This is a great follow up to the Butcher's Boy, and Sleeping Dogs. The Informant held my interest throughout the entire book; although it moved a little slow thru some of the chapters. It was not predictable and was a good read. Thomas Perry is one of my favorite authors. In my opinion, Thomas Perry is one of the few authors who consistently write good novels about one time senario characters and situations and Jane Whitefield series stories. I like his writing style. His books hold my interest. He is one of the few authors whose books I searched for and bought instead of waiting my turn thru the PBS system.
Good crime story involving the Mafia, however there is a lot of pages with just descriptions of what is happening and each chapter gets tedious reading it over and over every little movement BB is making, but it is worth taking time to read and it isn't very long.
Still packed with action, characters you can relate to, and with a high body count, I found this one to be the least satisfying of the three Butcher's Boy novels. In many ways it's just the second novel all over again. I did like that Perry shows the Butcher's Boy is older now, and that his knowledge of the scene is 20 years out of date. There are a lot more flashbacks to his mentor Eddie and how he learned his trade. Those give you more insight into him, although he's still something of an enigma. But it's the same scenario as in SLEEPING DOGS- TBB has been found by the Mafia in England, come overseas and started killing his way up the ladder hoping to force them to leave him alone. It didn't work the last time either, but there isn't any doubt in his mind this is what he has to do, and Perry doesn't allow his character to consider if there are other options. Elizabeth is also fighting practically the same battles, although she has personal allies this time. I felt the ending was contrived to fit how the reader wants it to happen - so, okay, I did start wondering how he was going to get out of it. And not to say I didn't enjoy it, because it rolls right along and takes you for a good read. Don't read this without first reading Perry's THE BUTCHER'S BOY and SLEEPING DOGS.
