In 1992 I had the privilege of interviewing Lawrence Block as part of a Smithsonian program. I was struck then as I am struck now, by the effortless simplicity of his writing and the skill and labor that is required to achieve that effect. I have not read all of his work, but at a rough count I've read nearly 40 of his novels. He always impresses; he never disappoints.
Hit Me is the newest of the John Keller novels. Keller is a professional assassin who always manages to remain a sympathetic and engaging character. In Hit Me, Keller is married, living in New Orleans with his wife and daughter and going by the name of Nicholas Edwards. For years he has been operating a rehab/flip real estate business, but as that market bottomed out he began to take calls and cases from his friend Dot. He is back in the assassination business.
Superficially, the novel consists of a series of cases that Keller has accepted. The plot is interesting and `different' in that the novel consists of a sequence of novellas or (especially in the first and last cases) short stories. Each story is complete in itself.
The novel, however, is much more than that, since there are two subplots that constitute an arc linking the case stories. The first subplot concerns Keller's relationship with his wife and daughter (and to a lesser degree, his contractor/partner). The principal subplot, however, concerns Keller's stamp collecting. In fact, the stamp collecting (Keller characteristically goes to a town, kills someone, and then stops off to buy stamps or attend stamp auctions) represents somewhere between 60-70% of Hit Me.
It's one thing to make murder a sympathetic activity, quite another to make philately interesting to a broad reading audience. Block can do both, of course. The philately softens Keller's character and suggests his depths. Keller's take on stamps is geographic/historical, so that the moment he begins to discuss them we receive an extended meditation on the organization of the world and the course of human history.
Both of the subplots help to turn a segmented novel into a seamless one. The philately is put to brilliant use by having Keller's putative last case (the last in the book and the one that he hopes to be the last in his career) turn out to be fraught with moral issues even as it focuses on philately.
This is the kind of book that a casual reader might think anyone could write. The language is spare, the action frequently mundane (on the surface). On the contrary, this is the kind of book that only Lawrence Block can write. Here is the (very light) touch of the master.
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TheSamMcLeod
You're going to enjoy this..
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2013