The Butcher's Boy
by Thomas Perry
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Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas PerryEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-06-10
ISBN: 0812967739
Number of pages: 313
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of The Butcher's Boy
Book Review: "Everything is plausible if you haven't got the answer."
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know how I missed knowing about Perry, since he's been cranking them out for a quarter-century, but somehow I did. I saw a recommendation for _Death Benefits,_ enjoyed that one, and went hunting for his earlier work. This is his first and it won an Edgar. The title character, never given a personal name, is a "specialist," a highly professional hit man, who began learning his trade in early childhood from Eddie "The Butcher." He's now one of the best and he works mostly for various mafia families. This job involves the murder of a member of a union local, and then the assassination of a senior U.S. Senator who has begun investigating in certain tax areas the mob doesn't want pried into. When our protagonist goes to Las Vegas to pick up his payment, however, he seems to have suddenly become a liability to his employers, who try to remove him from the scene. Big mistake. Taking out a professional, you had better get it right the first time -- and they don't. Pretty soon, mob soldiers, capos, and their underlings begin dropping like flies. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Waring, a smart young crime analyst working for the Justice Department, gets called in on the union hit as her first field assignment and develops her own theories about what's happening. The interesting thing in this sly and subtly plotted narrative is how often decisions are made on all sides based on erroneous information or misinterpretation of evidence. The characterization is excellent and the pace is frenetic, even though the protagonist is never anything but calm and collected. Finally, the small irony in the last two pages of the book is delicious.
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