Hit List Read online

Houston Chronicle

  “BLOCK HAS A WHOLE ROGUES’ GALLERY

  OF AMIABLE, BENT CHARACTERS . . .

  When he introduced his existential hit man,

  John Keller, I thought he had gone too far.

  But now I am a believer.”

  Toronto Globe and Mail

  “BLOCK IS A SUPERB CRAFTSMAN,

  one of those increasingly rare writers who

  knows how to make every word, every nuance,

  meaningful . . . Block keeps us all on the edge

  of our chairs, or worse, perhaps scared

  to even try to sit down.”

  Muncie Star Press

  “HILARIOUS . . . AN ENJOYABLE READ . . .

  Keller is a likable creation . . . Block’s casual,

  meandering approach to telling his story

  may jar or entertain, according to taste.”

  London Observer (UK)

  “ONE OF THE VERY BEST WRITERS

  NOW WORKING THE BEAT.”

  Wall Street Journal

  “A SUPERIOR STORYTELLER . . .

  Block has an awareness of the pain

  and the pleasure of living. It is a gift

  that not all authors have.”

  “QUITE ENTERTAINING . . .

  Block’s strength has always been the manner

  in which he makes his characters talk . . .

  In [Hit List] he is at his best.”

  Irish Times

  “THIS IS NO SMALL ACCOMPLISHMENT . . .

  Block’s settings and plot contrivances very much

  exist in a world we recognize from our own day-

  to-day lives, and all the characters ring true.”

  Fort Worth Star-Telegram

  “I LOVED [THIS] BOOK.”

  Book Magazine

  “ONE OF THE GENRE’S

  FINEST PRACTITIONERS.”

  Chicago Tribune

  “BLOCK WRITES BETTER

  THAN ALL OF THEM . . .

  He gets better and better all the time.”

  The Village Voice

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  HIT LIST. Copyright © 2000 by Lawrence Block. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition © MAY 2003 ISBN: 9780061802331

  First HarperTorch paperback printing: February 2002

  First William Morrow hardcover printing: November 2000

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  About the Publisher

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  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Praise for Lawrence Block

  Copyright

  About the Publisher