The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Butcher's Boy
Book Review: Perry lost me on this one
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm surprised at all the high praise for this book. I did not feel the slightest bit of sympathy for the hired killer. I found him very flat. The ending was unexpected; I expected a more complete wrap-up. Elizabeth was paranoid about being a woman in a job populated mostly by men. She was weak and dependent, but she was surprised when she was expected to do more menial chores than the men. She wasn't even very good at her job and seemed somewhat slow in her understanding of situaitons. Act weak, you get taken advantage of - man or woman.Book Review: Perry's first, but one of many entertaining reads by him
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Book Review: Pure Escapist Fare
Summary: 5 Stars
BUTCHER'S BOY, Perry's first, introduces the reader to his signature style, characters with keen self awareness and superlative observational skills. They are able to anticipate the behavior and actions of others based upon their knowledge of human nature. Perry has carved himself a niche that is both insightful and entertaining. Read this and all his others for pure escapist fare.Book Review: Quick thriller, well-constructed but flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
My library branch head boss likes to recommend the classics of a genre. Before this, she recommended Ken Follett's "Eye of the Needle". Then she thrust this one into my hands after my coworker's son returned it, who had read it in four hours.Although I must admit my more deliberate pace, I will say this is a quick read.
This book is similar to Ken Follett's "Eye of the Needle" in several ways. Both are fast paced thrillers that feature main characters who are methodical professionals, but professions (spy, hit-man) that require ruthlessness--both characters are kind of like evil MacGyvers.
While their characters are flat, their pursuers have a human side. The storytelling switches between killer and pursuer, which paces nicely.
While "Eye of the Needle" ends with a dramatic clash between two characters, "Butcher's Boy" side-steps the collision of killer and pursuer with a bit of the deus ex machina (the killer just happens to run into the person who has the 2 separate pieces of information he needs, an insane amount of money, and the means to frame his pursuers).
Despite this flaw, the real joy comes from watching the Butcher's Boy achieve impossible objectives and extricating himself from certain demise by preparing for multiple situations while simultaneously improvising solutions.
Therefore, I highly recommend this to any business school student, aspiring lawyer, or wannabe evil MacGyvers.
Book Review: Thank heaven for another writer of "Page-Turners"
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought it was just me! I see a lot of these reviews are describing "The Butcher's Boy" as a page-turner, a novel they couldn't put down, a book they inhaled in 4 hours! That was my precise reaction: "Thank heaven I've found another author of page-turners!" It doesn't happen to me often enough. What I can't figure out is how Perry writes with such enjoyable economy and still manages to create that magic of gluing the reader to the text. If you are a writer yourself, this question is worth getting to the bottom of.
A mesmerizing tale of a professional killer going about the business of evading his pursuers, "The Butcher's Boy" is a novel that will send you in search of more Thomas Perry books.