Say Hello to the Hit Man - Jay Bennett

The result of my finding yet another used bookstore in the general area, along with some other books I'm sure we'll get to eventually. Fred Morgan is estranged from his successful and powerful father, on account of how his father became successful and powerful. Then he receives a call from someone calling themselves the Hit Man, who say they're going to kill Fred sometime, soon. They want him to sweat first. Which has the effect of driving Fred to seek his father's help, or perhaps just to berate him for this being his fault. Fred meets a lovely young lady from the West Coast, and they hit things off, but it seems as though even his father's power can't save him.

The book is about 130 pages, so it goes fast. The solution to who is behind the whole thing isn't terribly difficult. It was apparent to me from the first moment the character entered the book, though I misjudged their reasons. I didn't really buy the relationship between Fred and Callie, on basically any level. I thought Bennett was going somewhere with a comment one of the characters made about Fred being a loner, but I don't think it really materializes. Which happens quite a bit. Characters get introduced early that seem like they might be important, but they hardly appear after. Also, Fred has this tendency when someone says something about what he's said or done, to respond with, "So it's {Whatever they just said}." He does it a lot, and even if he's supposed to be under a lot of stress, it's such a stupid, odd response to it that it really annoys me. I didn't like Fred very much.