Hired Gun

by Matthew Branton

Overview

In this book, Matthew Branton unravels the complex gamesmanship of survival in the face of uncertainty and betrayal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932112030
Publisher:	Justin, Charles & Co.
Publication date:	01/13/2003
Edition description:	1ST US
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.87(d)

Editorial Reviews

In an era of post-Watergate paranoia, even the government's assassins can't be sure of the rules in this elaborate mind-game from British author Branton (The House of Whacks). Contract killer John Decker is aging, and his Postman's death has cut him off from the network and knowledge of what's happening. A younger hitman named Olsen who tracks him may be the Contender waiting to take his place. Or maybe not. Spinning words with grace and ease, the author has fun with this loose scenario in a Diary of a Hitman mold, but quickly gives the impression he's making it up page by page. "There could be four other Deckers wondering why their drops had gone cold of a sudden, or he could be the only one. It was a fact of the Life that you didn't know." But somehow in this world of secrecy the amusing story that Olsen has found a wino using his information drop-site as a toilet has gotten around to all the killers. Readers who crave intellectual romps could enjoy the ride, but fans of the hitman genre who prefer a growing body count may be distressed to find that Branton's killers seem intent on talking their victims to death. (Mar. 1) Forecast: Hard-boiled fans may prefer the late Jean-Patrick Manchette's The Prone Gunman (Forecasts, Nov. 11), which both tweaks the form and has great assassination scenes. Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

British author Branton’s fourth noir thriller (The House of Whacks, not reviewed), this one a chip off the Graham Greene block, This Gun for Hire, putting an aging hit man up against a youthful Contender while fleeing the people who once hired him. Despite a dark but dopey Alan Ladd film version, the clotted Greene novel has not fared well and is laughable set beside The Human Factor or even Our Man in Havana. Nothing of the sort with Branton’s new bravura piece: it has gutsy faux-dialogue, is forcibly overwritten, has style lying thick on the storytelling—and it works. We begin with much remaining unexplained, and we trust that iron rails of melodrama will carry us through the fog. The hit-man Decker hires out in a small but forever undefined world of murder and, now in his late 40s, is seen by his ever-veiled employers perhaps as burned out—or ready to move up. His one contact is his Postman, who sends him forth to do his black deeds. Decker’s last job for the Postman (himself working behind a need-to-know smokescreen) is to off Miller, a married, middle-aged Postman himself who spends 14 hours a day at his computer but remains needy. Miller knows the rules, accepts the pistol Decker hands him, and offs himself. Decker flees to the States and drives ten thousand miles, knowing that an assassin follows him. That turns out to be Jake Olsen, the Contender—who has just lost his own Postman, Miller!—and now wants Decker to take him on as protégé. They swap dark wisdom and killers’ code for half the novel, looking for a way back into the game. Then they meet two women, one of them Lauren Reese, a swell-looking security agent—and a dish from hell. Stylish youngBranton’s future lies brilliant before him. May he make the great leap Greene did.

Kirkus Reviews