Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Hitman 1 - Chicago Deathwinds by Norman Winski

The Hitman
Hitman 1
by Norman Winksi
1984 Pinnacle Books




Dirk Spencer is an idle playboy who finds meaning in life after his friend's kid gets Zimmermanned by a couple of corrupt security guards.  His mission - use his millions to go around murdering folk.  After the security guards, he turns his attention to Murdoch, a candidate for the Governor of Illinois.

Murdoch's campaign is anti-immigrant, pro-life, homophobic, anti-feminist, and anti-welfare.  In 1984, the middle of the Reagan era, this made him Hitler incarnate and a target for righteous murder for his views alone.  In 2015, that''ll get you into Congress.

It is kind of refreshing to see a left-wing lunatic to counterbalance the Joseph Rosenbergers and William Johnstones.  Kind of like a Bill Maher to Glenn Beck.

Spencer discretely shadows Murdoch in his personal helicopter and Lamborghini before launching his assault.  Did I mention The Hitman is kind of silly?  It's kind of silly.  Spencer is completely over-the-top - shooting Uzis out of his Lamborghini or flying upside-down in a stunt plane, all the while being the best at the sex.

This one took me a while to get into.  Something about the actual prose just rubbed me the wrong way, but I eventually got used to it and was breezing through by the end.  If you don't mind things getting a little stupid, this one can be pretty fun, with decent action scenes and large slices of sleaziness on the side.

1 comment:

  1. I've read a bunch of books like that (LOL). But they killed (pun intended) a couple of hours of dead (another one) time.

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