Block, Lawrence. Hit parade. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-06-084088-9.

Block's method is to focus the reader's attention on everything in the hit man's life except the actual killings, which are described only briefly and matter-of-factly, often in only a sentence or two. Instead, Block gives us the hit man's internal monologues about his stamp collection and extensive discussions between the hit man and the elderly woman who finds clients for him -- discussions about prospects for retirement, how and when his fees will be paid, how serious an obstacle airport security has become. After 9/11, the hit man works for a while in a soup kitchen, feeding emergency workers; we learn why he does so and why he eventually stops, and the key point for Block seems to be that his reasons are completely unconnected with his profession. Explaining them, he sounds just like any other resident of New York City.

I think that the effect would be chilling if I were able to take the character more seriously. I really can't. Even though Block writes well and the character is well-rounded, the premise just isn't credible. I enjoyed the stories as fictions, but they are too obviously fictional to do more than entertain me.