danchrist's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent final chapter of the Butcher Boy trilogy. Very satisfying.
mojoshivers's review against another edition
5.0
This was an excellent capper to an excellent trilogy. I don't know if there's going to be a sequel, but, as it is, this series ends on a high note. All the trademark elements are there, pages of meticulous planning and bits of improvising, punctuated by moments of sudden, violent scenes of action. Even Elizabeth manages to come into her own as a fully developed character in her own right rather than someone to act as the government foil, as she was in previous books.
I love this story and can't recommend it enough to anyone with a passing interest in crime fiction.
I love this story and can't recommend it enough to anyone with a passing interest in crime fiction.
jajorgen's review against another edition
5.0
Here's the review posted on my library's book reviews blog, MADreads:
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2011/04/26/what-was-i-waiting-for/
Thomas Perry has been writing mystery/thrillers since the early 80s and somehow I have never read one of his books. Not sure why. He's written a series of books with protagonist Jane Whitefield - an extremely competent woman who helps people in trouble disappear - that I've meant to read many times and somehow just never did. Recently I got a galley of his newest, The Informant, and finally had my chance to read what I've been missing. Turns out I've been missing out on a very good author. Good news is now I have a good-sized backlist to delve into.
The Informant is the third book in The Butchers Boy series. What's most interesting to me as a reader is that Perry has allowed the timeline in the books to match the timeline of publication. The Butcher's Boy came out 20 years ago (was in fact Perry's first book). That debut first introduced the killer for hire who runs afoul of the mob and his adversary Elizabeth Waring, an analyst in the Justice Department. 20 years later the assassin has been living a quiet life in Bath, England as Michael Schaeffer. He is forced out of retirement when a new mobster attempts to make a name for himself by killing the Butcher's Boy.
Schaeffer's return once again draws Elizabeth into the hunt for this killer who has always eluded capture. The problem for her is that while twenty years in the Justice Dept. have given her a chance to move up in the ranks, she's still just a civil servant as far as her new boss Dale Hunsecker is concerned. Hunsecker is a political appointee who attempts to hamstring Waring at every turn. Though her job may be in jeopardy, Elizabeth can't let the Butcher's Boy go one more time. If she can catch him, she can turn him into the best mob informant her department has ever seen.
Though I have not yet read the first two books in this series, I had no problem in following the action. Perry does a great job of setting the scene and drawing his characters. Though one is an assassin and the other a representative of the law, I found myself rooting for both Michael and Elizabeth and consider the best scenes in the book to be the ones where they are in each other's presence playing a cat and mouse game. Good stuff. I can hardly wait to go back and read how this relationship started.
So if you're like me and you haven't yet discovered Thomas Perry, wait no more. If you're someone who's been suggesting the author to me for years - and there are a couple of you - you were right and I was wrong. How about the rest of you? Are there authors you held off on reading that you later discovered that you loved? Anyone else I've been missing? I'm always looking for suggestions (even when it takes me time to read them).
http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/madreads/index.php/2011/04/26/what-was-i-waiting-for/
Thomas Perry has been writing mystery/thrillers since the early 80s and somehow I have never read one of his books. Not sure why. He's written a series of books with protagonist Jane Whitefield - an extremely competent woman who helps people in trouble disappear - that I've meant to read many times and somehow just never did. Recently I got a galley of his newest, The Informant, and finally had my chance to read what I've been missing. Turns out I've been missing out on a very good author. Good news is now I have a good-sized backlist to delve into.
The Informant is the third book in The Butchers Boy series. What's most interesting to me as a reader is that Perry has allowed the timeline in the books to match the timeline of publication. The Butcher's Boy came out 20 years ago (was in fact Perry's first book). That debut first introduced the killer for hire who runs afoul of the mob and his adversary Elizabeth Waring, an analyst in the Justice Department. 20 years later the assassin has been living a quiet life in Bath, England as Michael Schaeffer. He is forced out of retirement when a new mobster attempts to make a name for himself by killing the Butcher's Boy.
Schaeffer's return once again draws Elizabeth into the hunt for this killer who has always eluded capture. The problem for her is that while twenty years in the Justice Dept. have given her a chance to move up in the ranks, she's still just a civil servant as far as her new boss Dale Hunsecker is concerned. Hunsecker is a political appointee who attempts to hamstring Waring at every turn. Though her job may be in jeopardy, Elizabeth can't let the Butcher's Boy go one more time. If she can catch him, she can turn him into the best mob informant her department has ever seen.
Though I have not yet read the first two books in this series, I had no problem in following the action. Perry does a great job of setting the scene and drawing his characters. Though one is an assassin and the other a representative of the law, I found myself rooting for both Michael and Elizabeth and consider the best scenes in the book to be the ones where they are in each other's presence playing a cat and mouse game. Good stuff. I can hardly wait to go back and read how this relationship started.
So if you're like me and you haven't yet discovered Thomas Perry, wait no more. If you're someone who's been suggesting the author to me for years - and there are a couple of you - you were right and I was wrong. How about the rest of you? Are there authors you held off on reading that you later discovered that you loved? Anyone else I've been missing? I'm always looking for suggestions (even when it takes me time to read them).
caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
The final penultimate book in this trilogy, sadly, with the fourth one published last year! The BB gets more entangled with DOJ staffer Elizabeth in this one, and it brings both of them closer to danger. The middle sagged a bit - so very many murders, each done differently but so skillfully that it became repetitious - but the ending was terrific. 3.5
usbsticky's review against another edition
4.0
I read the last book in this series first, then #1, #2 and #3. I liked #4 very much. I only gave #2 and #3 three stars. This one is better than the first 2.
Spoilers below:
I highly recommend reading these books in order. In all the books there is some continuity issues where something said in one book doesn't match the same thing in another. For example the depiction of the Cathead Malone hit is slightly different. But to be honest, doesn't really detract from the series, though just seems badly edited or sloppy.
The reason why I like this one better maybe because the author has improved his writing over time or because the author has gone back to the basics of just having the killer of doing hit after hit. After all, he's a killer, so fugetabout making the story cute or adding complexities to it. I still don't like the changing POV (between the killer and Waring). Waring's POV (Dept of Justice) is just not necessary. One thing which I didn't really like was making the killer too omnipotent, I mean he's basically capable of getting into any house/fortress and killing any number of people, it's just too easy. But on the other hand, I enjoyed it. I will be checking his other books now.
Spoilers below:
I highly recommend reading these books in order. In all the books there is some continuity issues where something said in one book doesn't match the same thing in another. For example the depiction of the Cathead Malone hit is slightly different. But to be honest, doesn't really detract from the series, though just seems badly edited or sloppy.
The reason why I like this one better maybe because the author has improved his writing over time or because the author has gone back to the basics of just having the killer of doing hit after hit. After all, he's a killer, so fugetabout making the story cute or adding complexities to it. I still don't like the changing POV (between the killer and Waring). Waring's POV (Dept of Justice) is just not necessary. One thing which I didn't really like was making the killer too omnipotent, I mean he's basically capable of getting into any house/fortress and killing any number of people, it's just too easy. But on the other hand, I enjoyed it. I will be checking his other books now.
fancybone's review against another edition
4.0
A good conclusion to the story that spans decades, although the end felt a bit rushed.
ecari's review against another edition
3.0
This was a solid third in the Butcher's Boy series, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the others. I was bit irritated with some danging plot lines from the previous 2 novels and was not fully on board with the premise for the Butcher's Boy's return in this version. But Perry continues to deliver exciting page turners - a good listen.
cjazzlee's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, the Butcher's Boy is back.
The whole time I was reading this book, I felt snippets of Michael Mann's film, Heat, playing in the back of my mind. You know, where the good guy and bad guy had this unique connection throughout their encounters. In this book, Elizabeth Waring from the Justice Dept is back, and solving mafia-related murders which are linked to the unknown and never-before-apprehended killer who she encountered over 10 years ago, in Perry's other Butcher's Boy books.
I love the pace, dialogue and characterization in this novel, more than some of his other recent ones. I esp liked the thoughts in the mind of the killer, who, after all, is just trying to live out the rest of his days peacefully in rural England, finally married to a semi-aristocrat he hooked up with in the previous book, until the dang mafia showed up again, in his world, to attempt to kill him.
This is a good stand alone, but is a far richer reading experience if you've read the earlier 2 novels as well.
The whole time I was reading this book, I felt snippets of Michael Mann's film, Heat, playing in the back of my mind. You know, where the good guy and bad guy had this unique connection throughout their encounters. In this book, Elizabeth Waring from the Justice Dept is back, and solving mafia-related murders which are linked to the unknown and never-before-apprehended killer who she encountered over 10 years ago, in Perry's other Butcher's Boy books.
I love the pace, dialogue and characterization in this novel, more than some of his other recent ones. I esp liked the thoughts in the mind of the killer, who, after all, is just trying to live out the rest of his days peacefully in rural England, finally married to a semi-aristocrat he hooked up with in the previous book, until the dang mafia showed up again, in his world, to attempt to kill him.
This is a good stand alone, but is a far richer reading experience if you've read the earlier 2 novels as well.
janetval's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
crutnacker's review against another edition
4.0
Schaeffer is the Butcher Boy, a retired mafia hitman trying to live in obscurity. When he is spotted, he becomes public enemy number one to every mafia family and Schaeffer decides he will go to war with them all before he is brought down.
Elizabeth Warren is a widowed justice department lawyer who is hot on Schaeffer's trail. He has contacted her with hopes of using her information against the families while feeding her bits she can use to bring the families to justice. Thomas Perry weaves their stories together as The Butcher Boy attempts to come out alive and creates a suspenseful book with a satisfying ending. Recommended.
Elizabeth Warren is a widowed justice department lawyer who is hot on Schaeffer's trail. He has contacted her with hopes of using her information against the families while feeding her bits she can use to bring the families to justice. Thomas Perry weaves their stories together as The Butcher Boy attempts to come out alive and creates a suspenseful book with a satisfying ending. Recommended.