talking about it on stage. If you're trapped on a long airplane ride, this book might be more entertaining than rehearsing your multiplication tables, but probably not as profitable.

Rating:
Summary: HIT LIST - A funny tale about a hit man's life
Review: In between 'consulting' assignments, hit man John Keller likes to collect stamps, go to art galleries, and get his astrological sign read. To Keller, killing people is just another job, like being a stock broker or a plumber. You do what you're paid to do, and then you go out and have a good time.

The good times start to unravel for Keller when he realizes that he has landed on someone else's 'hit list.' Why would someone want to kill an 'innocent' hit man who is just trying to make a living? In between his 'successful' assignments, Keller and his handler, Dot, set out to learn the identity and motives of the mysterious hit man.

HIT MAN is a light, breezy and very funny story about a neurotic paid assassin. The irony of the storyline, coupled with the light hearted dialog about murdering people, make for a very humorous and enjoyable adventure.