"I've said elsewhere that Thomas Perry's novels — the best ones — are a master class in thriller writing. "The Informant" should be the newest addition to that syllabus, read for devouring first, and analysis thereafter." — Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times
"A book-length war of nerves that accentuates the best of Mr. Perry’s gift for using pure logic and gamesmanship to generate breathless nonstop suspense..."The Informant" is a marvel of tight, thoughtful construction." — Janet Maslin, New York Times
Perry offers a compelling, rapid-fire plot, credible Mafia and FBI secondary characters, an indictment of self-serving officialdom, and the old soul-shattering moral dilemma: what is truth?" — Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
"Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry’s relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it." — Kirkus, starred review
…this cold-blooded professional killer is one of the immortals of the genre…he makes a great comeback in The Informant—older, wiser and deadlier…Perry's immaculate style—clean, polished, uncluttered by messy emotions—suits the Butcher's Boy, who executes his kills with the same cool, dispassionate skill.
—The New York Times Book Review
…the Butcher's Boy is back at full blast in The Informant, a book-length war of nerves that accentuates the best of Mr. Perry's gift for using pure logic and gamesmanship to generate breathless nonstop suspense…a marvel of tight, thoughtful construction.
—The New York Times
Edgar-winner Perry's excellent third Butcher's Boy novel (after Sleeping Dogs) pits the Butcher's Boy (aka Michael Schaeffer), an impeccably effective hit man, against his old nemesis, Elizabeth Waring, an impeccably honest Justice Department official. Though Waring's boss, arrogant political appointee Dale Hunsecker, tries to hamstring her, Waring wants to bolster her 20-year pursuit of Mafia bosses by turning the Butcher's Boy into America's most important informant. Waring soon enters into an intricate pas de deux with a man who considers death a buy-sell commodity. Meanwhile, this icy yet strangely appealing killer, who reads Waring as well as she reads him, methodically murders capo after capo and their "made men" across the country, the only way he can safely return to his quiet retirement in England with his beloved wife, Meg. Perry offers a compelling, rapid-fire plot, credible Mafia and FBI secondary characters, an indictment of self-serving officialdom, and the old soul-shattering moral dilemma: what is truth? (May)
Michael Kramer’s narration style complements the story of the Butcher’s Boy, a professional hit man who was betrayed by the Mafia and exacted revenge by killing many of its members. Of course, those who remained left no stone unturned in their search for the killer, who has remained secluded for many years. Eventually, the Mafia finds him, and from that moment the novel takes off. Kramer tends to be low-key, using subtle changes in tone and inflection to define the characters, particularly organized crime prosecutor Elizabeth Waring. At times, however, Kramer embraces the story’s emotional tides, fully defining Perry’s characters and highlighting his well-written prose. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Twenty years after a trio of lowlifes forced him out of retirement (Sleeping Dogs,1992, etc.), the Butcher's Boy is back.
When you're a professional killer who works freelance, your employers are likely to include a large number of nasty guys. So it's not clear to Perry's nameless hero, who started calling himself Michael Schaeffer when he moved to England and settled in Bath as the husband of Lady Margaret Holroyd, which of his former associates sent the three men who inadvertently flushed him out of hiding and then tried to kill him. He has no trouble tracing the three to midlevel New York capo Michael Delamina, whom he kills on page two. In order to identify Delamina's boss, however, he has to consult his old nemesis, Elizabeth Waring of the Justice Department. Taking a leaf from Hannibal Lecter'splaybook, he urges her, "Tell me, and I'll tell you something." When Elizabeth fingers rising under-boss Frank Tosca as Schaeffer's next target, he gives her some juicy information on an old Tosca murder in return. But although "he had never failed to accomplish his goal when all it entailed was killing someone," her news comes too late to help. By the time Schaeffer kills Tosca, the ambitious under-boss has convened a sit-down in which his counterparts from across the country have agreed to join his vendetta against the Butcher's Boy—a goal Tosca's death only makes them more eager to pursue. For her part, Elizabeth is so determined to bring Schaeffer into the Witness Protection Program as the ultimate informant that she's willing offer him a series of unauthorized deals, which of course he spurns. Schaeffer is squeezed between two collective adversaries with virtually unlimited personnel and resources. On the other hand, only Schaeffer is the Butcher's Boy.
Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry's relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it.
