Bleeding Hearts

by Jack Harvey (Pseudonym), Ian Rankin

Michael Weston is paid well to do his work and ask no questions. When you're a professional assassin, total secrecy is part of the job. But after a successful mission in London, the police are immediately on his tail. How did they know how to find him? And who is his anonymous employer? Why did he or she want his target, a TV reporter, killed? Was he set up from the start?

The questions lead Weston to his nemesis Hoffer, a private detective who has been hunting him for years. Ever since Weston accidentally killed an innocent American girl, her grieving father has employed Hoffer on a relentless mission to bring Weston to justice. Could Hoffer finally have set a snare that worked?

Weston sets out to find his mysterious employer, traveling from London to Glasgow to Seattle-even if it means encountering Hoffer face-to-face at last. With the brilliant eye for character and taut pacing that have made him an internationally renowned bestseller, Ian Rankin delivers a gripping story that examines what happens when the assassin becomes the target, and proves yet again that "in Rankin, you cannot go wrong" (Boston Globe).

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Detective

384 pages, Hardcover

First published November 10, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

A pseudonym used by Ian Rankin.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out okay. I liked the main character, the professional assassin, and I was interested in his mystery. Then I met the rest of the characters... I'm not sure if I've ever encountered a more obnoxious and yet frequently boring collection. Somehow, they made what was undoubtedly supposed to be a gritty mystery merely puerile. The biggest reason I had to give up was the private detective from New York. There are ugly Americans, and then there's this guy. He took crude to such a level that I can only wonder how Rankin wrote him with a straight face. Whether he was meant to be commentary or color, I don't know, but I just can't bear to sit through any more of his POVs.

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the first book I had read from Ian Rankin and I enjoyed it so much. It made me want to read all his books!

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

An assassin, a gun dealer's daughter, a maverick gun-lover and the assassin's nemesis a private investigator, all get caught up in a cult/political conspiracy. A riveting read, at times, and a bit formulaic at times. 6 out of 12.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Fabulous! 10 of 10 stars!

[Marleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Weston is a hired killer who made one, unfortunately fatal, mistake in his otherwise very “successful” career.
When the novel starts he is in London where his assignment is to shoot a TV reporter, whose clothes have been described to him in amazing detail, when she exits a hotel. His shot, straight through the heart, is spot on, but as soon as he has fired his rifle he hears police approaching, forcing him to flee and come up with a last-minute escape plan.
While Michael usually makes a habit of not lingering on his kills after he’s executed them, he finds himself struggling with a lot of questions this time around. Questions that won’t leave him alone; questions he needs to answer.
How is it possible that the police arrived on the scene so quickly? Had they been tipped off? Had the person who contracted him to kill the reporter also set him up to be caught? Who had paid him for this kill in the first place? How could his employer have known what the woman would be wearing? And who would have wanted her death in the first place, and why?
Armed with only questions and very few clues, Michael sets out to find out what has been going on, assisted by Belinda, the daughter of one of his weapon suppliers.
On Michael’s tail is Leo Hoffer, a private investigator from New York who has been hired by the father of Weston’s only mistake to track down the killer and destroy him. Hoffer soon finds that his American ways don’t go down too well in London, but nevertheless discovers enough clues to stay hot on the trail of Weston, from London to Scotland and eventually to America where a big show down should mean the end to all the mysteries, but does it?

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this book.
In many ways it is a fascinating story. Told from the perspective of Weston we’re dealing with a narrator who should be unsympathetic to us, but isn’t. At the same time, the investigator trying to find and stop him should be the obvious force of good here but is rather the repulsive instead. I soon found myself rooting for the hired killer against those who would stop him, but never felt completely comfortable about that sentiment.
I’m also not completely convinced about this book’s merits as a thriller. While it has all the elements you’d expect in a good thriller – the hunter and the hunted, good versus bad, a chase across countries and continents and a final twist just when you think the story is over – they didn’t work to keep me turning the pages. At times the story seemed to get bogged down in too much detail; descriptions of the weapons used, haemophilia and other subjects encountered along the way seemed to take the pace out of the story and made this book just a little bit too easy to put down.

Overall I say that this book left me mostly indifferent. Indifferent about the characters while I was reading the book, and indifferent about the story as a whole now that I’ve finished it.
It is not a bad book at all; the story idea is original and interesting and I had no problem finishing the book.It is not a great book either though. It was too easy to put this book down for me to be able to call this a page-turner.
One thing this book did succeed in though is arousing my curiosity about the Rebus novels by Rankin and their huge popularity. I will have to read a few titles in that series soon, if only to find out how they compare to this story.

[Anne Brooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodness me, this is a too long and too wearisome crime thriller. There’s a lot of pursuing the criminals and running away from the good guys, or running away from the criminals and pursuing the good guys, depending on whose point of view you’re in at the time. Not that anyone is really good at all, by any measure. There are two leads – the private detective and the hit man – but neither is hero or villain. This of course is a very realistic approach to take, but it does mean that the reader roots for neither – or possibly both, but for me it was neither as I didn’t find either of them likeable or interesting.

I did quite enjoy the fact that the hit man was a haemophiliac though as that was a nice twist. But that’s as about as good as it got – though I do accept I’m probably not the prime target for this novel. It’s best classed as a boys-with-toys thriller. Because there are a lot of guns in all sorts of different scenarios and it was exhausting trying to keep up with the technicalities of them all. So in the end I didn’t bother. I didn’t bother much with the plot either as it was very clichéd and had – again – lots of different groups in different countries up to no good and running around a great deal. Sigh.

Really, by about a quarter of the way through, I was just glancing over the bare outlines of what might have been going on, and trying to finish the pesky beast as quickly as I could. There’s a girl (who is far more boring than she ought to be as the female lead) and a dead father, a journalist or several, various gun suppliers and some police. Please add your own plot as you expect it to be and you won’t be far wrong.

That said, Spike’s niece, Jazz, was great fun and I wished for more of her, but it was not to be, alas. To cap it all, the ending is the ultimate cliché to end all clichés and not worth the getting there.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens:
Assassin kills reporter, realizes he was set up, attempts to find out by whom.

Characters:
Assassin-West humorous self depricating--but near the end slightly darker side comes out--why he is an assassin

Belle--young, sexy daughter of gun dealer--b/c West's partner/lover

Gun Runner--humours, even fact he is suffering from cancer handled w. touch of humor

Hoffa--Ex-NYPD cop tracking assassin, drug habit

What Works Well:

--Characters are interesting and well drawn, with unique perspectives, dialogue--even more minor characters (sleazy TV producer, paranoid journalist in Seattle, Spike "Gun Heaven", Jazz--Spike's more/less adopted daughter. The author has clearly thought a lot about them attempted to give them multiple dimensions that come through dialogue/exchanges with main characters

--Plot--the plot could be standard cat/mouse fair, but the shifting perspectives between unique characters helps keep it interesting, especially as the characters are interesting, West (the assassin is arguably more likeable--except for the part that he has killed innocent people--nice touch, the author does not attempt to make West a "good" assassin as is the case in similar stories--he only kills people who are asking for it--"You must have done something to bring me to your door"--John Cusack in G. Pointe Blank. Hoffa comes across as loutish and unpleasent (he is milking his client, he is a drug addict, he revels in the cheap publicity/attention)--but he is also very good at tracking West.


What does not work well:

Characters--The characters could have been made more real--I really wanted to see more of West dealing with what he does--this comes through a little in the very end--he is clearly thinking about that he will not quit.., but the issue remains, he may have fallen into this line of work but he still continues to do it and also Hoffa, his decision at the end seemed rushed--I mean the author could have made it more plausible, if he had built it up more.

Minor Point--Rankin captures Hoffa and Spike's American vernacular pretty well, but often Hoff using British phrases that no American (especially a crusty NYPD cop) would use such as "pensioner", "motorway". The words appears in Hoffa's thoughts or in his informal conversations so it appears they are his own words rather than attempting to quote or mock his UK counterparts.

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to check the name of the author of "Bleeding Hearts" twice before I even reached page 40. Yes, the name on the book cover is indeed Ian Rankin, an Edgar Award winner for an Inspector Rebus novel. I have read most Rankin's Rebus novels and, as unbearably repetitive as they are, they are well-written, well-plotted, atmospheric mysteries with nicely developed characters and interesting psychological and sociological observations. Either Mr. Rankin has written "Bleeding Hearts" as a prank or it has been ghost-written by someone with limited literary skills. The book reads as an entry in a contest for The Most Ineptly Written And Cliche-Ridden Thriller.

Michael Weston, a professional assassin, completes a successful hit in London, but the police almost catch him. He begins suspecting his employers and embarks on a quest of finding them. Simultaneously, Leo Hoffer, a private detective, is pursuing Mr. Weston with an order to kill him. Same old same old - the hunter becomes the hunted, etc. The plot is full of miraculously happening events occurring when they are convenient. As Mr. Weston himself realizes at some point "things start slotting in place". Yeah, they better do because it is already page 400 and no resolution is in sight.

The blurb on the back cover says that Mr. Rankin has a "brilliant eye for character". In general I agree, but definitely not in this book. All characters here are one-dimensional caricatures, especially the loutish and obnoxious Leo Hoffer. The writing is occasionally atrocious: "Hoffer sniffed so much these days, he was hardly aware of it. He blew his nose and reminded himself to buy more tissues." Does it make the character seem real? No, but it makes Mr. Rankin literary skills seem less than stellar. The only redeeming qualities are brief descriptions of Washington state locales and some mild humor at the expense of U.S. culture. There is precious little of it, though.

Waste of time!

One and a half stars.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a rather different Ian Rankin novel. No Rebus. Instead it featured a hit man as the protagonist. After a while, he even became somewhat likable, if you can believe that. The man chasing him seemed really evil and unlikable. But thinks had a big twist at the end that I didn't quite see come. Read it and see what you think.

[David]

Another solid novel from Ian Rankin. This one spends a chunk of time in the U.S., which is not typical Rankin territory, but, having been to many of the settings (though not to a Texas Shoot), to me the ‘transatlantic’ stuff rings true enough. I find this one interesting not least because of the way the narrative brings the reader into sympathy with the protagonist—an assassin-for-hire. By the time you’ve seen who he’s up against, you want to cheer for the simple, honest murderer!

[Ellen Schoenfelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably my least favourite Rankin book so far. I found it difficult to get into as none of the characters seem relatable or nice. One is a serial killer, the other one a drug addicted, foul mouthed private detective. They go on a wild goose chase across the UK and US, leave a trail of dead bodies and crashed cars. As usual with Rankin, the ending is so simple and makes me feel like whatever I have read as part of the book was a whole different story or book altogether. I missed the good auld detective work here unfortunately.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly adequate thriller which I'd likely have rated higher had it been by a different author: from Ian Rankin, though, I tend to expect something that leaves most other thrillers in the dust, and this doesn't really do that.

A hitman realizes that whoever commissioned his latest job was trying to set him up, so, with the daughter of his chief weapons supplier, he goes on the run from the cops and from Hoffer -- the fat US PI who's been on his tail all these years -- but also on the track of whoever was responsible for the trap. The trail takes him to the Washington State headquarters of an obscure but strangely wealthy cult, and into the sights of an extraordinarily vicious intelligence-services operative.

What's interesting is that the narrative allows the hitman to tell his own part of the tale in the first person (in very approximately every other chapter), while the third-person telling in the intervening chapters mainly focuses on Hoffer; further, the hitman, a mass murderer, becomes a far more sympathetic character than the supposed good guy. The novel's skewed morality works pretty well, and does distinguish it from the herd of standard airport thrillers; unfortunately, Bleeding Hearts includes also various of the traits that can make those thrillers so dull (the fascination with lovingly acronymed weapons, the tedious descriptions of the minutiae of the characters' actions [the coffee was good, the coffee was bad, the coffee was hot, the coffee was lukewarm, the coffee came in a Rupert Bear mug], etc.), and the denouement had me curling my lip with disbelief.

Overall, then, I felt as if a five-star restaurant had served me a three-star meal: not too shabby a meal, but it suffered because falling so far short of my expectations.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was pretty good. I especially enjoyed the fact that the main character visited places in Washington (the State, not the District) that I've been to many times. And I'm not talking about Seattle either, but Port Angeles, the Strait de Juan de Fuca (or something like that), and Hurricane Ridge.

It was one of his few stand alone books, so you don't need to have read anything else to know what's going on. In addition, the changing POV (between the assassin and the private investigator) wasn't bothersome at all like it normally is for me. It may have helped that the assassin was in the first person and the private investigator was in the third person so there was no confusion upon starting a new chapter.

[Eowyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus books and his other novels have been pretty good, but this one just annoyed me the whole time I was reading it. There are two viewpoint characters: a British assassin and a New York PI who's chasing him. The assassin is clearly the hero, and while I like him better than the completely stereotypical fat, mean, lonely, drunken and drug-addled PI, I never cared much for him, girlfriend, an illegal arms dealer's daughter. There's too much focus on the different guns they use, they kill people and I didn't care, and then the payoff, even the final big one, was just ho hum.

[Godzilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel just didn't work for me, and I'm normally a fan of Ian Rankin.

It started well enough, and drew me in quickly, but then the pace fell away.

Normally the dialogue sparkles and the characters seem rounded. This time the dialogue was flat and there were caricatures, rather than characters.

The denouement is a particular let down in my humble opinion, but it's the first awful Ian Rankin book I've read.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian Rankin writes a twisting and turning, global trot (UK to USA, NY to TX to WA state) of a mystery / suspense novel and Steven Pacey is the reader who does it great justice, including "getting" various UK and USA accents - nicely done. Interesting plot concerning a hired sharp-shooter assasin who investigates after the fact why he's been hired to waste a recent victim and by whom. My second Ian Rankin book - he's a good discovery on this side of The Pond.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Ian Rankins earlier novels originally published under the pseudonym Jack Harvey, because it's not a Rebus story.
Not one of the authors best plotted stories, but some excellent characters, especially the anti-hero who is a haemophiliac hitman and the overweight but dogged New York detective who tries to track him down.
I read it on holiday, at least partly on a 2 hour ferry crossing, and enjoyed both the book and the holiday.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sometimes grisly but well-crafted piece of genre fiction. It's not exactly "detective fiction," but it adheres to the model closely enough to be satisfying for fans of articulate hard-boiled pulp. The Pacific Northwest setting of the back half is a pleasant treat for those of us from the region.

[Tarik Muftic · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual book for Rankin who's John Rebus books are the important part of the crime fiction history. However, a very interesting and peasant read. The book is full of the nonstop action, violence and so many arcane details about weaponry and forensics. The twist at the end is great, one of the best I have read recently. Great book.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed Rankin's Rebus books, but this is not a Rebus book; it is very slow going, and not very interesting, and I'm finding it hard to care about any of the characters. It's disappointing to have this be the first mystery I've read in a while.

[Sarah Coolidge · Rating 1 out of 5]

In fairness, I only read the first couple of pages. I had enjoyed "the watchman" so i picked up another rankin book at the library and the first several pages were spent describing different kinds of guns! what? i put it down....

[Matthew Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy a book were the villain/bad guy is the main character. Although you don’t want to like a trained killer who will do any job as long as the price is right, you soon grow to like him and hope that he can escape capture.

[barbara b · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read anything he writes since he usually is among the best police procedurals going. The present tome not up to his usual standards.

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This standalone crime novel is another book by Ian Rankin that I enjoyed reading but in my opinion is not exceptional.

Storytelling is wonderful, no doubt about that, the story is very well executed, but the characters are in my view in quite a few moments believable but not all, and in some cases they are naïve in their dealings with life in general and their respective occupations.

Originally from 1994, my version is 2012, this book is divided into four parts, and it will tell the life, health issues, and professional skills of an assassin named, Michael Weston.

It all starts off with the assassination of reporter Eleanor Ricks, on the steps of a hotel, by the assassin Michael Weston, but after the hit the police are right on the scene, much too early to Michael's liking and so suspicious in his view.

Michael is determined to find out how the police knew it so quickly, and after a few detours within Britain and with Belinda "Bel" Harrison in tow, who's weapon-dealer Max's daughter from Yorkshire, they will set out to the USA and doing some business there with friends and have confrontations there in what Michael see as their enemies.

On Michael's tail is also the hired ex-NYPD and now PI, Leo Hoffer, and this will Leo will come close in Britain, but in the US he will come jumping as a kind of a Jack-in-a-box to confront Michael and to help himself to some documents and leave Michael for dead.

What is to come is an ingenious book to start with, followed with a predictable middle part with plenty of "catch me if you can" actions and details about guns in the US, to please the American audience in my view, no offence meant to you all Americans by the way, and a final Wild West showdown, before it will end with a great revelation of the real person and true reason behind this assassination, and time for reflection and remorse for the assassin.

Very much recommended to anyone who like an easy and interesting crime read, and to finish this review I would like to call my headline: "A Brutal Heartfelt Assassination"!

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Weston ist Auftragskiller. Er ist sehr gut in seinem Job, wahrscheinlich sogar der Beste. Doch dieses Mal geht alles schief. Kaum hat er sein Opfer erschossen, als auch schon die Polizei auftaucht. Jetzt ist er auf der Flucht. Nicht nur vor der Polizei, sondern auch vor einem Privatdetektiv, der ihn schon seit Jahren jagt.

Ein Killer erzählt die Geschichte von einem Auftrag, der schief ging. Die Tatsache dass Michael Weston selbst erzählt, verrät dem Leser dass er die Angelegenheit zumindest überlebt hat. Das nimmt von Anfang an ein bisschen Spannung weg.

Aber wer hat ihn verraten? Die Suche gestaltet sich schwierig. Der Krimi spielt Anfang der 90er Jahre, zu einer Zeit also in der die Arbeit von Polizei und Auftragsmördern noch viel mehr Handarbeit war und man sich die Informationen mit deutlich mehr Mühe zusammensuchen musste. Das gibt der Geschichte Längen, die es in einem moderneren Krimi so wahrscheinlich nicht geben würde.

Hier sind die Rollen umgekehrt verteilt. Michael, eigentlich der Böse, wirkt viel sympathischer als sein Verfolger, der abgehalfterte Privatdetektiv. Der macht auch mich einen schmierigen Eindruck. Deshalb habe ich mir schon gewünscht, dass Michael entkommen kann.

Wer ihn verraten hat und warum, wird erst ganz zum Schluss deutlich und hat mich ein bisschen mit den Längen im Buch versöhnt.

[Eyejaybee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book purports to be written by Jack Harvey, although that was a pseudonym adopted by Ian Rankin during the 1990s, before he had become established under his own name.

It is a thriller following the exploits of a professional assassin who is paid to carry out a ‘hit’ in London. He pulls off the shot without any trouble, but is astounded to find that the police are on the scene almost immediately, and he only escapes by dint of an ingenious method. As he ponders over what has happened, he comes to believe he has been set up.

Meanwhile, his latest exploit draws the attention of a former policeman turned private detective in New York, who has a retainer from a client whose daughter the assassin had killed by mistake in an earlier hit. Various aspects of the description of the shooting in London convince him that it was perpetrated by his quarry, and he flies into London to pick up the trail.

The story is entertaining, and grips the reader from the beginning, although it lacks the refinement of the subsequent books published under Rankin’s own name.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

7 stars out of 5. The question is, who ordered the hit? In this meticulously researched book Ian Rankin sets up a plot that requires a large table set with characters in various cities in both Britain and the US. An investigative reporter, looking into the mysterious cult Disciples of Love, is assassinated in front of a hotel in London. The plot follows the assassin as he escapes police capture and a private eye from NYC who collaborates with London police to track down the assassin. As the assassin confesses near the end of the book he and the NYC ex-cop are both the same sides of the coin. Arms dealers, assassin brokers, forgers, gun collectors, cheap hotels, tv news, notoriety, mysterious funding, cool cars, drinking and drugs, gun shows... In the acknowledgements you get a laugh over what real life event inspired the yarn. And Rankin's tour through this world is full-blown genius. Hilarious descriptions of people and places that are posing to impress you or ready to blow off the posers. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[David Hallstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing as Jack Harvey, a significant departure for Rankin. Much more of a hunter/hunted international thriller one would expect from say David Morrell. Much of the action takes place in America. An America Rankin does not know well.

Four packs of beer are common in Europe but not in the US. Yet four packs are a regular feature of shopping in Bleeding Hearts. The language and word choice is decidedly Scots. Which is very awkward when describing America.

The main character is a professional assassin and a hemophiliac to boot. An interesting twist which explains a lot about the title.

The ending is too rushed and too forced.

Am glad I read it but not certain any but the most avid Rankin fan would have much use for the book.

[Karen Schnakenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is Ian Rankin writing under a pseudonym and not a Rebus book. It was noticeably weaker, in fact very much weaker, than any other Rankin I've read. Its biggest fault, at least for me, is that all of the characters are completely despicable and on-the-make, so no redeeming qualities, and so i tend not to care what happens to them. Read about 2/3's and then decided it was not worth my time. Probably should have stopped reading sooner

[Thejelman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rankin takes a break from Rebus and ventures on a UK/US road trip with a professional assassin. It starts as an intriguing ‘who’s-behind-it’ rather than a whodunnit but descends into mayhem by the end. Spoiler alert _ I would have thought the motivations behind events would have become at least partially apparent by other means (e.g a post-mortem) long before the pandemonium kicked in but my bigger problem was with the relentless ‘action’ _ give me a more psychological thriller any time.