A Magnum for Schneider
Written by James Mitchell & Reviewed by Detective Dru
David Callan is the retired hitman, and Hunter is his boss. David developed morals so they cut him loose. He’s still a crack shot though, and sounds like he still yearns to be back at work for the British government. Hunter summons him after a long time and hands him a red file with a colleague named Schneider in it. Callan practices his guns with another agent named Meres and then arranges an interview with this Schneider guy and seems to like him from the get go despite his assignment.
He also works for someone (Waterman?) who treats him comically poor and calls him peasant, etc. He does invoices for this man. So far, it’s a passable story out of the gate, but with overly pronounced tropes. Almost Dickensian. Believable but pure and only one dimension to their focus and purpose. This is one of those stories where the reader ends up internally debating the plausibility of characters in life vs fiction. The way they act in this story is not ‘real,’ but we buy it because it supplements the story arc, making it feel seamless. Ahh, the theory of relativity, but in literary form. Had this book been read on a stationary train in 1969 when it was published, it would’ve both disrupted as well as exceeded all expectations. But reading it in 2025 on a moving train and the story seems basic and unoriginal, likely because it's been copied so many times in the years since.
Hunter has put Meres in charge of tailing David while he pursues Schneider. Callan is able to quickly deduce his tail and incapacitates one while trapping another in a phone booth with a cig packet. He also locates a guy named Lonely (who smells) to procure a gun.
Schneider is approached by British police regarding the legality of his import/export business and Callan witnesses this, resulting in him angrily telling Hunter the contract is off if he still insists on a sloppy rush job. Sounds like this is all going to plan for Hunter, but he does tell Meres to make friends with the cops pursuing Schneider to figure out what’s going on there. Hunter dangles re-employment over Callan if he’s still willing to pull off the job. Callan looks at this as leverage despite Hunter anticipating all this.
Callan busts Lonely’s balls to get him a gun and then sends him home when they meet at Callan’s place because he doesn’t have the cash. This makes Callan objectively unlikeable, and not in an antihero way, but in an unengaging manner. What a douche canoe move. This will come up again later. For Callan to treat Lonely with such condescension is even worse. Perhaps there’s an element of British class protocol regarding gophers this American doesn’t understand, but it really resonated poorly with how Lonely was handled - both as a character, and as a literary asset.
Chapter 8 was excellent. Callan breaking into Schneider’s place and cracking his safe. Callan got pinched before when trying to crack some safe, so this was an innovative method to provide something redemptive for our protagonist.
That being said, these characters feel too thin, but at the same time recognizable enough in their tropes that they seem fleshed out. Somehow these one dimensional characters find a way to betray their characterization (example being Lonely acting docile as hell as the smelly gun gopher then suddenly he tells Callan his place is too shitty for his risky lifestyle. Doormat in one scene and then truth bombs in the next? Not believable, but his purpose was plot lube, not character arc.
Hunter didn’t want Callan to have a reason to kill Schneider, he just wanted him to blindly follow orders, which Callan ignored by casing the safe. Hunter ultimately wants Schneider’s arm smuggling crimes public. Then out of nowhere, a Greek and his bodyguard Arthur apprehend Callan, but he kills one and subdues the other. Greek offers him a job -he sold the gun to Lonely- but Callan doesn’t seem interested. Hunter tells Callan to kill Schneider within 24 hours. Then Hunter changes his mind and tells Callan it’s off for the moment. Some guy Donner has suddenly appeared and apparently that’s why they postpone. He’s a threat but motive was either forgotten or unclear. Nothing but more plot lube, not an organic character sequence.
Callan visits Schneider at his office and they bond again over playing war. Schneider invites Callan over for Sunday night dinner – suggests his wife will leave the two of them after dinner to play their games – and then chuckles about Callan not inquiring about Schneider’s address, despite accepting the invite. Callan then visits Lonely and treats him like shit once again. Callan has now informed Lonely that the Greek is being tortured, Arthur is gone.
Chapter 12 was basically just to confirm that the Greek is bad? He’s being tortured, Callan is taken to him by Hunter. The torturer goes on about how the Greek is a bad dude and has always chased power and hurt anyone in his path. It doesn’t flesh out the antagonist and it doesn’t make him sympathetic. Don’t see the point – perhaps just the sensationalism of being tortured via serums/hallucinogens.
And now Hunter wants the killing of Schneider back on. This once again seems contrived. Over and over again, David Callen gets the green/red light mixed messages just to keep the story going.
Callan got a tape recorder and recorded incriminating testimony about Hunter. But Hunter figures it out because he bugged Callan’s apartment and sends Meres to ambush Callan. Hunter calls Callan and tells him that he’s foolish for trying to betray him like that. He also tells Callan the murder is still on for Schneider?? At this point couldn’t Callan just say fuck off? What recourse would Hunter have besides committing more crimes to frame Callan? After the call, Meres asks Hunter why he’d keep Callan around and Hunter uses the cops that Meres made friends with earlier in the book to now be on duty right before Callan’s scheduled time of assassination. Looks like he’s being framed for murder, making Hunter the ultimate villain here. Boy oh boy did Grey Man execute this switcheroo infinitely better.
Callan goes to Schneider’s and they do their war game thing. Gettysburg vs some French battle. They get carried away and the police arrive expecting Callan to be a suspect, but Schneider is still alive. Meres has snuck in and taken out Jenny, the girlfriend. He lets Callan know to get on with it. Schneider becomes wise to it and gets the upper hand but surprise surprise, Callan had a second gun even though it was never mentioned and he uses it to kill Schneider. He then pistol whips Meres after confirming it was him who did the same to him at his apartment and leaves the murder weapon in Mere’s unconscious palm while he flees with Mere’s weapons and some contents in the safe. He gives some of the money to Jenny even though she hates him now and then calls Hunter to tell him that he won’t cooperate and won’t work for him. Apparently being framed for murder is where he draws the line. He hangs up and calls the authorities. Hunter switches Callan’s file from a yellow one to red one. He’s a rogue threat now…
The last two or three chapters wrapped up nicely but the final confrontation was lame as hell and the convenient guns and convenient loud sounds outside that were orchestrated beforehand with Meres…oy…the plan had gone fubar but the sounds were still made at the exact right time somehow to cover up the illegal tomfoolery and such going down indoors? Straight up nonsense.
The story could’ve used more about the past between Hunter and Callan. They had a professional falling out and still respect one another despite not liking one another. That’s fine, and Callan’s side of it was fine with occasional references to his past life or more importantly past mistakes. But Hunter was a very stock version of M, except villainous. What would be Hunter’s motive? Just more power? He already has quite a bit.
And then of course come to find out Hunter doesn’t even really matter, it’s all being controlled by some Greek – he was really shoehorned in as opposed to the preferred familiar face – even Meres – to be the one that knocks out Callan and interrogates him to figure out the Lonely gun and the larger motive business. This story came highly recommended and the only take away from the story was that the Carnival will no longer be accepting recommendations from the person that pushed this one.
