Contract killers have long been a staple of crime fiction, but they’re often a mere plot device: a means to a gruesome end. However, the popularity of such films as Get Carter (1971)—based on Ted Lewis’ novel Jack’s Return Home, in which a hired killer is the protagonist—made many creators see new possibilities. Two decades later, the culturally seismic movie Pulp Fiction featured two chatty hit men as major players, inspiring countless works. Masterful mystery author Lawrence Block also began publishing a series of excellent novels and short story cycles in the ’90s, starting with Hit Man, about a ruminative and melancholy murderer for hire with a passion for stamp collecting. Here are three more tales foregrounding assassins, all recommended by Kirkus Indie.
Leonard Ruhl’s thriller Bailing Out follows Geronimo Baylon-Fontana, known as G, an enforcer for his half uncle’s criminal cartel who wants to quit the game now that he’s married and soon to have a child. Then someone tries to run him over with a car, and he quickly concludes that “alliances had shifted—like they always do” in the underworld and that ruthless criminal Arechiga Mando is behind the attempt; he also knows that his wife, Carmen Delarosa, is now in danger. Our reviewer gave this twisty novel a Kirkus star, praising its “pulse-pounding action” and singling out G as “a finely etched character who is at once ‘sensitive’ and ‘an unrelenting, absolute tool of destruction.’”
In Wager Smart, the Kirkus-starred third installment in Tom Farrell’s mystery series, two hit men aren’t the main players, but their myth hangs over the narrative. Chicago racetrack owner Arlene Adams wants PI Eddie O’Connell and his uncle Mike, a retired cop, to track down her long-missing husband, mob assassin Porter “the Pastor” Pearson, whom she says has been visiting her in her dreams. She’s also been contacted by the Pastor’s former partner in crime, the Deacon, who’s something of a crime legend. When Eddie and Mike meet with the Deacon in Vegas, he promises to help close some cold cases—for a price. An unexpected turn leads to a far more complex investigation. Kirkus’ review notes the “textured believability” of this thriller’s characterization—including that of the Deacon, “for whom readers will feel sympathy but no affection.”
Darius Myers’ long-running thriller series focuses on a trio of wealthy Black businesspeople whom the media call the Black Camelots, as well as their private army, known as the Society of Protectors. The series’ sixth installment, Black Camelot’s Assassins & Conspirators, involves the apparent attempted assassination of a racist presidential candidate. The book also features a “gleefully unpredictable” cast, writes our reviewer, including Jefferson Painter, whose nom de guerre, the “Artist Hitman,” comes from the artwork in oils he creates when not on assignment; William “Billy One-Shot” Turner, a cold-as-ice killer who can barely restrain himself from offing a nosy concierge; and Whit Smart, a lonely, retired hit man with regrets about not raising a family: “That’s the hell I pay on Earth for the life I’ve chosen,” he tells Painter. “It’s what you’ll have to contend with in this game, too, if you live long enough and evade capture.”
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
