The Killer is Dying

Starred review from June 13, 2011
In this hallucinatory, almost visionary novel of suspense set in Phoenix, Sallis (Drive) focuses on three people of vastly different backgrounds and situationsâChristian, a gun for hire, who's suffering from a mortal ailment; Jimmie, a boy of about 13 who's been abandoned by his parents and whose dreams inexplicably tap into the contract killer's consciousness; and Sayles, a cynical, lonely, burned-out detective, whose wife is dying in hospice. When another assassin steps up and takes out Christian's quarry, Christian goes after the guy who beat him to it. Unknown to Christian, Sayles is also on the killer's trail. Meanwhile, Jimmie survives in his parents' house by selling stuff on eBay, waiting for the authorities to notice he's all alone. Through no-nonsense staccato chapters, with minimal action, Sallis does a superb job exploring the workings of his characters' thoughts and motives. The September release of the film adaptation of Drive, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, should help propel sales.

July 1, 2011

Sallis' latest prose-poem entangles a hit man's last days with a Phoenix cop's search for him and an abandoned boy who's tormented by the killer's dreams.

Minutes before the veteran killer who calls himself Christian plans to execute his latest target, someone else takes his shot—someone a lot less effective than he is. Now accountant John Rankin is hospitalized but very much alive, and homicide detective Dale Sayles, who naturally knows nothing of Christian's existence, is left to wonder why anyone would take a shot at him. By the time Sayles, whose beloved wife Josie is dying, and his partner Graves, a newbie who's so full of attitude that he spends a night in jail after running off his mouth to an impatient judge, get a line on the shooter, they've stumbled onto the trail of the killer they call Dollman because of the way he identifies himself to prospective clients and others: "I sell dolls." Meanwhile, across town, Jimmie Kostof, an enterprising teen who really has been selling dolls and other toys through his own mail-order business ever since his parents left him on his own, is troubled by violent third-person dreams he finds scary but meaningless. His dreams are just one more example of how "the world speaks to us in so many languages...and we understand so few."

Sallis (Salt River, 2007, etc.) takes his time weaving together the lives of these lost souls, each apparently as aimless as the bugs and birds they can't help noticing. The payoff is a moment of well-nigh miraculous consolation.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

The heat is dry and the stories inconclusive in Sallis's (Lew Griffin novels; "Turner Trilogy") Phoenix noir. A terminally ill hit man circles his prey, even after that prey is shot by somebody else. A team of detectives circles all three, as the story spirals outward to include indelibly etched portraits of neighbors and mute witnesses. Feeling dizzy yet? The story unfolds like a time-lapse sequence in which a flower (or, in this case, a blood stain) blossoms frame by frame. Sallis is often characterized as a poet, but there are no poesies, rhymes, or reasons here. Rather, he is the poet of blind alleys, blank walls, and the blighted lives of those we blithely pass on our way elsewhere. As with a visit to Phoenix, by the end we need to gulp fresh air. VERDICT Readers who appreciate Jim Thompson and still aren't aware of Sallis would be well advised to seek him out. His stock could rise on the basis of a recent film adaptation of his 1995 title Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, which was well received at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.--Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO

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