Sudden Death Overtime

"The rifleman hunkered down behind a boulder at the top of the quarry cliff which he used to steady the .308. None of the nearby leaves was stirring. An eerie dead calm prevailed . . . He found his quarry sitting at a penitentiary picnic table, facing in his direction. He was reading Gourmet magazine-a rather punishing pastime for someone living on prison food. The rifleman chambered a cartridge and estimated the bullet's drop. He then placed the crosshairs on a spot above the bald target's old hairline. He squeezed the trigger with the gentleness of a nursing mother." Sudden Death Overtime chronicles the murderous path of an elite hit man-and the avenging path of the Philadelphia newspaper reporter, George Ennis, who pursues him after his best friend becomes one of the assassin's victims. The story begins in 1969, when the assignments of our newsman, a handsome ladies' man, take him to tear-gassed anti-war demonstrations, into the midst of an inner-city gang fight, and to a humorous "scoop" on the arrest of South Philadelphia's Maharajah of Marijuana. His fellow newsroom denizens include a hippie who "can't get it all together, but brings it all in anyway," a paranoid loose cannon, the Mystery Shitter, and a drunken war hero from a rich family. After hours are largely consumed with hanging out in bars and searching for one-night stands. The hit man's pursuit finally ends in 1999, when the country-and the print news business-have been dramatically transfigured. This fast-paced combination of mystery, humor, and sexuality propels the reader into a gripping narrative with richly drawn characters.