Hit Parade [Unabridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Lawrence Block (Author, Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2006

Keller is friendly. Industrious. A bit lonely, sometimes. If it wasn't for the fact that he kills people for a living, he'd be just your average Joe. The inconvenient wife, the troublesome sports star, the greedy business partner, the vicious dog, he'll take care of them all, quietly and efficiently. If the price is right.

Like the rest of us, Keller's starting to worry about his retirement. After all, he's not getting any younger. (His victims, on the other hand, aren't getting any older.) So he contacts his "booking agent," Dot, up in White Plains, and tells her to keep the hits coming. He'll take any job, anywhere. His nest egg needs fattening up.

Of course, being less choosy means taking greater risks—and that could buy Keller some big trouble. Then again, in this game, there are plenty of opportunities for some inventive improvisation . . . and a determined self-motivator can make a killing.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Keller is a hit man. Like all careers, it has its challenges, some imposed by circumstance, others generated by introspection. For example, Keller accepts a contract on an aging baseball star. The job will be easy, but Keller complicates it with reasons that can only be categorized as "inside baseball." There's another job in which he's assigned to kill a jockey, but only if the man wins a fixed race. Since Keller is all about the money, he figures a way to turn the situation into a win-win for himself. He also ponders a retirement in which he will abandon his Manhattan lifestyle for a trailer in the southwestern desert. Block, the best-selling author of the Matt Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr series, indulges himself when he dusts off Keller. The humor is even more deadpan than usual, and the vignettes (Keller working as a food-service volunteer after 9/11) are quirky diversions. Oddly, Keller the hit man is also a kind of everyman, pondering such universal questions as, Does this assignment compromise my ethics? Will I ever get another job? Block's legion of fans will savor his subtle wit, his consummate narrative skills, and his idiosyncratic method of celebrating the lives of working folks in America. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Sound Library; Unabridged edition (July 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792740505
• ISBN-13: 978-0792740506
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,153,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is the recipient of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and an internationally renowned bestselling author. His prolific career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series as well as dozens of short stories, articles, and books on writing. He has won four Edgar and Shamus Awards, two Falcon Awards from the Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, the Nero and Philip Marlowe Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of the United Kingdom. In France, he has been awarded the title Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice received the Societe 813 trophy.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Block attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Leaving school before graduation, he moved to New York City, a locale that features prominently in most of his works. His earliest published writing appeared in the 1950s, frequently under pseudonyms, and many of these novels are now considered classics of the pulp fiction genre. During his early writing years, Block also worked in the mailroom of a publishing house and reviewed the submission slush pile for a literary agency. He has cited the latter experience as a valuable lesson for a beginning writer.

Block's first short story, "You Can't Lose," was published in 1957 in Manhunt, the first of dozens of short stories and articles that he would publish over the years in publications including American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and the New York Times. His short fiction has been featured and reprinted in over eleven collections including Enough Rope (2002), which is comprised of eighty-four of his short stories.

In 1966, Block introduced the insomniac protagonist Evan Tanner in the novel The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep. Block's diverse heroes also include the urbane and witty bookseller--and thief-on-the-side--Bernie Rhodenbarr; the gritty recovering alcoholic and private investigator Matthew Scudder; and Chip Harrison, the comical assistant to a private investigator with a Nero Wolfe fixation who appears in No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out with Murder, and The Topless Tulip Caper. Block has also written several short stories and novels featuring Keller, a professional hit man. Block's work is praised for his richly imagined and varied characters and frequent use of humor.

A father of three daughters, Block lives in New York City with his second wife, Lynne. When he isn't touring or attending mystery conventions, he and Lynne are frequent travelers, as members of the Travelers' Century Club for nearly a decade now, and have visited about 150 countries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Force of nature--worth 4.5*s IMHO, October 10, 2006

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit Parade (John Keller Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This book is a set of 9 chronologically sequential, loosely connected, stories about John Keller, thoughtful, stamp-collecting hit man. It includes great dialog--esp. the repartee between Keller & his broker Dot with considerable dry humor & punishment. A few of the stories were previously published separately in mystery anthologies. While the book jacket calls this a novel, it's a real stretch to call it that. It has no table of contents--so here's one for you:
page 1--Keller's Designated Hitter;
p. 29--Keller by a Nose;
p. 51--Keller's Adjustment;
p. 127--Proactive Killer;
p. 163--Keller the Dogkiller;
p. 197--Keller's Double Dribble;
p. 235--Quotidian Keller;
p. 275--Keller's Legacy;
p. 291--Keller and the Rabbits.
As you can see, the length varies quite a bit as do the tone of each one. Several are about sports: baseball, basketball, horse racing, & golf. Keller also has his own sense of ethics--e.g. rooting for his victim to complete his 3000th hit & 400th home run--a constant source of discussion with Dot. Many of the stories involve the playing out of this as Keller feels his way into the actual hit which doesn't always turn out the way the buyer intended. In this collection (the 3rd in the series), he & Dot also pursue retirement planning, and there's much more detail (esp. in one particular story) on stamp collecting (Quotidian Keller). All in all, it's an intriguing book (though Block doesn't go very far into the lives of his characters herein), even including Keller's unpredictable response to the 911 attack on the Twin Towers. Like the movie/T.V. show MASH or Hogan's Heroes, it's amazing how a creative writer can turn death/destruction into entertainment & even humor.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...and still the champion, September 2, 2006

By 

Roger Long "longrush" (Port Clinton, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit Parade (John Keller Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Keller the killer is back, as good as ever--still champion. It's amazing that I actually looked forward to a sympathetic account of a murderer for hire and philatelist, lest I forget. Keller is simply one of the best-ever characters in crime fiction. The book is episodic, as are the two previous volumes in this series. Keller does in a baseball player and others, including a dog, of the canine rather than human variety. But the plot or plots scarcely matter.

Lawrence Block's biggest talent is in the writing of dialogue. Other writers should study the flow of it, the subtle undertones. Most crime fiction writers are lame by comparison. And, of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the humor that prevails through the carnage Keller leaves behind in his travels. I actually laughed out loud, several times, as I read this, and I now have to wait a year or so as I look forward to the next book. Meanwhile, I'm sure Keller will be filling in more blank spaces in his stamp albums.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilled that Keller is still doing business., July 7, 2006

By 

parusski "dodya" (Brentwood TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit Parade (John Keller Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Keller is a strangely loveable hit-man. The man is not a sociopath, but he still kills people for a living. At least all his victims are not likeable. I find the interaction between Keller and Dot to be the most entertaining aspect of the book. Block has written a unique series of books. If you have not read the entire series it is not necessary to read the first two books in the trilogy(Hit Man and Hit List) but reading the first two helps you understand Keller. Reading the first two books will also give you a better appreciation and understanding of the relationship between Keller, the hit man, and Dot, his "broker".

Enjoy.