A Father's Kisses

by Bruce Jay Friedman

With a daughter to support, recently unemployed, hard-working, and decent William Binny meets Valentine Peabody, who proposes that Binny become a paid assassin, and after much consideration, Binny decides to take on the job because the targets are horrible people. 30,000 first printing.

258 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 1996

About the author

American comic author whose dark, mocking humour and social criticism was directed at the concerns and behaviour of American Jews.

After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1951 with a B.A. in journalism and serving in the U.S. Air Force for two years, Friedman worked in publishing for several years before achieving success with his first novel, Stern (1962). The title character is a luckless descendent of the biblical Job, unable to assimilate into mainstream American life. Virtually all of Friedman's works are a variation on this theme; most of his characters are Jewish by birth, but they feel alienated from both Jewish and American culture. His works are also noted for focusing on absurd characters and situations.
-Encyclopædia Britannica