... an unanticipated but welcome series entry ... Few authors write action sequences, build suspense and spring surprises as well as Mr. Perry. And few readers will expect anyone who’s roused Schaeffer’s alarm to escape his fatal attentions.
If fans of Perry’s novels think the plot of Eddie’s Boy, closely resembles the last two butcher’s boy books, they’d be right, but the saving grace is in the differing details, including how Shaeffer confronts the challenge of engaging in combat with a fit but aging body ... And there is certainly much to admire in the skill with which Perry works, from his flawless plotting to his tight and muscular prose style.
One of Perry’s unique talents is his ability to tell what is essentially the same story over and over again, while continually finding ways to make it fresh and absorbing ... Perry is not a particularly colorful or flamboyant stylist. His prose is lean, clean and typically understated. Its precise, level tone and attention to detail lend his narratives a force and immediacy that compel our attention. If he has ever written a bad, dull or disappointing book, I haven’t seen it. This dark but illuminating return to his fictional roots is Perry at his representative best. It rarely gets better than that.
While it does not contain a lot of surprises, there are revelations, action and munitions galore, with enough of all three to satisfy even the most jaded thriller reader ... Perry does an exemplary job of bringing those who are new to the series, which started in 1982, into the fold and up to date ... sometimes reminded me of the John Wick movie franchise, in that Michael seems to jump into and out of lethal trouble with the adroitness of a younger (but not much younger) Keanu Reeves in the instantly iconic films. The idea of a thriller is to present how a protagonist gets out of a situation, and this book does not lack for situations. The narrative only drags a bit when it goes into detail about the different players in the LCN empire and their ever-changing alliances. This is a decidedly minor quibble, particularly in a novel loaded with action scenes and a charismatic hero pulling the trigger. Perry also provides readers with a number of life lessons that could be kept in good stead by anyone, even if they don’t constantly have a target on their backs.
Perry is a master at finding humanity in criminals, especially in his stand-alone thrillers; fortunately, he sometimes brings back these bewitching bad guys, straddling the line between series and stand-alone.
Edgar-winner Perry’s superbly crafted fourth Butcher’s Boy novel (after 2011’s The Informant) opens with retired hit man Michael Schaeffer driving a car with the bodies of three inept assassins he killed earlier that night ... immensely clever ... Perry delivers a master class in the art of propulsive tension.
