Product Description After Morton Dirk is forced to watch the murder of his parents, he is adopted by a state Supreme Court judge. He becomes a Harvard-educated professor of English literature, and a peerless assassin for his father’s secret political and financial organization. His hypnotic voice and a face that is difficult to recall enhance his effectiveness. His preferred method of killing is with a knife, although he is equally adept with a gun, or even his voice. To his acquaintances, Morton Dirk is a gourmet cook, an avid gardener, and a volunteer at a men’s shelter. When Morton falls in love with the wife of one of his victims, the Organization sends his mentor to eliminate the threat. The assassin tells Morton of his mission; Morton plans a trap with the help of his lover, but they find themselves in a trap already set by his teacher. The novel is fast–paced and suspenseful, and the action unpredictable. It’s a swift romp through the works of Garcia–Marquez, Baudelaire, Morrison, and Whitman; as well as Dirk’s musings on science and the workings of a superb intellect at ease in vastly contradictory worlds. About the Author Earl Long is a graduate of the London University, School of Tropical Medicine. His two previous novels, Consolation and Voices From a Drum were published by Addison-Wesley Longman, and he was the first-prize winner of the 1993 Essence Magazine Short Story Competition. He lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia