A twenty-five-year-old first novel--but a new author for me

books:


	• The Butcher's Boy Thomas Perry Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good Planning

This is the story of a professional killer who is hired to perform several killings to avoid an investigation. The fun of the book is watching the killer react when his plan goes awry. He cleverly with exquisite execution defuses the situation.

The FBI agent who is pursuing him adds very little to the effort. I keep waiting for her to add some significance to the narration but it never happens.

The character of the hit man who for some reason Mr. Perry only names once in the book is engaging. We forget that he is a cold blooded killer until we are reminded by an FBI agent. The second wonderful part of the book is the description of Las Vegas. I have shared it with a friend of mine who lived and worked in Las Vegas for several years and from her description it was right on.

Lastly and this may be carping. The book would have been better without the last two pages.

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A 'new' author with no wait!

This guy is great! The writing, the plotting, the twists and turns are terrific. Fresh ways of looking at people's actions & their feelings. Sense of humor is welcome too. I sometimes find 20 or 30 year old books sort of dated but this wasn't at all. Now reading Dead Aim by Perry and finding that just as entertaining. Will be collecting this one.
No need to discuss the meat of the book, but I highly recommend this author.

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One of my all time favorite books

The Butcher's Boy is not lyrical or beautifully written, it gets straight to the point--action and suspense. It is dark but lightened with sarcastic humor, and it is an intense, page turning thriller: a Female detective desperate to catch the killer, and a killer so well defined that you keep finding yourself rooting for him too. This book has a very satisfying ending no matter which one you were rooting for.

And I totally disagree with the reviewer who wanted to leave the last two pages out--they were the perfect, satisfying ending.

One of my other favorite books is Ludlum's The Bourne Identity (the movie was NOT based on the book!!! so read the book.) The Bourne Identity and the next two in the series were similar to The Butcher's Boy in that they were page turners that have a certain humor that showed itself just when you needed the relief.

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Couldn't put it down

If you like compelling thrillers, Thomas Perry is your man- at least with this book and the sequel- Sleeping Dogs. I discovered this book when it was first pulished, and spent a number of years trying to find it after it went out of print. Now it is back, and I no longer have my copy because I loaned it to a thriller loving friend. Shouldn't really like the book- the "hero" is a hit man who is truly amoral, and yet somehow you still get engaged with him. The writing is lean and moves the story at a perfect pace. I love deep books about complex charcters, but for relaxation give me a well written page turner anytime. And this book is just that. I recommend reading both books, as I think the story becomes fully fleshed only in Sleeping Dogs. Then move on to the Jane Whitfield novels- great plotting and writing and the heroine is truly that.

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A twenty-five-year-old first novel--but a new author for me

It was Michael Connelly's introduction that led me to this book. I read somewhere about the re-issue of "The Butcher's Boy" with an introduction by my favorite author and I was so impressed with Connelly's assessment of the book that I ordered it from Amazon. I enjoy reading debut novels and I will certainly continue to read Thomas Perry's books. Obviously, he has become an accomplished novelist since writing "The Butcher's Boy" and I am anxious to read more of his work.

reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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