Work Done for Hire

November 25, 2013
Jack Daley is a struggling author and former military sniper offered two very different jobs: a lucrative Hollywood novelization deal that might jumpstart his career, and an unwanted, mysterious assassination contract. If he kills the target, he’ll get $100,000; if he refuses, his would-be employer will kill his girlfriend, Kit. Refreshingly, Kit is no damsel in distress, and she easily snaps into survival mode. Jack and Kit are smarter than the story they’re trapped in, able to see and exploit the plot holes. Unfortunately, even excerpts from Jack’s alien serial killer novel can’t make the first half of Jack and Kit’s story move faster, but Haldeman’s experience and skill show in his effortless characterization and tense plotting. Thriller fans will enjoy the smart, fast, and unpredictable story, though fans of Haldeman’s SF (Marsbound, etc.) might wish for more development of the very-near-future setting.

December 1, 2013
Will readers be able to spot the moment Haldeman lost interest in this novel? Was it when he forgot about that transponder implanted in the hero's hand? Or the one-page wrap-up, which has a get-me-out-here feel? Sad, because Haldeman has a nicely flannel-free style, drawing whole scenes with a few slashing sentences and constantly pushing his story forward. It's good thriller stuff. A wartime sniper, Jack Daley, is catching on as a novelist when he gets an offer to create a thriller about a serial killer. (Chapters from the fictional book are included, and some of them would make Hannibal Lecter hurl.) Then a sniper rifle and a huge wad of cash appear on his stoop. All he has to do is murder somebody. His reluctance to pick up the gun and his efforts to learn more about the villains behind the scheme get Jack in worse trouble. The two strands are connected somehow, but if the author doesn't care how, why should we? And how does that transponder fit in? Fans of Haldeman's sf novels may want to see how he fares in a different genre, even if the results are decidedly mixed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)