A Killing for Christ (50th Anniversary Edition)

by Pete Hamill

Overview

The fiftieth-anniversary edition of Hamill’s thrilling and provocative 1968 debut novel, with a brand-new introduction by the author.

“A Killing for Christ is a fast-paced, topical thriller . . . Hamill’s prose is stylishly punchy . . . I would guess that Hamill admires Hemingway, Jimmy Breslin, and Mickey Spillane—not always in that order.” —New York Times

A secret agent out of John le Carré . . . a spoiled priest-hero out of Graham Greene . . . a high-voltage novel of suspense that is Pete Hamill’s own.

The man in priest’s garb gets out of the elevator at the top floor, leaving the gate ajar. He removes the rifle from under his habit and opens the breech. It’s loaded. He closes it and steps to the edge of the roof. St. Peter’s Square is spread out before him like a great, colorful lake. There are more people than he has ever seen before.

Now the target arrives. The man on top of the building sights down the rifle at the small figure below. His finger is ready on the trigger, ready to gun down His Holiness, the Vicar of Christ . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617755781
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Edition description:	50th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

PETE HAMILL (1935–2020) was born in Brooklyn and is, for many, the living embodiment of New York City. In his writing for the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and New York magazine, he has brought the city to life for millions of readers. He is the author of many best-selling books, including the novels Forever and Snow in August, as well the memoir A Drinking Life. He recently moved back to Brooklyn. His latest publication is the fiftieth-anniversary edition of his debut novel, A Killing for Christ.

Hometown:

New York, New York, and Cuernavaca, Mexico

Date of Birth:

1935

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, New York

Education:

Mexico City College, 1956-1957; Pratt Institute

Website:

http://www.petehamill.com

Editorial Reviews

01/08/2018
This reissue marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of journalist Hamill’s first novel, an angry diatribe. In early 1968, at a time of ferment over the Vietnam War and the direction of the Catholic Church, a number of disaffected people collide in Rome, including American voluptuary James Rail; Richard Harwell, a rabidly anti-Semitic Jew; and Fr. Robert Malloy, an Irish priest, and his Italian lover, Franca. Malloy, who travels in high social circles, gets wind of a plot to assassinate the pope among the dissolute denizens of Rome. As Easter and the assassination date approach, Malloy begins to understand what is happening, but will he try to prevent it? In a new introduction, Hamill (Tabloid City) comments on the book’s influences and what he now considers its primary theme: the loss of faith. Indeed, this thriller is of most interest as a guide to the author’s political and religious views during that tumultuous era. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"A Killing for Christ is steeped in noir sensibility....This is a tense, page-turning thriller that is as pertinent today as it was when it was first published."

Shelf Awareness for Readers

"A Killing for Christ has a secret agent out of John le Carré and a spoiled priest-her out of Graham Greene, and Pete Hamill created a novel of suspense that is all his own, and that is why he is a Brooklyn treasure."

Brooklyn Digest

"As a portrait of time and place, A Killing for Christ is perfect...A Killing for Christ is a gem of a literary thriller, alive with the best noir qualities and not at all date. The Akashic 50th anniversary edition should bring a great novel to the attention of a new audience."

Nudge-Book

"Hamill is better known as one of our greatest chroniclers of New York City. In this, his first novel, rereleased on its 50th anniversary, he goes all hard-boiled noir, telling the story of a disaffected American priest and a plot to kill the pope."

Honor Jones's "New & Noteworthy" column New York Times Book Review

"I'm a big fan of Pete Hamill's, and can't think of a finer New York novel than Forever. Somehow, I'd missed his first book, A Killing for Christ, and am grateful to Akashic for having brought out this fiftieth anniversary edition. It's a strong tale well told, with compelling and fully realized characters. Hamill has grown as a writer since 1968—it would be remarkable if he had not—but you can glimpse in this first novel the writer he would become."

Lawrence Block

"Hamill is better known as one of our greatest chroniclers of New York City. In this, his first novel, rereleased on its 50th anniversary, he goes all hard-boiled noir, telling the story of a disaffected American priest and a plot to kill the pope."

The New York Times Book Review - Honor Jones's "New & Noteworthy" column

"Praise for the original 1968 edition:

"A Killing for Christ is a fast-paced, topical thriller...Hamill’s prose is stylishly punchy...I would guess that Hamill admires Hemingway, Jimmy Breslin, and Mickey Spillane—not always in that order."
—New York Times

"The Helen Macinnes touch...the Hitchcock air."
—Philadelphia Inquirer

"The style and substance of this first novel owes much to hardboiled, gutsy, private-eye fiction and to a general submersion into obscenity and violence."
—Kirkus Reviews"

Praise for the original 1968 edition