The seasoned professionals at your library pride ourselves on helping our patrons with their every need. We are highly skilled at cleaning up messes and tying up loose ends, at rubbing out your troublesome irritations, and making problems go away. So we have a certain grudging admiration for the skilled operators seen plying their deadly trade in the following list of our favorite Hit Men in literature. Here, then, is our own lethal little version of Angie’s List:
- Raven, from Graham Greene’s 1936 novel A Gun for Sale (aka This Gun for Hire). Stamped with a harelip that makes him rather too conspicuous for his line of work, this paid assassin is also a pitiable misfit. Caught in a losing game by chance and circumstance, betrayed by his shady employers and relentlessly pursued by the law, it is hard not to sympathize with this stone cold killer. Check out Alan Ladd’s classic portrayal of the cat-loving killer, in the 1942 film.
- The Jackal, from Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal. Strictly a big game hunter, this inscrutable international man of mystery can’t resist the large bounty on the head of French President Charles de Gaulle. Yet even though he is set out to assassinate a great man for the most mercenary of reasons, the sinister dexterity of this murderous maestro may just lead you to root for his success, in spite of yourself.
- John Paul Keller, from Lawrence Block’s Hit and Run and other novels. For relaxation, he collects stamps. For a living, he kills people. Blocks wry, melancholic killer Keller has all the charm of the hardboiled gumshoes who are his karmic opposites. They will do wrong for a good cause; he’s a basically good guy with an evil job. Like a lot of us, no doubt.
- John Rain, from Barry Eisler’s Rain Fall and other novels. A truly romantic figure, this Japanese-American freelance assassin wanders the world like a masterless samurai, having lost his allegiance to anything, but true to himself. A human weapon, he can kill a man with just one blow and make it look like an accident, but he’s been at this game a long long time, and is getting old.
- Peter Macklin, from Loren Estleman’s Little Black Dress and other novels. Mob expeditier Macklin has gotten out of the game, settling down and finding his true love, but sometimes when you least expect it, someone just has to get whacked.
The Butcher’s Boy, from Thomas Perry’s The Butcher’s Boy, Sleeping Dogs and The Informant. When a mob specialist turns against his masters, nobody’s his friend. How to survive and come out on top when all the good guys and bad guys want your head on a platter? It ain’t easy.- Quarry, from Max Allan Collins’ The Last Quarry and other novels. Quarry’s never had a problem offing anyone before, but just why do his employers want him to rub out a sexy librarian?
We’ve just strafed the surface: you’ll find much more compelling fiction revolving around contract killers in this list: How to Find a Hit Man at the Library. Perhaps you have some favorite contractors of your own to share in a comment? No questions asked.
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