Book of the Moment

Thomas Perry The Boyfriend (publication March 2013)

Thomas Perry is an award winning crime writer (see especially Metzer’s Dog). He has a Phd in English, and news to me, is a producer of primetime network television (21 Jump Street, Star Trek: next generation, etc). His novel The Butcher’s Boy, which won the Edgar in 1983 for best first novel, was truly disturbing to me, where the nice man living next door can actually be a ruthless assassin. I have never looked at my neighbours in quite the same way. That series includes Sleeping Dogs and the Informant and kept me awake into the small hours of the night, with all the lights on. This time, in The Boyfriend, we have an ex LAPD well respected homicide detective, now PI, as a thinking protagonist. I never felt that Jack Till would be killed, but I was on the edge of my seat in the action packed rather brutal ride. He is tracking a serial killer, whose victims are all strawberry blondes, but who also happen to be in the high end call girl profession. The secret agenda provides another race against time. The concise writing and detail on each story level is all too real/plausible/possible and quite depressing, but adds to the credibility. Yes, I read it on one sitting, well into the early hours, heart in throat, wondering how it was going to end. In fact, it ended too abruptly for me! Dare I hope he will write a sequel?

Of similar interest: the John Sanford Virgil Flowers series, Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther series or Craig Johnson Walt Longmire series.
Of note: If you haven't read the Jane Whitefield series by Thomas Perry, start at the beginning! I thoroughly enjoyed the initial series, which was very inovative, creative and fascinating. The last novel Poison Flower was a return to his best writing.


Read as an ARC, pre-order on Kindle or ask your library to purchase this (they have most of the rest!)