Keller is sent to Des Moines, Iowa to dispatch his latest mark. He identifies his target, scouts the territory and then fades into the shadows waiting for the go ahead from his employer. The lull gives Keller time to contemplate his future. He has long known the risks involved in this line of work and has built a comfortable nest egg, hoping to some day hang up his spurs. Keller has decided to retire and this will be his last job.

There’s more to Keller than simply being a cold blooded killer. He also engages in more mundane habits like stamp collecting. He is killing a little time making a purchase in a local stamp shop while awaiting word to proceed with his latest assassination when a bulletin flashes across the TV screen saying that the Governor of Ohio has just been murdered in Des Moines. At the time, it’s nothing more than an interesting news story to Keller but, later in the day, he sees a news broadcast that identifies him as the killer. The police have damning evidence that ties him to the crime. Every law enforcement officer in the Midwest is in on the hunt. The dragnet has no holes.

Keller calls on a lifetime of experience in eluding capture and cleverly finds his way out of Des Moines and begins his cross country trip back to his home in New York. An alarming message from his confidante and business manager, Dot, tells him that there is no safe haven in New York and he must keep running in hopes of blending into the scenery in some obscure part of the country.  Things look even darker when he receives the news that Dot has been killed.

Keller meanders through several states and eventually lands in New Orleans where his life takes another unexpected turn.  A chance encounter with a damsel in distress and Keller’s skill in rescuing her from a mugger find him in an entirely new situation. He suddenly has a love interest, a new job, and a possible future.  With his fortune and his valuable stamp collection gone, he has a chance for a brand new beginning.

And then a cryptic ad in a stamp collector’s publication tells Keller that things are not always as they seem. There is only one person in the world who could have placed that ad and that person is supposed to be dead.

This book is definitely not what I had expected. Hit men are supposed to be the hunters and not the hunted. It certainly puts things in a different perspective. Lawrence Block does an excellent job of bringing the reader over to side with a murderer and actually has the reader pulling for him, hoping he gets away. Perhaps it’s because Keller is being pursued for the one murder that he didn’t commit, but there is certainly a trail of bodies to show that he’s no Boy Scout either.

It’s a fast, easy to follow story told in straightforward fashion and the anticipation will keep you turning the pages.