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zade's review
5.0
This second installment in the Jane Whitfield series has all the virtues of the first--a fantastic protagonist, compelling pacing, a complex and interesting plot. Jane Whitefield remains one of the most engaging characters I've encountered in a thriller novel. Her moral core also makes her easy to admire. As in the first novel in the series, Jane seeks to protect the weak from the evil, although the victim in this case is even more helpless than most. She also defies (to great effect) her own definition of herself as a rabbit (a runner), not a dog (a hunter). When the only way to protect her client is to face the hunters head-on, she does so with great cunning and ingenuity. It's a classic underdog situation and it's fascinating to see the ways Perry allows Jane to outwit her enemies. This novel is a fantastic thriller, but be prepared to read far longer than you meant. It's really hard to put down.
ericwelch's review
3.0
This is the second in the Jane Whitfield series. Following a successful child protection, Jane is enlisted by someone she met briefly in jail who is being pursued by several men. It turns out that “Mary Perkins” was involved in several schemes to make money off the deregulation of the S&L’s (I happen to like the details of historical financial corruption, but it may bore the crap out of most people.)
Mary is reluctant to follow Jane’s directions. Hiding involves changing one’s personality as much as one’s looks. Things one liked before need to be ignored or disliked. If you liked money and sunshine, you need to move someplace where it’s cold and live ostentatiously. The details for creating new paperwork for new identities is truly fascinating. I wondered just how much experience Perry has in this regard.
The scene then shifts back to the child who, Jane suspects, is still in danger from the law firm that handled his Grandmother’s trust. She realized that the firm had a way to scam all the money out of the trust. They way they intended to do this is a wonder of convoluted legal machinations that, I suspect, might provide a blueprint for the hoards of unscrupulous lawyers out there, so if you are a lawyer, please don’t read this book. Jane sets out to scam the scammers with the help of a friendly and honest judge. The two cases merge as Mary and Jane are pursued by an unscrupulous private investigator.
Again, Perry intermingles lots of Native American lore into the story. Again, for me, at least, it seemed too peripheral, if interesting. Sometimes, the books seems almost a primary on how to disappear. I doubt if it would surprise anyone that Jane gets her revenge in the end.
Mary is reluctant to follow Jane’s directions. Hiding involves changing one’s personality as much as one’s looks. Things one liked before need to be ignored or disliked. If you liked money and sunshine, you need to move someplace where it’s cold and live ostentatiously. The details for creating new paperwork for new identities is truly fascinating. I wondered just how much experience Perry has in this regard.
The scene then shifts back to the child who, Jane suspects, is still in danger from the law firm that handled his Grandmother’s trust. She realized that the firm had a way to scam all the money out of the trust. They way they intended to do this is a wonder of convoluted legal machinations that, I suspect, might provide a blueprint for the hoards of unscrupulous lawyers out there, so if you are a lawyer, please don’t read this book. Jane sets out to scam the scammers with the help of a friendly and honest judge. The two cases merge as Mary and Jane are pursued by an unscrupulous private investigator.
Again, Perry intermingles lots of Native American lore into the story. Again, for me, at least, it seemed too peripheral, if interesting. Sometimes, the books seems almost a primary on how to disappear. I doubt if it would surprise anyone that Jane gets her revenge in the end.