Work Done for Hire

Written by Joe Haldeman

Narrated by Chris Sorensen

Joe Haldeman' s " adept plotting, strong pacing, and sense of grim stoicism have won him wide acclaim" ( The Washington Post ) and numerous honors for such works as The Forever War , The Accidental Time Machine , and the Marsbound trilogy. Now, the multiple Hugo and Nebula award- winning author pits a lone war veteran against a mysterious enemy who is watching his every move-- and threatens him with more than death unless he kills for them. Wounded in combat and honorably discharged nine years ago, Jack Daley still suffers nightmares from when he served his country as a sniper, racking up sixteen confirmed kills. Now a struggling author, Jack accepts an offer to write a near-future novel about a serial killer, based on a Hollywood script outline. It' s an opportunity to build his writing career, and a future with his girlfriend, Kit Majors. But Jack' s other talent is also in demand. A package arrives on his doorstep containing a sniper rifle, complete with silencer and ammunition-- and the first installment of a $100,000 payment to kill a " bad man." The twisted offer is genuine. The people behind it are dangerous. They prove that they have Jack under surveillance. He can' t run. He can' t hide. And if he doesn' t take the job, Kit will be in the crosshairs instead

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490601212

Joe Haldeman

Joe Haldeman began his writing career while he was still in the army. Drafted in 1967, he fought in the Central Highlands of Vietnam as a combat engineer with the Fourth Division. He was awarded several medals, including a Purple Heart. Haldeman sold his first story in 1969 and has since written over two dozen novels and five collections of short stories and poetry. He has won the Nebula and Hugo Awards for his novels, novellas, poems, and short stories, as well as the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Locus Award, the Rhysling Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. His works include The Forever War, Forever Peace, Camouflage, 1968, the Worlds saga, and the Marsbound series. Haldeman recently retired after many years as an associate professor in the Department of Writing and Humanistic Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He and his wife, Gay, live in Florida, where he also paints, plays the guitar, rides his bicycle, and studies the skies with his telescope. 

Reviews for Work Done for Hire

[socprof9740 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a disappointment for this long-time Haldeman fan. The dual storylines never really combine in a satisfactory fashion. The main storyline has a thriller touch to it, but the ending is all deus ex machina. If you have to explain everything on the last page of the novel, you failed. And even when the explanation comes, it's a bit of a dud.

[skybalon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A pretty good story that's marred by it's ending. Fun and rapid reading but kinda stupid by the end.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A former sniper turned novelist is hired to write the novelization of a serial killer film (the work for hire of the title) but starts getting deliveries of money and a sniper rifle, with the message that he’s supposed to kill someone or they’ll hurt him and his girlfriend. His attempts to avoid this alternate with chapters from his treatment, which involves a possibly cannibalistic killer, or possibly just an alien with a taste for human flesh. The interest comes from his extended attempts to contact the police and otherwise refuse the job, which last much, much longer than the usual for this kind of story. However, I was never really clear about why we needed the serial killer chapters, and the explanation doesn’t seem worth the journey.