Hitpeople Crime Fiction Booklist

Hit Men/Women, Contract Killers, Assassins

 

A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author.Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
  • Hit Man
    Author: Block, Lawrence
    Publisher: Morrow Price: $ 22 ISBN: 068814179x Date: 1998
    starPW
    America's master of mystery introduces a new kind of hero. Complex, professional, confident, and reliable, Keller is as killer - the hit man's hit man. As Keller goes about his rounds, fulfilling is contracts, he learns a few crucial truths about himself and the ways of the normal world, winding up a wise (if not better) man.
  • Hit List: Keller
    Author: Block, Lawrence
    Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25 ISBN: 0060198338 Date: 2000
    starBooklist
    Keller, assassin for hire, is back in the explosive sequel to Block's bestselling Hit Man. This time, something's not right, and Keller's razor-sharp instincts are tingling. It's rapidly becoming obvious that he, himself, is in another's rifle sight and that someone has put out a contract on him.
    Updated 7/25/00
  • I Love My Smith and Wesson
    Author: Bowker, David
    Publisher: Griffin $ 19.95 ISBN: 0312328257 Date: 2004
    starKirkus
    Manchester, England. Death stalks these streets in the form of a hired killer named Rawhead--a shadowy yet powerful figure desperate to control a ruthless mob family called The Priesthood. He will stop at nothing to invade their inner sanctum.
    Suggested Reading: Hardboiled | Noir
    Updated 6.10.04
  • Rain Fall
    Author: Eisler, Barry
    Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399149104 Date: 2002
    starPW
    John Rain is a fresh new thriller hero destined to be one of the most talked-about of the season. Rain is based in Tokyo, trained by the U.S. Special Forces and a veteran of Vietnam, he is a cool, self-contained loner--and he has built a steady business over the past 25 years specializing in death by "natural causes."
    Suggested Reading: First Fiction & Mystery Debuts
    Updated 5.23.02
  • Hard Rain
    Author: Eisler, Barry
    Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399150528 Date: 2003
    starPW
    Freelance assassin John Rain--"a dashing and dangerous hero who is as likable as he is lethal" (San Francisco Chronicle)--returns in an electrifying tale of blackmail, vengeance, and murder.
    Updated 5.29.03
  • Rain Storm
    Author: Eisler, Barry
    Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399151923 Date: 2004
    starPW
    In Eisler's third novel, his romantic, conscientious Japanese-American assassin, John Rain, has fled to Brazil to escape the killing business, but he becomes a reluctant player in an international game far deadlier and more insidious.
    Updated 7.6.04
  • Little Black Dress: Peter Macklin
    Author: Estleman, Loren D.
    Publisher: Forge $ 23.95 ISBN: 0765308940 Date: 2005
    starKirkus
    Peter Macklin was a hit man for a long time but he has taken steps to distance himself from his tattooed past, like quitting the mob, moving away from Detroit, and marrying the gorgeous, intelligent Laurie. But retirement isn't easy for an ex-hit man.
    Suggested Reading: Hard Boiled
    Updated 2.23.05
  • The Prone Gunman
    Author: Manchette, Jean-Patrick
    Publisher: City Lights $ 11.95 (paper) ISBN: 0872864022 Date: 2002
    starPW
    Martin Terrier is a hired killer who wants out of the game -- so he can settle down and marry his childhood sweetheart. After all, that's why he took up this profession! But the Organization won't let him go: they have other plans. Once again, the gunman must assume the prone shooting position. A tour de force, this violent tale shatters as many illusions about life and politics as bodies. - Publisher Marketing.
    Suggested Reading: Hardboiled
    Updated 11.12.02