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

books:


	• The Butcher's Boy Thomas Perry ACE Charter, 1983 average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Perry's first, but one of many entertaining reads by him

An early 80s Edgar Award winner, this wonderful adventure pits Department of Justice prodigy Elizabeth Waring against The Butcher's Boy, the professional assassin who remains nameless throughout the book. He's good at his job. Two early murders, one of an influential U.S. Senator, put the Department of Justice and Elizabeth and her co-workers, sometimes in uneasy alliance with the FBI and local law enforcement, on the trail of an unknown murderer, maybe two since they aren't sure if the homicides are related or not. The factor tying them together turns out to be Fieldstone Growth Enterprises, ostensibly an investment company. Things end up going in unpredictable directions for both main characters, many caused by he role of a mafia-like organization that touches on all of this business and the lives of the murderer and Elizabeth. There are plenty of murders in the book, some first hand, some only discussed, but only peripherally gory in most cases. I found it disconcertingly easy to like the assassin, not the first bad guy of Perry's I liked (see Gordon in Metzger's Dog). I've read half a dozen or more of Perry's books. This is his first, and it's interesting to see in character Maureen a foreshadow of Jane Whitefield (try Vanishing Act), a character I enjoyed immensely in her several novels. This is one more sample of why I find Perry to be a most reliable story teller, entertaining and consistently good.

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Exceptional Debut Novel

As you read this book, you have to keep reminding yourself that this is the first novel by Perry. It is an excellent debut novel.

Looking at the new books, at the library, I saw Thomas Perry's latest novel, Silence. I wasn't sure if I wanted to dedicate time to get it read and returned by the two week limit, so I went in search of some of his earlier works. I decided on The Butcher's Boy. And it was a great read.

He (the killer is always referred to as "he" throughout the novel) is very good. And extremely careful. His jobs always go through middlemen, so he doesn't know who hired him or why. He doesn't want to know. But he is very effective. A union officer is blown up in California. A senior Senator dies in Colorado. Nothing to link either victims or the people that wanted them eliminated. When the killer arrives in Las Vegas, a few days early, strange things start happening and it isn't long before he discovers that there is a contract out on him. But who and why? The killer finds himself running from not only his ex-employers but also a very smart and dedicated Department of Justice analyst.

I found this novel riveting. Told mainly from the point-of-view of the killer, you find yourself hoping that he makes it out alive. Even though he is ruthless. And the Department of Justice analyst, Elizabeth Waring, is one of the best female characters in fiction. She is smart, tenacious, dedicated. She feels that there is a link between the union official and the senator, but her bosses aren't about to go on "feelings." I looked forward to continuing the novel, spending as much free time as I could reading. For a debut novel, Perry includes plenty of twists and turns, believable dialog and characters, and an excellent plot.

A fantastic debut novel, one that will not disappoint.

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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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The Butcher's Boy

Hit man suddenly having to avoid being taken out by his employers.

I stumbled across this book as I randomly looked for a new (to me) author. I put off reading it for awhile until I was in the mood for something on the darker side. I am surprised by how much I liked this book. Really not sure why. Something in the way Thomas Perry writes I guess. I am fairly certain I need therapy of some kind because I couldn't stop myself from rooting for him - meaning: not hoping for the worst for "him". (he does have teeny-tiny moments where he showed very, very, very brief moments of some flashes of not being completely and utterly devoid of humanity or maybe I just was trying to justify my moments of rooting for him because he obviously is evily unwell). I did like his MacGyver-ness. Elizabeth was a total disappointment- I think the synopsis totally oversold/misrepresented her. I will now juggle Thomas Perry and Michael Connelly.

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

The Edgar Award?winning novel by the ?master of nail-biting suspense?(Los Angeles Times)

Thomas Perry exploded onto the literary scene with The Butcher?s Boy. Back in print by popular demand, this spectacular debut, from a writer of ?infernal ingenuity? (The New York Times Book Review), includes a new Introduction by bestselling author Michael Connelly.

Murder has always been easy for the Butcher?s Boy?it?s what he was raised to do. But when he kills the senior senator from Colorado and arrives in Las Vegas to pick up his fee, he learns that he has become a liability to his shadowy employers. His actions attract the attention of police specialists who watch the world of organized crime, but though everyone knows that something big is going on, only Elizabeth Waring, a bright young analyst in the Justice Department, works her way closer to the truth, and to the frightening man behind it.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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