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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty, but a definite must for crime-thriller fans., 23 Oct 2001
By A Customer
Before buying "The Hired Gun" I had heard many rave reviews about it, and was unsure whether it would be as good as I had heard. Within a few pages though you realize that you're reading an exceptional story that is unlike any other crime thriller, for sure living up to it billing. "The Hired Gun" will take you on a journey through the world of the hit man keeping you wanting to read just one more page. You learn about the seedy close-knit nature of the underworld, how a hit man thinks and operates leaving you feeling as though you have been in an adventure, rather than a mere spectator. The author pulls no punches in the hard-hitting style used to really make you feel immersed within the book. The words gritty, stark, harsh, coarse and unsentimental all spring to mind whilst reading this book. Once you get past the opening pages and become familiar with the style and occasional lingo used, it's a free-flowing ride all the way to the end that will leave you wanting to turn to page 1 again. Initially the unique writing style and use of lingo may mean you have to re-read some lines before you move on, but definitely worth sticking at for the latter parts of the book. Overall, for those who are after a crime thriller that will keep you on the edge with a brilliant crescendo of an ending, this is definitely to be recommended.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Literary hitmen, 31 May 2003
John Decker is a contract killer. The best, in fact. He's also getting older. And someone is out to take his place. He waits for this Contender to seek him out, but is instead confronted with Olsen, a fast-talking, brash hitman in his twenties who insists he's not the Contender and only wants to work for Decker. Decker is unsure, but both men have lost their Postmen and are now adrift without jobs or protection, so reluctantly he agrees to team up and teach Olsen some tricks in exchange for a second pair of eyes as they track down the force trying to destroy them.The first third of THE HIRED GUN reads like a noir/action film, complete with the killers in their racy black cars and wraparound shades meeting out in the desert with their guns in hand and the blood red sun setting in the background. But as soon as Decker and Olsen get hooked up, the story shifts into an almost literary tale of crooked relationships. I grew so attached to both men that the ending left me feeling hollow inside. I wanted them, hitmen though they are, to succeed. Normally, I'd have a good laugh at scenes where two contract killers sit around in a car on a stakeout discussing the hardships of the Life, but THE HIRED GUN is so well written that instead I was touched and saddened. The plot seems haphazard (I did not even understand all of it), but the characters are convincing enough I hardly noticed. What THE HIRED GUN lacks, for its genre, is the usual flying blood and spilling guts. The one torture scene is hilarious, not painful. The author's attempt to turn a potboiler into a literary work may not satisfy the genre's fans, but as someone who usually winces her way through the violence of the typical noir tale, I enjoyed this variation of the same old theme. If you're into hardcore noir, steer clear. But if you think you'd like a book about contract killers with hearts, I recommend giving THE HIRED GUN a try.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
A good read, 25 Aug 2005
The best thing I can say about this book is that I read it straight through pretty much and it kept my attention. However I can't help thinking that the writer is sliding into a genre.This book and House of Whacks are both very much in the noir style and read rather like an updated Raymond Chandler, and actually when you make that comparison you see the flaws, this is much dumber. He can write - there's some tight dialogue but nothing he's written since is as good as The Love Parade. This is readable full of savvy dialogue and quite an achievement for an Englishman but at the end the characters are caricatures really, not real people and that is where the writer is missing. There is no-one here really to care about, the jaded old guy is just too hard bitten to like, although we're supposed to see him softening at the end. The younger guy seems not too have any real depth, there's too much wallowing in sensation with him for the character to come out. There's no more than hints at feelings for the murder victims in this and that makes this a hard man's book, macho, posturing, it's a shame that the characters weren't explored more from a moral perspective. I haven't read Coast but from reviews it sounds very like something Bret Easton Ellis would have written and I'm not that interested in dissolute youngsters. The ending is a Hollywood cliche and occurs in many thriller movies, despite the claim on the cover and from other reviewers that the book avoids noir genre cliches. This writer is capable of much, much better and I'm waiting for a really good contemporary novel from him about real people that aren't caught up in sleaze. The Love Parade was a really deep book. The older you are the better you get and one day this guy will write a really great and famous novel. This isn't it unfortunately.
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