Classic Perry -- runs like clockwork and you can see the little gears spin

books:


	• Silence Thomas Perry Harcourt, 2007 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Suspenseful and entertaining

The plot is clever and surprising plus the relationship between the two main characters give this novel depth. I really enjoyed it - a great summer read!

Another Good Story From Perry

New protagonist may not be in same class with Butcher Boy, but plot is interesting and original, use of shifting points of view moves the story along nicely, and it has a characteristically quirky Perry ending. Perry is always a good read.

for more information click here

Marriage can be murder.

Thomas Perry's "Silence" starts with a bang when Wendy Harper, co-owner of a trendy Los Angeles restaurant, leaves work well after midnight. Upon arriving home, she is attacked by a man with a baseball bat who nearly beats her to death. Wendy knows who is behind the attack, and she decides that it would be prudent to leave the past behind and start fresh somewhere else under an assumed name. She hires forty-year old private investigator Jack Till, a former cop with twenty years on the force, to help her establish a new identity. For six years, there is silence. Suddenly, everything changes when Eric Fuller, Wendy's former partner and boyfriend, is falsely accused of murdering Wendy to collect on her life insurance policy. Till decides that, in good conscience, he must find Wendy and convince her to come forward to save Eric from prosecution. However, since the person who tried to kill Wendy is still at large, she might be reluctant to once again make herself a target.

"Silence" is an entertaining psychological thriller with a lively cast of characters, a serpentine plot, and a particularly cold-blooded husband and wife hit team. Sylvie and Paul Turner, who have been married for fifteen years, are sociopaths who kill for money and thrills; their efficiency and meticulous attention to detail have earned them a devoted clientele. However, they are paranoid and tend to find fault with one another; their marriage is, in some ways, more hellish than heavenly. A wealthy and powerful individual has hired the Turners to lure Wendy out of hiding and finish her off. If Jack convinces Wendy to reveal herself, she may very well be the Turners' next victim.

Jack Till has been lonely for a long time. His wife left him after she gave birth to a little girl, Holly, who has Down syndrome. Jack is devoted to his daughter; she has developed into a self-sufficient, happy, and productive young woman. However, he has never remarried and although he was attracted to Wendy when she first appealed to him for help, he never acted on his feelings. He uses his savvy as an investigator to locate Wendy and they reconnect emotionally, but Till has his hands full staying one step ahead of their clever, ruthless, and determined pursuers.

Perry steadily ratchets up the suspense as Till and Wendy attempt to evade the relentless Turners. Till is uneasy because he suspects that there is a great deal more to Wendy's story than she is willing to reveal. Who exactly wants her dead and why? Jack suspects that she is hiding vital information from him. Meanwhile, Sylvie and Paul become irritable when killing Wendy proves to be more difficult than they anticipated.

Thomas Perry explores the unfortunate choices that people make and their attempts to redeem themselves before it is too late. He provides the back stories of both the heroes and their adversaries and skillfully fleshes out their personalities and motives. Everything comes to a head in a wild and exciting conclusion that is satisfying, unpredictable, and laced with delicious irony. "Silence" is a sardonically witty and compulsively readable thriller.

for more information click here

Classic Perry -- runs like clockwork and you can see the little gears spin

If you've never read a Thomas Perry book, then assume my rating is five stars, because every Thomas Perry book is like a meal at a really good restaurant, always well prepared and tasty, sometimes sublime.

With Perry, you never have to worry about flat writing or endings that seem written in desperation. He's a master craftsman who knows how to build a really great tale with unique characters and outcomes. I buy everyone of his books in hardcover in advance because I know I will read them more than once and loan them to my friends.

I gave this book four stars because, although this is a fine story, I've been there when he's dished sublime. When he's sublime, there's also quirky humor and the ability to get inside the heads of people we'd ordinarily loathe.

I long for him to push the edge, go into some part of reality that he's not so comfortable with and tht I'm not sick of. A protagonist who's an old lady, an updated Miss Marple, or a kid, or an immigrant, someone who's not incredibly fit and lovely. The market is saturated with those. It would take somebody with his skills to pull that off. He's good enough to do stuff that other writers can't.

for more information click here

terrific gourmet thriller

Six years ago, when he was still a detective working for LAPD, Jack Till mentored restaurateur Wendy Harper in the art of disappearing with a new identity before adversaries could kill her. Everyone who knew Wendy assumed she was murdered; most believed her boyfriend and Banque Restaurant business partner at the time Eric Fuller killed her as he gained the most with her death. No evidence could prove he committed a homicide until now. Someone has set up an elaborate scheme to frame Eric with Wendy's murder.

Jack is hired to track down Wendy and to persuade her to make an appearance that would exonerate her former boyfriend. At the same time, Jack knows that there remain people who want her dead; he thinks they framed Eric to force Wendy to surface. He especially is concerned with tango-dancing couple Paul and Sylvie Turner, professional hit persons hired to kill Wendy, but they have an ax to grind with their client for exposing them as assassins rather than dancers.

Most mystery readers will agree that the latest work from award winning Thomas Perry will be on the short list of the genre's best novels of 2007. Jack is terrific as he must follow a trail left by his "student" while also not leading the killers to her. Exciting and never slowing down until the final dance step, fans will read this terrific gourmet tale in one delightful sitting.

Harriet Klausner

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

search for books
silence

Impressum / about us