A review by mojoshivers
Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Perry
4.0
When Toby recommended this series to me, she introduced it as a classic to the hitman genre. Starting with The Butcher's Boy and continuing in Sleeping Dogs, you can tell this is from another era of writing. The pacing's slower, the characters more prone to being revealed slowly, and the story themselves meander more than more recent novels. But you know what? It works.
I've been a fan of the genre for some time now. I like it when they put the paid assassin in the driver's seat instead of being relegated to the antagonist. Butcher's Boy and Sleeping Dogs follow this convention to a T. What I liked most is that these aren't the stories about someone getting paid to go rogue. At their hearts, these stories about a disgruntled employee showing his dissatisfaction with his employers and former employers.
The only difference is that when an accountant gets disgruntled, he embezzles money. When a hockey player gets fed up with his coaches and the front office, he goes on strike. When a trained assassin gets pissed off with those who hire him, he goes on a nationwide rampage.
But the thing is, it isn't like a spree killing and it isn't like all of its stemming from anger. A lot of the death and destruction he sows is to cause confusion in the ranks as much as it is to get revenge. Like he even says, all he knows when somebody strikes at him, is to sting the hand and get the hell out of there. With every step it's as much planning, as it is making split decisions, all in an effort to wreak as much havoc in order to effect his escape.
That's why the books make for interesting reads. It's interesting to see how clever The Butcher's Boy is in executing his enemies. But just as interesting is seeing how all his actions are interpreted by everyone involved--the Mafia, the FBI, the other people in his life. It's like watching a wild animal let loose among the zoo-goers; you're watching him as much as you're watching everyone react to him.
Sleeping Dogs makes an excellent sequel to The Butcher's Boy. You learn a little bit more of his past (and his possible future), and you get more of the tense plotting and devious action scenes that made the original so compelling.
I've been a fan of the genre for some time now. I like it when they put the paid assassin in the driver's seat instead of being relegated to the antagonist. Butcher's Boy and Sleeping Dogs follow this convention to a T. What I liked most is that these aren't the stories about someone getting paid to go rogue. At their hearts, these stories about a disgruntled employee showing his dissatisfaction with his employers and former employers.
The only difference is that when an accountant gets disgruntled, he embezzles money. When a hockey player gets fed up with his coaches and the front office, he goes on strike. When a trained assassin gets pissed off with those who hire him, he goes on a nationwide rampage.
But the thing is, it isn't like a spree killing and it isn't like all of its stemming from anger. A lot of the death and destruction he sows is to cause confusion in the ranks as much as it is to get revenge. Like he even says, all he knows when somebody strikes at him, is to sting the hand and get the hell out of there. With every step it's as much planning, as it is making split decisions, all in an effort to wreak as much havoc in order to effect his escape.
That's why the books make for interesting reads. It's interesting to see how clever The Butcher's Boy is in executing his enemies. But just as interesting is seeing how all his actions are interpreted by everyone involved--the Mafia, the FBI, the other people in his life. It's like watching a wild animal let loose among the zoo-goers; you're watching him as much as you're watching everyone react to him.
Sleeping Dogs makes an excellent sequel to The Butcher's Boy. You learn a little bit more of his past (and his possible future), and you get more of the tense plotting and devious action scenes that made the original so compelling.