--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:
>
> Ed wrote:
>
> "Maybe the moral implications of killing can be
discussed in
Lawrence
> Block's Keller hit man series during the
Block-themed month. I
haven't
> read the Keller books, but I did recently enjoy
reading Such Men
Are
> Dangerous. I wonder if it was warm-up act to his
writing the Keller
> books."
>
> Ed, have you read either of Block's other two "Paul
Kavanagh"
books?
> They all deal with killers. The third, Not Coming
Home to You, is
a
> fictionalization of the Charlie Starkweather/Caril
Fugate
killings. But
> the second, The Triumph of Evil, is specifically
about an assassin.
> It's a far darker take on a paid killer than the
Heller books. In
some
> ways it reminded me of Donald Hamilton's In the Line
of Fire. In
fact,
> there have been a whole slew of hit man books,
including Thomas
Perry's
> two Butcher's Boy books and Loren Estleman's Macklin
trilogy that
grew a
> fourth.
>
> There are plenty of noir/hardboiled books about
dealing out death,
from
> the above hit men to the revenge novels we recently
listed. There
are
> books of killings sanctioned by the government, both
by spies and
> executioners.
>
> And I'll bet there are quite a few novels that
directly engage
death
> row, but I can't think of any (except maybe Front
Page, didn't it
> involve reporters trying to clear someone about to
be executed?).
>
>
I haven't read Block's Heller series, Mark, or the follow-ups
to Block's other two "Paul Kavanagh" books. I did just finish
reading Kevin Wignall's latest, WHO IS CONRAD HIRST, about a
hit man who struggles to go straight and live a "normal"
life. I'll check into the Thomas Perry, Donald Hamilton, and
Loren Estleman entries. Isn't Frederick Forsyth's DAY OF THE
JACKAL about French assassins? I look for how well the author
can elicit reader sympathy/empathy for his hit man
protagonist (as Wignall tries to do), aside from the novel's
entertainment value. I'd bet Block can do that.
Ed
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