People Die
By Kevin Wignall
Simon & Schuster/$22
Some books change your life, some books change the world and some books are just fun to read. People Die, by Kevin Wignall, falls into that last category.
People Die is the story of JJ, a twentysomething professional hit man who's as smooth as a fudge sundae and twice as cold. More people die in the first half of this book than in all three Evil Dead movies put together, and the best part is — JJ is the good guy.
When I began reading this novel, the first by Belgium-born Wignall, I had my doubts that it would have anything to offer that I hadn't already read a thousand times before. However, with three shootings and a beheading after only the first 15 pages, I couldn't wait to read more.
People Die is a classic tale of a loner going against the odds, fighting to win a dirty game of pool by playing just a little bit dirtier than everyone else. JJ's friends and 'co-workers" begin dying mysterious, violent deaths, and the only thing JJ knows for sure is that he's next if he doesn't find out who's ordering the hits.
Wignall takes the reader to many different places, including Russia, Paris, Switzerland and upstate New York, in a relatively short amount of time — only 220 pages — but what really keeps them turning are his descriptions of casual reaction. Through the character of JJ, Wignall captures the impact of reaction in highly stressful situations, like breaking eye contact in the heat of murder negotiations, or a loaded question at the wrong time, to the wrong person. JJ acts with precision and without hesitation, and he doesn't kill people who cross him; he kills them before they get a chance to.
People Die is a worthwhile read if you're looking for a quick dose of good, summertime fiction. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are worse and, in the words of JJ, 'The only difference is that the good guys are the ones still alive at the end of the story."
—Justin Kincaid
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2002.