Calling Mr. King, Ronald De Feo
Calling Mr. King, Ronald De Feo
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Calling Mr. King

Author: Ronald De Feo

Narrator: Ray Porter

Unabridged: 8 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2011

Synopsis

Narrated from the perspective of an Americanborn contract killer based in London, Calling Mr. King takes us into the mind and life of a man who is growing both increasingly cautious and distracted as he travels from job to job, city to city. Though long considered a firstrate, consistently reliable marksman with a cool, unshakable personality, he appears to be undergoing a severe change of character and focus, taking an interest as never before in the world beyond his targets. He regards such a shift, which is marked by an unexpected passion for buildings and architecture, as an energizing deviation from his deadly routine. But he also begins to realize that it is a dangerously unwise trajectory for a man in his profession. Set in London, Paris, New York and Barcelona, this novel is at once a colorful, suspenseful tale of escape laced with dark humor, a story of altered perception and selfeducation, and a psychological selfportrait of a character who is attempting, against the odds, to become someone else.

About Ronald De Feo

Ronald De Feo’s short fiction has been published widely in national magazines, including the Hudson Review, Massachusetts Review, and North American Review. He has also written numerous reviews for the New York Times Book Review, as well as the Nation, New Republic, National Review, and Hudson Review. He worked for nine years as senior editor at ArtNews Magazine, one of the world’s leading art periodicals, and for the past nine years he’s been on the advisory board of Review, devoted to Latin American and Canadian literature and the arts. He lives in Manhattan.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa

I kind of hate it when people write their reviews as mashups, but I can't resist in this case: This is The Bourne Identity meets The Catcher in the Rye. Seriously. A disgruntled and slightly petulant hit man wanders London, Paris, New York, and Barcelona, decries various phonies, has a gradual aesth......more

Goodreads review by John

You've all read the novel (or seen the movie) about the hitman who has a midlife crisis and wants to pack the job in and retire, only he knows that in his chosen profession the only retirement plan is the permanent one -- right? Well, this is that novel, again. Or, more accurately, it's not. That's t......more

Goodreads review by Steven

Strange but interesting story built to make an architecture lecture more interesting. The narrator of the audiobook sounds like Tom Hanks which is an odd counterpoint to the character being a hit man.......more

Goodreads review by Bonnie

Calling Mr. King by Ronald De Feo is an exhilarating read. It is poignant, funny, serious and sad. It grabs the reader from the beginning and we go on a short but rich journey with Mr. King, a hit-man, an employee of The Firm, as he transforms himself from a killer to a would-be intellectual and lov......more

Goodreads review by Julie H.

Calling Mr. King is a novel about an experienced hit man undergoing an existential crisis. De Feo's killer is no Martin Blank in Grosse Point Blank, although that is certainly where my mind went when I first read the novel's jacket blurb. Instead, our man comes from a decidedly working-class backgro......more

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