Helpful Score: 1
A very compelling read, kept my attention from the very first page. Unfortunately, I thought the ending really lacked in the same intensity. It seemed very rushed. It brought the rating down from 4 stars to 3-1/2 for me.
This was a pretty good read. It kept me turning pages but the ending felt somewhat anticlimactic. It didn't go into enough detail as to why events occurred as they did after all those years. It brushed over explanations and never really gave us much character depth. It wraps up well enough but should have been better.
Thomas Perry at his best! This story took hold from the beginning and never let up!! A definite 5 stars!
A standalone thriller, THE OLD MAN returns to a plot Perry does very well. A quick-thinking man or woman, well trained in the ways of fighting, has to elude armies of determined pursuers and somehow get back to a quiet life. In this one, Dan Chase was recruited by the US government 35 years ago to deliver $20M to a Libyan resistance group. But the middleman kept the money and when Chase told his handlers, they didn't care. Chase cared. He stole the money back only to find they didn't want it back. 35 years later he's still looking over his shoulder when finally someone shows up to collect. Lots of action, lots of tension, and lots of chase scenes of course. Chase is a mostly likable character, the bad guys are pretty bland although Perry gives us one smart guy amongst them. There's a little unbelievable twist regarding a female character towards the end - I still don't know why Perry had to throw that in. And I decided that questioning how Chase kept his edge for 35 years wasn't productive. Otherwise, a good way to spend a few hours. BTW nothing bad happens to the dogs. :-)
4.5 stars because the ending stretched even my willingness to suspend disbelief. Almost 5 stars because this was a fun cat and mouse type story that should be a movie.
Note: the dogs don't die, even though the reader is set up to worry about that possibility initially.
Note: the dogs don't die, even though the reader is set up to worry about that possibility initially.
