Helpful Score: 3
The massacre of 13 people in a Louisville restaurant opens Thomas Perry's latest psychological thriller (after Death Benefits). Criminologist Daniel Millikan determines that this was no random occurrence, but an assassination carried out by a ruthless, methodical predator but who was the target? The killer, James Varney, is a cold-blooded psychopath who claimed his first victim his aunt at the age of 11; a loner, he later turned to robbery and murder for hire. Against his better judgment, Millikan supplies the father of one of the victims with the name of someone who might be able to help: shady operator Roy Prescott. Prescott's past is dark enough to enable him to get inside the mind of the killer and, with Millikan's help, he sets in motion an elaborate cat-and-mouse game that moves from city to city, with each man trying to anticipate the other's every move as the body count continues to rise. The traps Prescott devises to catch his prey and the ways in which Varney eludes them are fascinating, albeit a bit far-fetched, and Perry supplies just enough background to give the two leads depth with a minimum of psychobabble.
Perry, best-known for his fine Jane Whitefield series, has a precise feel for characters who work for vengeance and justice outside the law, and Prescott easily gains the reader's sympathy while maintaining his bad-guy, good-guy mystique.
Pursuit may draw some comparisons with Lawrence Block's wry Hit Man and Hit List, but while Block is always excellent, it's Perry's work that'll have you waking up in a cold sweat.
Perry, best-known for his fine Jane Whitefield series, has a precise feel for characters who work for vengeance and justice outside the law, and Prescott easily gains the reader's sympathy while maintaining his bad-guy, good-guy mystique.
Pursuit may draw some comparisons with Lawrence Block's wry Hit Man and Hit List, but while Block is always excellent, it's Perry's work that'll have you waking up in a cold sweat.
Helpful Score: 1
Wow, this was great, first novel I've read by this author, but not the last! Smart, suspenseful, don't-want-to-put-it-down book. An excellent thriller, most recommended!!
Another winner from Perry...loved it!
Very suspenseful; will keep you enthralled till the very end
My first Thomas Perry book. It is fabulous! Suspensful! Clever! Fast moving plot! I now want to read everything that Perry has ever written! Great writer!! If it's mystery, suspense and good writing you are looking for, look no further!
If you need someone hunted down, Roy Prescott is the man to call. After an assassin methodically mows down a restaurant, Prescott is hired to track down the killer. This books takes the reader around the country while a game of cat and mouse plays out between Prescott and the assassin. I enjoyed the surprises and twists thrown in; however, I did think it went on a little longer than was really necessary. Still, all-in-all, a good read and I wouldn't mind reading more featuring Roy Prescott.
Started out fairly good, didn't last long---this is a cat and mouse story, killer1 and killer2--it takes about halfway for the storyline to let you know what is going on but after that it just got long and drawn out and eventually boring just the same cat and mouse page after page----I gave up.
Very intriguing and a good read.
