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50th out of 55 books
—
40 voters
Poison Flower (Jane Whitefield #7)
by
Thomas Perry
Poison Flower, the seventh novel in Thomas Perry's celebrated Jane Whitefield series, opens as Jane spirits James Shelby, a man unjustly convicted of his wife's murder, out of the heavily guarded criminal court building in downtown Los Angeles. But the price of Shelby's freedom is high. Within minutes, men posing as police officers kidnap Jane and, when she tries to escape...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
March 6th 2012
by Mysterious Press
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I've long been a huge fan of Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield series. Jane is a contemporary Seneca Indian woman who lives in upstate New York. She's a "guide" who helps endangered people escape their current lives and settle into new ones. She often does this at great risk to herself since the villains chasing after the people that Jane is rescuing are most often very devious and extremely evil. A particular joy of the series is watching the ways in which Jane helps her clients disappear.
Poison F...more
Poison F...more
Poison Flower by Thomas Perry, the latest in his Jane Whitefield thriller series, is a can’t-put-down story. Jane Whitefield is a Native American who specializes in helping people vanish who are the targets of abusive husbands, law enforcement agents when they have been framed, Mafia hit men, and the like. In this novel, she springs an innocent man from jail in Los Angeles during a court appearance because the real killer, who has framed him, has put out a hit on him and he’s not likely to survi...more
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Jane Whitefield has been helping people escape almost certain death for a long time. Her marriage didn’t stop what she did though maybe she didn’t work as often as she used to because there was much more to risk. But, people still came to her asking for help and if she believed in their innocence, Jane Whitefield helped.
Jane thought she had everything planned out for her latest project--breaking convicted murder James Shelby out from the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. He is an innocent man...more
Jane thought she had everything planned out for her latest project--breaking convicted murder James Shelby out from the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. He is an innocent man...more
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The book was just okay. Too much violence, some quite graphic, and not enough character development. Jane Whitefield helps those who need to drop off the grid and does so with skill. Most are not be found again by those chasing them--criminals, abusive husbands, and so on. But in this book Jane's past comes back to cause her considerable grief. In Poison Flower Jane agrees to free an innocent man, Jim, convicted of killing his wife. The man actually responsible for the murder for reasons never r...more
Because I spent last weekend (March 8-10) at the Tucson Festival of Books, I thought it appropriate to make a recommendation for a book from an author in attendance. So I am going with Thomas Perry, who writes thrillers. Maybe his best known book is The Butcher's Boy, published in 1983. It won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. But the series that I love most features Jane Whitefield, who acts as a guide and protector to those mostly innocents who are threatened by terrifying people and seek J...more
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When Jane Whitefield married Dr. Carey McKinnon, they both hoped that she could leave behind the former life where she helped people disappear. It worked, for a while. She became a model surgeon's wife: working on committees and raising money for the hospital. They thought about having a child. But eventually, someone desperately needed her help and she couldn't say "no". As Carey thinks to himself at one point during the story
"To her, saving people was just something a person did, if she happe...more
"To her, saving people was just something a person did, if she happe...more
I have read all 7 books in this series, and have mixed feelings about them. There is a lot to like about the premise and the protagonist, Jane Whitefield. She is intelligent and courageous and honorable, and the stories have a lot of action. But Thomas Perry makes her do some outlandishly foolish things, and they do not sit well with me. With all her years of experience, why does she still make rookie mistakes? In one earlier book, Jane was hiking through a national park, taking a runner, and th...more
Jane Whitefield makes her living by making people disappear.
James Shelby was framed for his wife's murder. Now the people who framed him want him dead. He was in prison but summoned to court on another matter. While waiting to testify, Jane stages his escape.
However, Jane is caught by the people searching for Shelby and when she tries to escape from them, she's shot in the leg. Then she's taken to a secluded place where they believe they can torture her and find out where Shields is.
Somehow, Jan...more
James Shelby was framed for his wife's murder. Now the people who framed him want him dead. He was in prison but summoned to court on another matter. While waiting to testify, Jane stages his escape.
However, Jane is caught by the people searching for Shelby and when she tries to escape from them, she's shot in the leg. Then she's taken to a secluded place where they believe they can torture her and find out where Shields is.
Somehow, Jan...more
I just love reading a book that is part of a series as this one. That's sarcasm! This is the seventh of the Jane Whitefield mysteries and I don't think I will read the first six. In this novel, James Shelby has been unjustly convicted of his wife's murder and is serving time in prison when he is taken to court. Jane has agreed to orchestrate his escape since this is what she does on a regulasr basis; she helps people who need to disappear start fresh with a new life. Sort of like the witness pro...more
This is probably the ninth Thomas Perry novel I have read and the second one in his Jane Whitefield series that I have finished. Jane is a dedicated rescuer of people from dangerous and impossible situations, and she calls on the knowledge of her Seneca ancestors to help her help others, such as domestic violence victims, victims of sadists, those who have been framed for crimes they did not commit, etc. I marvel at the detailed planning that Mr. Perry does in writing about Ms. Whitefield's deci...more
Poison Flower is one of Thomas Perry's "Jane Whitefield" Books. Ms. Whitefield hides people as her mission. She takes people who are targeted for abuse or death and sets them up with a new identity in a place where they are safe. In Poison Flower she helps James Shelby a man framed for his wife's death escape from jail. She also helps Iris a lady she met in an abused women's shelter.
She runs into complications though because the man who framed Shelby is a very powerful criminal who sends profess...more
She runs into complications though because the man who framed Shelby is a very powerful criminal who sends profess...more
Immediately grabbed me and threw me into a roller coaster ride of epic proportions ... and that was just chapter one!
I had yet to read one of Thomas Perry's gems about Jane Whitefield and, after reading this book, I'll be looking to read more of these thrillers.
Jane Whitefield, born a Seneca Indian, has a strong sense of right and wrong, good and evil. Saving her runners from evil is her specialty. She has an amazing talent for striking down evil and a strength up against that evil that is inst...more
I had yet to read one of Thomas Perry's gems about Jane Whitefield and, after reading this book, I'll be looking to read more of these thrillers.
Jane Whitefield, born a Seneca Indian, has a strong sense of right and wrong, good and evil. Saving her runners from evil is her specialty. She has an amazing talent for striking down evil and a strength up against that evil that is inst...more
There are two kinds of reader who gravitate to the name "Perry" in the bookstore: Anne Perry fans (I read one of hers once & it was OK, but not really my bag) and those who, like me, are left cursing because there are always loads of Anne Perry titles and hardly ever any THOMAS Perry.
I fail to understand why none of the Jane Whitefield novels have been filmed; for once, Angelina Jolie would be PERFECT for the role - a woman, of Native American origin, whose speciality is helping people esca...more
I fail to understand why none of the Jane Whitefield novels have been filmed; for once, Angelina Jolie would be PERFECT for the role - a woman, of Native American origin, whose speciality is helping people esca...more
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maybe i would've enjoyed this book more if i had read the other 6 books in the series, but hey, it was free on iBooks. there were a few sentences in this book that were so poorly written i had to re-read them a couple times to infer the intended meaning from them. uh, that's never a good thing, series or not. i wanted to like the main character, but she was, besides being unbelievable, just rather annoying at times... like most of the other characters. basically this book was full of unbelievabl...more
The seventh in the Jane Whitefield series, and I've read all of them. I've always said that Thomas Perry does one thing--paranoid suspense--and he does it better than just about anyone else. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. But one of us--either Perry or I--has lost interest. Maybe both of us. This one struck me as unpleasant rather than tense and surprising, with very uncharacteristic plot holes and highly improbable situations. Jane has always struck me as sui generis, and attempts to gi...more
so sad! how i adored Jane Whitefield novels before she retired. this is the first i've read since her comeback (there's one more, published in 2009). i gotta say, she should have stayed retired.
this one is just full of lazy writing. the brand-new computer that logs in different identities. the big pharmaceutical company called... Megapharm. other spoiler-y things that i won't bring up here.
Jane Whitefield stories used to be just over the edge of believable, but only just. if you believed that a...more
this one is just full of lazy writing. the brand-new computer that logs in different identities. the big pharmaceutical company called... Megapharm. other spoiler-y things that i won't bring up here.
Jane Whitefield stories used to be just over the edge of believable, but only just. if you believed that a...more
Jane Whitfield helps an innocent man (Jim Shelby), wrongly convicted of murder, escape from a courthouse, but is captured and tortured to reveal his location. Once her captors discover who she is, they decide to auction her off to the many people after her for rescuing and relocating their captives in new lives. Badly hurt, Jane goes to a shelter for battered women, and picks up another stray, fleeing an abusive husband. Meanwhile, Shelby's sister is grabbed by the same thugs, and once again, Ja...more
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Jan 09, 2012
Nancy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
suspense/thriller lovers. Not for faint of heart.
Jane Whitefield’s husband may have been happy when Jane told him she would stop helping people run, but I wasn’t. So, I was delighted to see that Jane would once again be helping people hide after only a 3 year break this time. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for the new warrior Jane. Instead of invoking all of the tricks of her ancestors to help her hide and track she used their memories to help her stay alive so she could then hide and track. This time instead of being on the edge of my seat...more
This is back to the really good books that hooked me on this series to begin with. There were several before this one that just didn't seem to work as well for me as the earlier ones, prior to her marriage, maybe too much "I shouldn't be doing this because I'm married" angst. I don't find 'angst' of any kind very entertaining, so this one, with just a couple of brief references to the husband and little mention of tension/angst worked much better for me.
Fast pace, good plot, vivid characters wit...more
Fast pace, good plot, vivid characters wit...more
This was my first Jane Whitefield book, even though it's the seventh in the series. I had read one of Thomas Perry's stand alone titles. I thought Poison Flower was really well done. In this book, Jane is hired to free a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for his wife's murder. When the real killer finds out about the jailbreak, Jane and her client are pursued relentlessly.
thomas Perry's style is understated and deliberately creepy, and he builds the plot so carefully that the outcome seems inevi...more
thomas Perry's style is understated and deliberately creepy, and he builds the plot so carefully that the outcome seems inevi...more
I love Perry's Jane Whitefield stories! She is the female Jack Reacher, in some sense, but with more passion. She is often at a lot more risk in Perry's stories than is Reacher, who is a big guy, and powerful. (Tom Cruise is NOT the right casting to play Reacher in a film!) This particular story held special interest for me, because the "poison flower" integral to Jane's story this time is something I know of from high school. I got extra credit for an oral report done on poison hemlock--I think...more
3.5 stars. I greatly enjoy Thomas Perry’s series about Jane Whitefield, an American Indian who assists people who need to “disappear” from their regular lives, and look forward to each new novel in the series. Poison Flower is as much a “page-turner” as the earlier books in the Jane Whitefield series; however, in this new novel, Jane changes from a guide, whose mission is to teach her “runners” how to make safe new lives under assumed names, into a hunter who stalks and kills those who have seri...more
This is a much better Jane Whitefield novel than the last one. Lots of action right from the beginning and not so much introspective thinking which tended to clog up the previous one. Perry has gone back to a formula that works, weaving a tale that runs across the country and holds my interest from start to finish. Although Jane is a complex character shaped by Native American traditions, she is still capable of some very ruthless actions. She is most akin to a Superman type, married to a Lois L...more
Most of the book was 4 stars, but a few "little" things detracted, making it 3. Some were just carelessness. A purchased used car turning into a rental. Something explained early in the book being explained later, as if for the first time. Other glitches were more serious. People showing up at a place and time that were extremely unlikely to have happened. A "planned" leak sent into the wild that only a specific group received.,An ex husband who somehow knew exactly where his wife was hiding, ev...more
Perry's Jane Whitefield series has a great premise: An Indian woman helps people escape their current lives into new ones. And Perry is well able to carry it off with interesting Indian lore, well-paced action, and an ability to make you feel like you too are on the run, doing all the little mundane things you need to do, where a mistake in any one could bring the lethal heat of your previous life down upon you.
This novel seemed perhaps a little too derivative of those that have gone before in t...more
This novel seemed perhaps a little too derivative of those that have gone before in t...more
I would give this entry in the Jane Whitefield series 3.5/5 stars. I like the idea of this character, a "super-woman" who helps guide unjustly accused or victimized people into a new life. This book is quite well-plotted and moves along nicely. Perry's style of writing is always strangely removed and a little cold. And the character of Jane is just shy of being a super hero. She escapes from every dire situation she's in and the reader knows it's just a question of how she will do it. In Poison...more
I pulled this out of the new-book stacks at the library, saw that it was a Jane Whitefield novel and checked it out. I've been a fan of the series since "Vanishing Act". It wasn't till I was ready to read it that I looked on the inside front cover to see what it was going to be about, that I saw Jane was going to be caught and tortured. I almost took it back unread because I hate reading about torture, but decided I'd give it a shot and I could always skip over the torture scenes. I'm glad I did...more
Have always enjoyed the Jane Whitefield books - admire the thought processes and preparations that go into making someone disappear. It seems there hadn't been a book for a while - and this one is quite different. The person being spirited away part of the book is short and fairly straightforward -- but what happens to Jane is totally different. She has to rescue herself, find resources, get home to build her strength, and then deal with an evil man. Different insights into her character, as she...more
I think the Jane Whitefield series is Thomas Perry's real strength as a writer. The last book I read out of that series was unfocused, had no clear protagonist, and was somewhat disappointing.
The relationship between Jane and her husband Carey is interesting and funny, inspiring and positive. She is clearly not perfect, and yet she is strong, clear-minded, gifted, and purposeful, creative, resourceful and sympathetic in almost every way. I have really enjoyed this series. Looking forward to the...more
The relationship between Jane and her husband Carey is interesting and funny, inspiring and positive. She is clearly not perfect, and yet she is strong, clear-minded, gifted, and purposeful, creative, resourceful and sympathetic in almost every way. I have really enjoyed this series. Looking forward to the...more
I really enjoyed this book, but I'm in a bit of a quandary about whether I like the ending or not: on the one hand, Jane does the right thing (of course), and on the other hand she has made a seismic shift in the lengths she will go to to keep her runners safe. The very last line is extremely unsettling.
I wonder if Perry will have the nerve to follow that change through to its logical (to me) conclusion in the next books, or if this is it for Jane Whitefield. If the latter, I'm sad. I liked her....more
I wonder if Perry will have the nerve to follow that change through to its logical (to me) conclusion in the next books, or if this is it for Jane Whitefield. If the latter, I'm sad. I liked her....more
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Thomas Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. He lives in Southern California with his wife...more
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