Transgressions: Forever/Keller's Adjustment

by Jeffery Deaver, Lawrence Block, 勞倫斯·卜洛克, et al.

Book Overview

New York Times bestsellers Lawrence Block and Jeffrey Deaver each provided a brand-new, never-before-published tale for this unique collection of stories, Transgressions Vol. 1 , edited by New York Times bestselling author and mystery legend Ed McBain. "Keller's Adjustment," by Lawrence Block: Block returns to everyone's favorite hitman, Keller, from his bestsellers The Hit Man and The Hit List. In the Aftermath of 9/11, Keller is questioning his...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765347504
• ISBN13: 9780765347503
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 339 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

First Class Entertainments

Author Graham Greene made a distinction between his "novels" and his "entertainments." This volume of Transgressions is definitely in the entertainment column, and that is no slap. I know Lawrence Block's work, particularly the Keller tales, so I went for that one first. Mr. Block writes the Keller stories the way Keller works: he circles around the objective, gathering details carefully, and then goes in for the kill. If you don't know Keller, he makes his living as a hit man, and he's quite good at it. You're watching, and maybe even cheering on, a bad guy who is nonetheless quite pleasant. If you can get over that hurdle, go for it. Mr. Deaver chimes in with an unlikely hero, a police statistician who is not surprisingly the butt of a lot of jokes, and held in some contempt by the self-described "real" cops. This fellow noses out a conspiracy, and gets the real cops on his side, dragging their feet most of the way. I found the ending a little simplistic, but I suspect Mr. Deaver's hero would say it was within the statistical norm. Good, fun reading.

The Fast and the Furious

I was changing planes in Denver and realized I'd left my John Nance paperback on the last plane. A trip to the airport bookstore gave me the usual array of "already read it" vs. "wouldn't touch it" fiction, but I had another long flight ahead of me. My eye fell on the Deaver/Block edition of "Transgressions" and I thought, well, the Keller story will probably be okay. I really enjoyed "Hit Man" and was less-enchanted with "Hit List", but I expected to buy whatever came off the same assembly line. I balked at the Deaver story at first, having been disappointed by JD several times. My mom is a fan so I always buy copies for her and she passes them back, but they sit in my "nothing else to read" pile. Reading the forward by Ed McBain left me hungering for some other authors who might have turned him down for this series, and I was also miffed when he stated that the authors appear "in alphabetical order on the cover, and the reverse inside", but I bit the bullet and choked down the Deaver, since I guessed I would never bother with it otherwise. And I was thrilled! The son-of-a-gun can write, when it suits him! Or maybe the short form is really his home. This is the best book I've ever read by Jeffery Deaver, and although it unfortunately echoes a current television drama, it still strikes me as fairly original and well-rounded. I loved it! The Larry Block piece was a nice return to our favorite hitman, picking up where we left him plus a few international tragedies. It was great, too. I loved reading the whole thing even after I flew home, staying up the rest of the night to get it all down. I purchased the Ladies Edition of "Transgressions" (Ann Perry, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharyn McCrumb) at the same time, and so far, the stories look equally well-done.

A nifty double bill...

Just like the good old days at the movies, this is a double feature with a pair of twisty-turny thrillers from a couple masters of the genre, Jeffery Deaver (The Bone Collector) and Lawrence Block (Hit Man, Eight Million Ways To Die, and dozens and dozens more). I bought this compilation for Block's new Keller story, not particularly having liked anything Deaver's written up to this point. So I read the stories out of sequence, thinking I'd read Block's 'Keller's Adjustment' and then just sell the thing back to the bookstore. But my time with Keller only lasted an hour or so and I still had some time to kill, so I thought, what the h***? I took a chance and gave Deaver a chance to woo me over. Well, dammit, he did. Deaver's story, 'Forever', stars a prim, manic-obsessive police statistician named Talbot Simms, who begins an investigation into a pair of apparent double suicides after they don't quite fit into his narrow theorem. The story is deftly written, with a likeable (if REALLY quirky) protagonist in Simms - and has all of Deaver's trademarked plot twists. I don't know how far Deaver can take Simms (how many of us really care that much about a mathmatics-obsessed statistitian and his quest for the perfect number?). His profile doesn't easily translate into a viable protagonist for a series, but for a fast read with a very specific scenario, he was perfect. Block's entry, 'Keller's Adjustment', begins with his hit man Keller on the road, working a job in Florida at the time of 9/11, and wondering if he's still cut out for the life of a contract killer afterwards. Out of all his creations, Keller is Block's most ambiguous character, often seeming to be a conduit for Block to clear out all the accumulated junk built up inside his head: Keller spends most of his time collecting stamps, chewing the fat with his matronly contractor, Dot, or spouting crazy bursts of soul-cleansing stream-of-consciousness while on a job. Here, Block seemingly sets Keller up for his rumored retirement, and as always, Larry throws in heaping bits of the most cynical, pitch-black humor around. My personal favorite - when Keller fantasizes about killing the soccer mom who honks at him at a red light. Whooo! Brought tears to my eyes... And now, my only real complaint: Even knowing, going in, that Transgressions #1 would be short, since it contains only a pair of novella's - which are usually what? 10,000 to 50,000 words or so? Well, even weighing in at a whopping 352 pages, this volume feels PADDED. The typeface is absolutely HUGE; it's large enough that somebody who's as blind as a bat could read it. And dangit, as much as I love supporting old Larry in his dotage, $7.99 is a lot of cash to shell out for a couple of eensy-weensy stories, even as good as these are; especially when you consider that Block's contribution will also be included in his next Keller novel, Hit Parade (John Keller Mysteries), along with three or four other new stories.

Two great writers...two excellent novellas

Jeffrey Deaver and Lawrence Block have written two outstanding short stories. Deaver's story involves a man obsessed with statistics and works as a police detective when he comes across two suicides that don't seem to "fit" the mathematical odds of suicides in the town in which he works. The plot twists around a few characters and Deaver's writing style kept me interested until the end. Block's story involves Keller, a hitman, who is beginning to have some various worries and anxieties about his life especially after 9/11. Keller (who is a main character in "Hit Man" and "Hit List" by Block) meets with his contact (Dot) and finds himself in various situations all the while worrying and thinking about his life. Block writes a great book and this novella opens up more avenues for Keller in future books in that particular series. Keller is funny at times, insightful and intelligent at other times, and the story moves quickly wit a solid plot. I read the book in just a few hours. It's a fun read and well worth the time.