THE BAD MAN As a child, Benjamin Franklin was always a problem solver. To help pay back his father's gambling debts, Ben earned money "running errands" for the Mob. Some years later, after doing his duty for his country by fighting in a desert war he hadn't voted for, and having tried to find a decent job with a largely worthless college degree, he turns to the only real "family" he's ever known. When Ben becomes a hitman for Cosa Nostra boss Papa Theo, he assumes the position will be a temporary one. But after ten long years of killing bad men, he comes to realize he's had his fill of bullets and bloodshed. Now Ben wants out. Papa Theo understands that the lifespan of any enforcer is limited, and Ben has been blessed with a longevity uncommon for this line of wetwork. "I want you to pull one last job," the boss says. "Complete this task, and you're out, no worries." Sounds simple enough, until Ben Franklin learns that the man he must kill is his partner, a savant assassin who is twice as fast, far more accurate, and someone he loves like a brother. How does one do the impossible? Ben asks himself. And how do I live with myself thereafter if I manage to succeed? THE BAD MAN is the latest suspense novel by G. Warlock Vance, depicting the grim world of the Mafia from the inside out. Ben Franklin is an anti-hero concerned for his mortal soul, yet willing to risk it in order to find his way out of the labyrinthine darkness of the gangland world in which he existed for far too long.