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India Press Store - Hit and Run (John Keller Mysteries)
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $10.99
Your Save: $ 13.96 ( 56% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: William Morrow
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060840907
ISBN: 0060840900
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Studio: William Morrow
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The best of the series - hope its not the last
Comment: After a reluctant start (I had read the reviews and learned Keller was in serious trouble) I found myself deep in the book reading at breakneck speed. Once I had finished, I picked it up the next day and started reading it again at a slower pace.
Having read everything published about Keller many times over, I can thoroughly recommend this book about this droll and resourceful hitman.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best Keller by far!
Comment: If the ending is any indication, this may be the last in the Keller series. If that's the case, Block is going out in style. This one is by far the best in the series.
How does he do it? First off, Block paints Keller into a corner he can't get out of. He's lured into one last job in Des Moines, Iowa. While he's there, a black presidential candidate is murdered. His fingerprints are on the gun, and his face is on every channel on television. To make matters even worse, Keller can't use his credit cards and he's spent almost all of his cash on stamps. And his only contact seems to be dead. Things can't get much worse than that. Only a Grand Master would put his guy in that kind of impossible situation.
One of Block's more endearing qualities as a writer (or frustrating, depending upon your tastes) is to take his sweet time resolving his major conflict. Ironically, while he's on the run, Keller finds the love of his life and a much more satisfying occupation, working on construction. All of this, plus his stamp collecting hobby, makes Keller more likable and answers the question: How do you make a professional killer a sympathetic character? Easy with Block at the helm.
I will admit there are a few "Wait a minute!" segments. For one thing, the woman Keller falls in love with isn't all that bothered by what he does for a living. And she's a substitute teacher! But I found myself with about seventeen pages left and I was thinking Block couldn't possibly rap things up in so few pages. But he managed. If this is the last Keller, I'm sure sorry to see him go. He's right up there with Matt Scudder as my favorite Block character.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Back in the Saddle
Comment: Broke, destitute, without a friend in the world, every member of law enforcement in the continent is looking for you, your face on every media format available. Can it get worse? Actually, he might say that it wasn't bad at all. Without going into detail, life dramatically changes for the man who rode a thousand miles to kill a man he never met, and he still collects a few stamps along the way. I enjoyed every book the LB has written; this one is not a disappointment. It slows down a wee bit in the middle as the angels are singing, the birds are chirping and life is becoming a strange wonderful dream for Keller. I like the way LB weaves the book together. We are lulled into a feeling of nirvana and in a second, the man of action is back in the saddle and the gears are shifted again. While Mr. Keller is still the deep thinker, still trying to figure the half-full/half-empty what life is all about puzzle he is still the man who reacts instantly with conviction. Some of his reactions are amazing in this book. He is becoming human, with feelings and desires beyond a complete collection. But if it is the series finale, it's a good way to go out, and he does it with style.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not four stars....the book is just too slow
Comment: I've read most of Lawrence Block's work and I enjoy his books a great deal, but this time I finished and just felt "empty" as John Keller once again is on an assignment only to find out that he becomes the number one suspect in an assassination. He was framed and he realizes he must run, but the book just didn't go anywhere. I tired of the adventure back to New York and just did not have any interest in the direction of the plot.
Yes, Dot is back (and as funny as ever) and Keller has his moments, but I was disappointed in the book. Will Keller be back? Who knows. Block leaves the ending sort of open though I'm not sure that Block is trying to retire Keller for good.
Anyway, it's an "okay" read. Lawrence Block has better books and I just can't recommend this one as one of the better reads in his extensive writings.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Framed
Comment: Keller is a stamp collecting contract killer, whose life is turned upside down when he accepts a last "hit" after he had decided to retire. The assassination was to take place in Des Moines, except it keeps being postponed day after day. Then, as Keller is buying some stamps from a local dealer, the announcement comes over the radio that the Governor has been shot dead. Then a picture of Keller appears in the media, and he is branded as the shooter even though he wasn't. The Governor wasn't even Keller's intended target.
The plot, simple enough, moves forward as Keller attempts to stay one step ahead of law enforcement--and apparently the person who hired him for the Des Moines job. It's no easy task--having used up almost all his cash to buy the stamps, Keller is unable to fly or take a train or bus out of Iowa, and his rented car has been identified by the police.
Keller is a likable series character, in which this is the fourth entry, and let's hope he will be found in future ones as well. The book is amusing, inventive and fun to read. He's careful and smart, but this time it takes a lot of ingenuity for him to stay alive. He can't go home to his New York City co-op, apparently his stamp collection is lost, and his friend and associate Dot is seemingly shot and her house burned down. All he can do is run. It's a helluva story and a great read, and is highly recommended.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Keller's a hit man. For years now he's had places to go and people to kill. But enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement. So he carries it out with his usual professionalism, and he heads home, and guess what? One more job. Paid in advance, so what's he going to do? Give the money back? In Des Moines, Keller stalks his designated target and waits for the client to give him the go-ahead. And one fine morning he's picking out stamps for his collection (Sweden 1-5, the official reprints) at a shop in Urbandale when somebody guns down the charismatic governor of Ohio. Back at his motel, Keller's watching TV when they show the killer's face. And there's something all too familiar about that face. . . . Keller calls his associate Dot in White Plains, but there is no answer. He's stranded halfway across the country, every cop in America's just seen his picture, his ID and credit cards are no longer good, and he just spent almost all of his cash on the stamps. Now what?
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