Hit and Run by Lawrence Block Orion, HK$114
Lawrence Block is routinely described as a master of crime fiction - so often that I wonder whether he married Ms 'A Master of Crime Fiction', and hyphenated their surnames. Hit and Run will do little to damage this stellar reputation. The hero of three previous stories, John Keller is a hired killer. He also collects rare Scandinavian stamps, but that plays second fiddle to the first part of his CV. With his thoughts turning towards retirement, Keller takes on a final job: to eliminate a short, fat, white guy in Iowa. Then John Tatum Longford, the Ohio State governor and prospective presidential candidate, is assassinated just down the road. Coincidence or a set-up? When Keller becomes the prime suspect the latter seems the more likely. Hit and Run isn't the most original premise: the assassin's final mission is a crime-fiction staple to rank alongside broads, blondes and bums. But Block is so oddly funny the pages turn as easily as the seasons. For example, when Keller muses on a sushi craze: '... badass bruisers who opened beer bottles with their few remaining teeth ... all had their little bottles of Evian to wash down their California rolls.' A veritable Block-buster.
