A Talent for Killing

by Ralph Dennis

"A breathless, lean noir thriller. Every line is razor sharp and without an ounce of fat. Jason Bourne fans will find a lot to like." Publishers Weekly Kane was a top CIA assassin until he suffered traumatic physical and psychological injuries in a mission that went horribly wrong. The Agency wiped his memory, gave him a new identity, and retired him to a life of mundane, anonymous domesticity. But his training, and his talent for killing, came back with a vengeance. He created a new life for himself as a killer-for-hire, righting wrongs for people who can't find peace or justice any other way. He doesn't know that his memories are fiction, or that he is always being watched, or that he's been targeted for death by a rogue faction within the Agency. A TALENT FOR KILLING In this brutal, fast-moving thriller from Ralph Dennis, the author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels, Kane finds himself caught between the mob, Cuban revolutionaries, and his own government as he seeks retribution for a man murdered for uncovering small-town corruption...and justice for another man on death row, falsely convicted of raping and murdering a child. Praise for Ralph Dennis "There are times when Dennis' writing touches on the inspired. He knew how to ride the zeitgeist....if not get ahead of the game. A TALENT FOR KILLING is a really exhilarating action thriller that springs a couple of surprises." NB Magazine UK "Like Chandler and Hammett before him, Dennis was trying to do something different with what was thought of as throwaway literature." Joe R. Lansdale "Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." New York Times "Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose." Mystery Scene Magazine A portion of this book was previously published in 1976 under the title Deadman's Game

Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Noir, Fiction, Audiobook, Espionage

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 2, 2019

About the author

Ralph Dennis was born in South Carolina and had a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina, where he also taught. For mystery fans, Dennis will always be associated with the City of Atlanta, the locale for the twelve novel series about Jim Hardman, former cop and unofficial private eye, all published by Popular Library between 1974 and 1977.

At the time of his death in 1988, he was working at a bookstore in Atlanta and had a file cabinet full of unpublished novels.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up.
This is a story of a killer for hire with a conscience. Ralph Dennis writes lean prose that reminds me of Raymond Chandler and Elmore Leonard. I read this book in two days. John Kane was a CIA killer until a suicide bomber in Vietnam almost killed him. He lost most of his memory and the CIA erased what was left. They arrange through a lawyer for him to receive a sporting goods store in New York city. But then he sells the store and moves to Atlanta, Georgia.
He soon goes to work for Jackson Carter, ostensibly a CPA(Certified Public Accountant), but takes contracts for criminals who are free. But the CIA has kept tabs on Kane and decides to kill him to prevent embarrassment. In addition, the people he is hired to kill try to kill him.
One quote by Bull Racklin, CIA killer: "What is the Chinese philosopher's question? Am I a man dreaming that I am a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming that I am a man dreaming that I am a butterfly?"
I recommend this book to spy/thriller/mystery fans. It was an Amazon purchase.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Real Killer-For-Hire

Hard, tough, nasty, unyielding. These are the words that describe Kane, ant anti-hero ex-CIA operative with Jason Bourne like memory loss who does the only thing he was ever trained to do: kill. Maybe it was a more macho world back then, but no heroes today were as tough and relentless as those who appeared in the early Seventies Men’s Adventure novels. Ralph Dennis penned two Kane novels, one that got published to little fanfare and one that never saw the light of day. They are combined here in one volume and should have been the start of a terrific series.

Kane is a hitman for hire in Atlanta, taking only those jobs he wants and wreaking vengeance wherever he goes. The first story arc here is like those old pulp novels where a stranger walks into a mob-controlled town and, with every man against him, metes out Justice one step at a time till the yahoos who thought they had the town under their thumb are in broken pieces or running for their lives. The second story arc is about a job for a guy doing life for a child rape and murder he swears he didn’t do and Kane is the guy who is gonna root out the perv and do the right thing.

In the background while Kane is dealing with monsters and sleuthing are his old CIA buddies, keeping an eye on him and hoping this lethal weapon becomes useful to them again and some betrayed punks who think the money Kane got paid for a job is theirs by right.

Throughout it all, Dennis offers us great gritty fun, almost impossible to put down.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oddball 70's novel about a CIA agent who has his memory wiped and replaced by the agency. Through various machinations, he becomes a hit man based out of Atlanta. I like to think he's part of the same network that Quarry works for, just in a different part of the country. Hopefully, he isn't on one of Quarry's lists.

It's really two stories in the same book. In the first, Kane is hired to kill whoever murdered the eldest son of a rich family. This takes him to a burg like Phenix City, completely taken over by the syndicate, and he has to infiltrate the mob to get his chance. Meanwhile, one of the muckety-mucks in the CIA is afraid he'll get his memory back, and sends an assassin after Kane.

In the second, he's hired to kill whoever framed a man for a child killing. This involves him with another mob, Cuban fighters, and the military.

Both stories are well done, with the proper 70's sleaze. Lee Goldberg did us all a big favor, re-publishing Dennis's work.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, which incorporates two stories [one previously published and one never published]. Unfortunately, Ralph Dennis was not much appreciated before he passed away. He was most recognized for the Hardman series. Sadly, this book would have been a great on-going series, along the lines of Bourne or the Gena Davis character in The Long Kiss Goodnight. The protagonist, Kane, is a former CIA assassin, who loses his memory in a hit gone bad. The agency decides to create a new memory for Kane, while continuing to keep him under observation. Kane gravitates to what he does best, killing people, taking contracts from a broker to kill people who need to be killed.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this from the published through Audiobook Boom in exchange for an honest review.

This one confused me; it seemed like it was very disjointed and didn't flow well. And then I read that it was actually two books blended together. It would have been helpful if there was a break between the two plotlines.

While not as good as the Hardman series, Ralph Dennis writes well in this book. Shawn Compton's narration was very good, but there were times when the characters' voices all seemed to blend together, making it difficult to determine who was speaking.

[Norma · Rating 4 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"You want somebody killed?"
Kane, a man with no memory, no past, does what he does best - he kills leople. Once a VIA agent, a trained assassin, he'd been traumatically injured on an assignment, emotionally as well as physically, so, his memory wiped of his entire last and a new background identity installed in his mind he was relocated and found an innocuous occuption. But something approximating to muscle memory crew him away from this safe life, back to assassination, working for a different organisation. But he was watched, his own termination only prevented by the man who originally recruited and trained him.

This book is really two stories in one,lone following the other, the connecting link between the two tales that which Kane himself does not know - his true pathway and identity. It has a noir, mix twentieth century feel, the characters never developing much beyond two dimensional. Hey it hold the reader's attention with that outsider fascination of knowing more than the story participants understand. Narration by Shawn Compton is good, in keeping with the book's style, well paced and articulated.

Whilst the detective stories contained within A Talent for Killing are somewhat convoluted, even confusing, at times - who, exactly, is working for who? - and not really plausible, they are still enjoyable reads. My thanks to the rights holder, who at my request, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. A combination old style detective, murder with a hint of spy thriller, and recommended for the novelty of several agencies spying on each other. Enjoy.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is my first exposure to the writing of Ralph Dennis, and it has been a pleasant one. The dark noir atmosphere reminded me of a Jack Nicholson or even Humphrey Bogart detective movie. The only thing missing here is a love interest for our protagonist Kane. Between the CIA, the Cubans, and the client’s requirements Kane has his hands full and the action is non-stop from the beginning. The writing is sharp and concise, the characters feel real. After the epilogue, it is noted that this book started out as two unpublished manuscripts that another writer edited and combined. There are two separate stories, but they are run together quite nicely. Shawn Compton, the narrator did a great job. Four.point.five. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

I love the Ralph Dennis Hardman series. And this one is somewhat similar but the plot seemed a bit disconnected and just didn't gel. At the end of the book, you are informed that this is a book which resulted after two manuscripts found after the death of Ralph Dennis were combined - now it makes sense why I felt it didn't quite work. However, it is very well written and action-packed. The story occurs in the seventies and was likely written around that same time period -- the vernacular is from that time, as well as, many of the ideals of that time as it relates to women and races. As always, Shawn Compton does a great job as the narrator.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing, though understandably so, considering it was ostensibly two separate novels combined by the author's estate. It felt like the literary equivalent of when TV shows would smush two or three episodes together and sell it in Europe as a feature-length movie. The second story was much more interesting than the first, though there are two unrelated characters who appear in each half with the same surname and there is no connection whatsoever. Considering Ralph Dennis' Atlanta ties, I found it kinda humorous that the ex-pro football player who gets gunned down in the first scene is named Pepper Franklin, as Franklin "Pepper" Rodgers was the head football coach at Georgia Tech at the time, and that the character played at Ralph Dennis' alma mater, UNC.

[Kyle Hempel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thriller from another era.

This book is set in the 1970’s and it keeps that 70’s pulp vibe throughout the entire book. If you like pulp thrillers from that era this is a decent book for you. I will say it felt a little disjointed and almost slapped together.

The end of the book explains it all. This book was written by Ralph Dennis sometime between the 1970’s and his death in 1988. It was left in his estate as two unfinished pieces. The publisher took those two manuscripts and turned them into this book.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

[Shadow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Combine Donald Westlake's Parker, Max Allan Collins's Quarry, and Robert Ludlum's Bourne, and you have a pretty good approximation of Ralph Dennis's Kane.

A Talent for Killing , published in 2019, is a bit disjointed because it's really two books in one, combined and edited by Lee Goldberg decades later from the original manuscripts. The first story, originally published as Deadman's Game in 1976, tells the origin of John Kane, how he became an assassin for the CIA, had his memory wiped out by a suicide bombing in Vietnam, then was given a new identity and placed under surveillance by the Agency to ensure that no inconvenient memories come back to him. Though he has no memory of his assassin past, Kane naturally gravitates toward the same line of work and soon becomes a freelance hitman. The main plot involves Kane taking a contract to whack the killer of a rich man's son, which requires him to infiltrate the local mob and gain their confidence, while avoiding getting taken out by a renegade faction of his own Agency that has decided he is too much of a liability.

The second story was much better, as Kane has to do some detective work to find out who framed a dying man ten years ago for a hideous sexual murder of a child, track him down, infiltrate the military-industrial compound where he works and bring him to justice. This story was never published; it was supposed to have been the second book in a series but it was cancelled. Which is a shame, because Kane is a great character. He has the stoic, hardman personality of Parker, the efficient hitman skills of Quarry and the amnesia and Agency/'Nam backstory of Jason Bourne. I particularly liked how the Agency surveillance angle brought a 1970s paranoia and conspiracy vibe to the stories that you don't find in more conventional crime series like Parker and Quarry.

A Talent for Killing is not brilliant writing, and the two-part story doesn't always flow well, but it's an interesting and entertaining read for fans of 1970s-era hardboiled crime and spy fiction.

[K. Counihan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars Good Story but No Pop

Good Spy story, but it lacks the pop and rhythm of the Hardman series. The story gets a little to involved with itself. Some editing could tighten up the story flow.

[Sittingduck · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not finish

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed

Not what I envisioned....didn't realize this was from the 70's. On top of it all the grammar is atrocious. Good storyline for its time but it needs updating.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rather innovative premise as assassin thrillers go. It's not very plausible, but it makes for a very exciting and interesting story. The characters are fairly well drawn and voiced distinctly by Shawn Compton. However, it is quite dated with pay phones rather than cell phones and much more smoking than you'd find in today's novels. Thankfully, the story is complete with no cliffhanger.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Jim A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1976 as Deadman's Game this could well have been the idea behind Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity (1980). It centers around a CIA hitman who has had his memory chemically erased by the CIA. They (CIA) then become concerned when Cain (Kane) becomes an assassin for an organization.

The character and book just didn't have the same "zing" to me as the Hardman series. Others might have different feelings about the book and the characters.

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Promising, but never quite worked. Like inferior Parker.