Hit List

such qualities as surprise, humor, and
mystery . . . [an] example of Lawrence Block’s
prolific and versatile ways with crime fiction.”
Toronto Star
    “LAWRENCE BLOCK IS A MASTER.”
Jonathan Kellerman
    “THE YEAR’S MOST EMOTIONALLY UNSETTLING NOVEL . . .
Hit List is an astonishing book;
beautifully written, as deeply enjoyable
as it is fundamentally upsetting.
Block is one of the great technicians of the form.”
London Independent (UK)
    “YOU CAN’T HELP BUT LIKE KELLER . . .
The perfect hero for the Oprah age: thoughtful,
sincere, in touch with his feelings—and wholly
self-absorbed and destructive to those around him
. . . Keller’s inadequacies, insecurities, and
pretensions are endearing. You find yourself
rooting for him to off his latest target
and get safely out of town.”
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
    “GREAT FUN . . .
The phenomenally prolific and accomplished
Block obviously loves playing with the genre and
testing how much he can get away with . . . Keller’s
droll commentary on the passing American scene
accounts for much of his highly unlikely appeal . . .
The talented Block renders Keller engaging,
with the hit man’s crafty intelligence, with his
sympathetic humor about crackpots, with the
killer’s gingerly excursions into his own psychology
. . . and with surprising fits of conscience.”
Washington Post Book World
    “BLOCK IS AMONG OUR
MOST DISTINGUISHED MYSTERY WRITERS . . .
He brings to the Keller saga his usual blend of
hard-bitten suspense and whimsical dialogue.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
    “BLOCK IS A WONDERFULLY
AGILE WRITER . . .
If crime fans don’t have Keller on their A-list yet,
they’re missing a sure thing.”
Booklist
    “IT DOES NOT SEEM POSSIBLE THAT
YOU CAN WRITE A COMIC CRIME
NOVEL ABOUT SUCH A SUBJECT.
BLOCK DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE.”
Houston Chronicle
    “BLOCK HAS A WHOLE ROGUES’ GALLERY
OF AMIABLE, BENT CHARACTERS . . .
When he introduced his existential hit man,
John Keller, I thought he had gone too far.
But now I am a believer.”
Toronto Globe and Mail
    “BLOCK IS A SUPERB CRAFTSMAN,
one of those increasingly rare writers who
knows how to make every word, every nuance,
meaningful . . . Block keeps us all on the edge
of our chairs, or worse, perhaps scared
to even try to sit down.”
Muncie Star Press
    “HILARIOUS . . . AN ENJOYABLE READ . . .
Keller is a likable creation . . . Block’s casual,
meandering approach to telling his story
may jar or entertain, according to taste.”
London Observer (UK)
    “ONE OF THE VERY BEST WRITERS
NOW WORKING THE BEAT.”
Wall Street Journal
    “A SUPERIOR STORYTELLER . . .
Block has an awareness of the pain
and the pleasure of living. It is a gift
that not all authors have.”
    “QUITE ENTERTAINING . . .
Block’s strength has always been the manner
in which he makes his characters talk . . .
In [ Hit List ] he is at his best.”
Irish Times
    “THIS IS NO SMALL ACCOMPLISHMENT . . .
Block’s settings and plot contrivances very much
exist in a world we recognize from our own day-
to-day lives, and all the characters ring true.”
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
    “I LOVED [THIS] BOOK.”
Book Magazine
    “ONE OF THE GENRE’S
FINEST PRACTITIONERS.”
Chicago Tribune
    “BLOCK WRITES BETTER
THAN ALL OF THEM . . .
He gets better and better all the time.”
The Village Voice

Copyright
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
    HIT LIST. Copyright © 2000 by Lawrence Block. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
    EPub Edition © MAY 2003 ISBN: 9780061802331
    First HarperTorch paperback printing: February 2002
First William Morrow hardcover printing: November 2000
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