The Informant by Thomas Perry

 

(pb; 2011: third book in the Butcher’s Boy series)

From the inside flap

“The Butcher’s Boy is back. Thomas Perry’s vengeful assassin, who turned on his Mafia clients. . . has been quiet for a decade. Now,. . .[he] has returned to play a deadly psychological game with Elizabeth Waring, the only Justice Department official who ever believed he existed.

“The Butcher’s Boy knows Waring can help him hunt down the Mafia boss who sent a team of hit men to kill him─and in return he offers her key information that will help her crack an unsolved murder. So begins a new assault on organized crime and an uneasy alliance between opposite sides of the law. As the Butcher’s Boy works his way closer to his deadly enemy. . . to kill him first, Waring is in a desperate struggle, either to force her unlikely ally to become a protected informant, or to take him out of commission for good.”

 

Review

Informant’s set-up will likely be familiar to readers of its two prequels, but its overall action and editorial pacing is varied, expedited and, just as importantly, possesses the raw immediacy, strong lead characters and well-sketched supporting characters of its previous works. The violence is again short, sharp and potent, while all of these elements deftly sidestep clichés and add surprising elements to and decisions by its two leads, Michael Schaeffer and Elizabeth Waring. This is an excellent read, and a welcome continuance of Perry’s Butcher Boy series. Followed by Eddie’s Boy.