Read 'Hit and Run' for Fun--Just Don't Think Too Much

Review of HIT AND RUN (William Morrow 2008)
Author, Lawrence Block

HIT AND RUN is one of those books where it's best not to know too much about the story before you start. So I'll limit the description to what was on the book jacket and just enough more so that, hopefully, my comments will make some kind of sense.

John Paul Keller, the "hero" of our story, is a professional hit man. Keller is right on the verge of retiring when he's called upon to perform one last job--whacking some guy in Des Moines, Iowa. Keller reports for duty in Des Moines only to be repeatedly put on hold. While Keller indulges himself in buying some stamps for his collection (a long-time hobby), someone puts the hit on the governor of Ohio--the first black governor of Ohio, at that, who happens to be visiting Des Moines. He's also a likely presidential contender and the media are treating the incident as something akin to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Keller had nothing to do with it--he was busy buying stamps at the time. Yet, later, when he turns on the news, guess who's been fingered by parties unknown as the suspected gunman? Yes, it's Keller. And the ostensible last job? Nothing but a way to lure Keller to Des Moines, part of an elaborate ruse to set him up. Now his face is being splashed across TV sets and front pages everywhere. And Keller can't seem to reach his trusty assistant, Dot (the woman who acts as both his business manager and sole confidant). What's a hired gun to do? Where can he go? How did this happen to him?

All good questions that really hook you into the story, after what seems like a leisurely start. As to the first and second questions, when Keller did run, I found myself asking "Why are you going there?" at least 50 pages before he realized the folly of it, which for all his thoughtfulness (and Keller is constantly thinking, reasoning things out) seemed odd. Even so, Lawrence Block is a master storyteller and manages to keep things highly suspenseful and occasionally amusing, even as Keller is doing something that doesn't make much sense.

Essentially, Keller races to a place he thinks will be safe, only to have the rug of his life pulled out from under him. From that point, he lives in constant motion and fear of being identified, with little to sustain him other than his wits--and a few unfortunate (and somewhat convenient) souls from whom he's able to steal various handy things--a credit card here, a license plate there and so on.

Keller winds up in a situation that gives the story a dramatic turn (to say the least)--a "safe" situation with a person who apparently can accept his former hit man ways with little problem. (Keller does this person an amazing kindness, but his past seems to be accepted a bit too easily and I found it kind of a stretch to believe.) At that point, the story goes from "Keller, Run" to "Keller at Rest" (to invoke a bit of John Updike). And things get a bit leisurely again, so I'm figuring something has to happen to shake them up. And eventually something does. According to the story, it doesn't happen for three and a half years (though the narrative doesn't really capture the feeling of this much time passing), and when it does, things take yet another turn. And the story--well, read it and you'll see.

With respect to the third question--"How did this happen to him?" or "Why was Keller set up?"--the explanation seemed thin and unconvincing to me. Surely, I thought, someone must have it in for Keller, to go to all this trouble to implicate him in a killing he didn't commit. But the reasons for setting Keller up appear to be only that he was a handy hit man, and the reasons why the person behind it all would wish to assassinate the governor of Ohio (let alone go to such lengths to pin it on Keller) are never explained at all.

The book could also have benefited from a closer edit. At one point, Keller is dropped at an airport, presumably to head back to Des Moines. In the next chapter, he's in some unidentified city, but not Des Moines, because in the chapter after that he finally flies to Des Moines. What's up with that?

Despite its flaws, I enjoyed HIT AND RUN. I love Block's fast-paced style and his humor. The only other Keller story I've read was a novella from the collection TRANSGRESSIONS. And, even though enough of Keller's history was explained to make sense of this story without reading the ones before it, something tells me it would have been more satisfying if I'd read the others first.

I noticed in the editorial blurbs on Amazon that the Charlotte Observer called HIT AND RUN "[a] great beach read." Which sounds like a nice way of saying, enjoy the ride--just don't think about it too much.