Book Review: The Ethical Assassin

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

The Ethical Assassin     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
David Liss
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Psychological Suspense
Ballantine Books, 2006, 336 pps.

Lem Altick signed up to spend his summer selling encyclopedias door-to-door. Lem’s goal was to make enough money to pay his tuition to Columbia University in the fall. He wanted to get away from his family and Florida and put his heart and soul into selling and seemed to be pretty good at the job.

Then one hot day he was invited inside a trailer and after listening for several hours to his sales pitch the couple in the trailer decided to buy the books. But before the ink was dry on the check a stranger walked in and shot the couple. This man that Lem referred to as The Assassin took Lem’s driver’s license and told him if he didn’t keep quiet he would be the one facing a murder charge.

Lem keeps running into the Assassin and soon is deep in a world full of drugs, animal cruelty, social issues, and is lucky to escape in one piece.

This is a complicated story with a number of interesting characters. You will meet Bobby, The Gambler, BB, and Jim Doe, a crooked cop. Lem finally unravels the mystery of what is really behind the book sales but runs into a few other bodies along the way.

David Liss writes a good story and you will almost feel you are walking along a hot and dusty Florida road.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM