THE KILLER

Hopewell, NJ, USA: The Ecco Press, 1997. 1st ed., with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in dust jacket, not price clipped, with protective mylar cover. "An improbably dissociated killer stalks the So Paulo streets with the citizens' cooperation and gratitude in Melo's first English publication. A used-car salesman loses a bet on a soccer match and has to dye his hair and mustache blond. He's in a bad mood from a toothache anyway, so he picks a fight with Suel, an acquaintance at the local bar and challenges him to a duel. When Suel doesn't want to fight, he shoots him down. Now Ma¡quel is a wanted man: Everybody in So Paulo wants to give him thanks and presents for killing no-account Suel. Dr. Carvalho even offers him free dental care if he'll just kill his daughter Gabriela's rapist, and this time, reports Ma¡quel, ``the gifts were even better than when I killed Suel.'' Even though Ma¡quel just wants to settle down ,the increasingly lucrative offers keep pouring in so fast (would he please kill the kid who's ripping off Dr. Carvalho's friend Mr. S¡lvio? how about the car thief who's plaguing the neighborhood?) Little Caesar recast as pitch-black Brazilian farce--with appropriately distorted echoes of The Maltese Falcon, The Stranger, and Yojimbo. -- Kirkus Review. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.