Murder has always been easy for the Butcher's Boy--it's what he does best and what they pay him for. But after the successful assassination of a senator, he arrives in Las Vegas to collect his fee only to discover he has become a liability to his shadowy employers. His survival at stake, he needs to kill them before they kill him. But first he needs to find out who they are. As the Butcher's Boy goes to work, police specialists watching the world of organized crime realize something has gone very wrong for the mafia. In the ...
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Murder has always been easy for the Butcher's Boy--it's what he does best and what they pay him for. But after the successful assassination of a senator, he arrives in Las Vegas to collect his fee only to discover he has become a liability to his shadowy employers. His survival at stake, he needs to kill them before they kill him. But first he needs to find out who they are. As the Butcher's Boy goes to work, police specialists watching the world of organized crime realize something has gone very wrong for the mafia. In the race to discover just what that something is, Elizabeth Waring, a bright young analyst in the Justice Department, is the best chance they have. But is she good enough to catch the Butcher's Boy?
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This is a hard book to find. A huge Thomas Perry fan, I finally got a chance to read this first novel. I?ll be honest; it was a bit of a disappointment. His later novels and even the sequel to this one are far superior. The Butcher?s Boy isn?t a bad novel?just terribly uneven. The FBI character is shallow and boring while the hit man is beguiling in varying degrees. In the sequel, Sleeping Dogs, Mr. Perry wisely concentrates on the much more complex hit man character. It?s interesting to note the improvement in the latter book.
In Butcher?s Boy I expected, and was disappointed not to find, more background on the character?s upbringing and mentor?the butcher in the Butcher?s Boy. It was, however, fun to note an early version of his most famous character, Jane Whitfield, in this first novel. All and all, worth it if you?re already a fan.