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The Informant (The Butcher's Boy #3)

3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 · rating details · 601 ratings · 114 reviews

In Thomas Perry’s Edgar-winning debut The Butcher’s Boy, a professional killer betrayed by the Mafia leaves countless mobsters dead and then disappears. Justice Department official Elizabeth Waring is the only one who believes he ever existed. Many years later, the Butcher’s Boy finds his peaceful life threatened when a Mafia hit team finally catches up with him. He knows...more

Hardcover, 325 pages

Published May 5th 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published April 12th 2011)

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May 07, 2011 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

Pathology or just business?

A hired killer comes out of retirement when his former mob employers hunt him down and try and kill him to cover up their crimes and avenge his. He sneaks into Justice Department Agent Waring’s house to speak with her in an attempt to get information as to wear he can find his old enemies. Warring though scared is excited and hopeful that the killer, Schaeffer, might be able to help her convict the mobsters she’s spent most of her life trying to track down and convict....more

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Jan 17, 2013 James Thane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-fiction

Thomas Perry's character, the Butcher's Boy, is one of my favorite characters in crime fiction. Sadly, the series in which he is featured encompasses only three books published over a span of thirty years.

The character, who first appeared in The Butcher's Boy in 1982, was orphaned as a tender youth and apprenticed to Eddie, a butcher who also happened to be an elite killer. Eddie trained his young ward well in both professions and as a young man, the Butcher's Boy was already making his mark as...more Thomas Perry's character, the Butcher's Boy, is one of my favorite characters in crime fiction. Sadly, the series in which he is featured encompasses only three books published over a span of thirty years.

The character, who first appeared in The Butcher's Boy in 1982, was orphaned as a tender youth and apprenticed to Eddie, a butcher who also happened to be an elite killer. Eddie trained his young ward well in both professions and as a young man, the Butcher's Boy was already making his mark as a talented assassin, best known for the gang hits he carried out.

After writing a great novel that introduced the character, Perry left him to his own devices for ten years while he (Perry) wrote a number of other books, most notably his Jane Whitefield series, which is also excellent. The Butcher's Boy then returned in 1992 in Sleeping Dogs. By then he was in retirement in England, but the mobsters he alienated before leaving the U.S. are still hunting him. A visiting mobster recognizes him and the Butcher's Boy must come out of retirement to deal with the problem.

Twenty years after that, still attempting to live a quiet retired life in England, he is spotted again. The mobsters are still after him and have raised the stakes, leading teams of hit men searching him out. The Butcher's Boy is now married and living as Michael Schaeffer. He's also not as young as he used to be, but to save himself and his wife, he must return to the U.S. and eliminate this threat at the source.

To do so, he enlists the help of Elizabeth Waring, a powerful official in the Justice Department. For thirty years, most of the analysts in the department have assumed that the Butcher's Boy was a mythical character and that the kills attributed to him were actually the work of several men. Waring has argued from the beginning that the man actually exists, but no one will listen to her.

The Butcher's Boy recruits her help by offering her a quid pro quo that she cannot refuse. Waring, in turn, sees a chance to recruit him as an informant whose testimony could virtually destroy the mob single-handedly. But she has an idiot political appointee for a boss who frustrates her at every turn and will not give her the support she needs to get the job done.

The result is a very clever novel in which The Butcher's Boy takes on the mob chieftains who want him eliminated while Waring defies her boss and attempts to bring him in. There's a lot of great action leading to the proverbial shattering climax at the end of a most satisfying read. Those who have not yet made the acquaintance of the Butcher's Boy might well want to start with the first of the three books, but those who have read the first two will almost certainly agree that the twenty-year gap between the second and third books was well worth the wait.(less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Bonnie rated it 2 of 5 stars

A lukewarm, so-so book, “The Informant – a Butcher's Boy Novel” is a killing novel, not a murder mystery. Somehow it kept me going on but in the end my first impression was correct. I thought it was slow and totally unbelievable.

The Butcher’s Boy (Schaeffer), a retired hit man, is killing mafia bosses after they put a contract out on him. He has no trouble finding them and shots always miss him. Elizabeth Waring of the Justice Department has a very unlikely alliance with him. She uses him as an...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 25, 2011 Carl rated it 3 of 5 stars

You (should) pretty much know what you're getting into when reading Perry: lots of plot driven Action (often bloody murder), a protagonist too good (at what he does) to be true (that goes for the plot as well). How much you like it depends on how well you like the genre (this is pure entertainment, not deep thought), and how much disbelief you're willing to suspend for it, as he usually does well what he does. For me, I find I can accept an amoral murderer (although it's interesting to see how h...more

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May 03, 2011 Alecia rated it 3 of 5 stars

As I keep reading Thomas Perry's books, there is a similarity to his main characters and writing style that I've begun to note. Although this book has a ruthless cold-blooded killer as a protagonist (along with a female Justice Department Official), there are similarities between The Butcher's Boy (this novel's main character) and his Jane Whitefield heroine. Although this Butcher's Boy is a cold-blooded, ruthless killer, his thought processes and actions are detailed much like Whitefield's in t...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Jane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, thriller

Here's the review posted on my library's book reviews blog, MADreads:

http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/m...

Thomas Perry has been writing mystery/thrillers since the early 80s and somehow I have never read one of his books. Not sure why. He's written a series of books with protagonist Jane Whitefield - an extremely competent woman who helps people in trouble disappear - that I've meant to read many times and somehow just never did. Recently I got a galley of his newest, The Informant, and final...more Here's the review posted on my library's book reviews blog, MADreads:

http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/m...

Thomas Perry has been writing mystery/thrillers since the early 80s and somehow I have never read one of his books. Not sure why. He's written a series of books with protagonist Jane Whitefield - an extremely competent woman who helps people in trouble disappear - that I've meant to read many times and somehow just never did. Recently I got a galley of his newest, The Informant, and finally had my chance to read what I've been missing. Turns out I've been missing out on a very good author. Good news is now I have a good-sized backlist to delve into.

The Informant is the third book in The Butchers Boy series. What's most interesting to me as a reader is that Perry has allowed the timeline in the books to match the timeline of publication. The Butcher's Boy came out 20 years ago (was in fact Perry's first book). That debut first introduced the killer for hire who runs afoul of the mob and his adversary Elizabeth Waring, an analyst in the Justice Department. 20 years later the assassin has been living a quiet life in Bath, England as Michael Schaeffer. He is forced out of retirement when a new mobster attempts to make a name for himself by killing the Butcher's Boy.

Schaeffer's return once again draws Elizabeth into the hunt for this killer who has always eluded capture. The problem for her is that while twenty years in the Justice Dept. have given her a chance to move up in the ranks, she's still just a civil servant as far as her new boss Dale Hunsecker is concerned. Hunsecker is a political appointee who attempts to hamstring Waring at every turn. Though her job may be in jeopardy, Elizabeth can't let the Butcher's Boy go one more time. If she can catch him, she can turn him into the best mob informant her department has ever seen.

Though I have not yet read the first two books in this series, I had no problem in following the action. Perry does a great job of setting the scene and drawing his characters. Though one is an assassin and the other a representative of the law, I found myself rooting for both Michael and Elizabeth and consider the best scenes in the book to be the ones where they are in each other's presence playing a cat and mouse game. Good stuff. I can hardly wait to go back and read how this relationship started.

So if you're like me and you haven't yet discovered Thomas Perry, wait no more. If you're someone who's been suggesting the author to me for years - and there are a couple of you - you were right and I was wrong. How about the rest of you? Are there authors you held off on reading that you later discovered that you loved? Anyone else I've been missing? I'm always looking for suggestions (even when it takes me time to read them).(less)

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Jan 10, 2011 Eric_W rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries-and-thrillers

Advanced reader copy.

The Butcher’s Boy, retired assassin, wants nothing more than to be left alone. Having found a woman he loves, in a country removed from his former territory, he has no other aspirations than to leave things be. I understand that. He’s getting older, slower, and has everything he needs; until an up-and-coming Mafia chief thinks that by killing the Butcher’s Boy he can claim more power.

The adopted son of a hitman/butcher, the acolyte, now calling himself Schaeffer, embarks o...more Advanced reader copy.

The Butcher’s Boy, retired assassin, wants nothing more than to be left alone. Having found a woman he loves, in a country removed from his former territory, he has no other aspirations than to leave things be. I understand that. He’s getting older, slower, and has everything he needs; until an up-and-coming Mafia chief thinks that by killing the Butcher’s Boy he can claim more power.

The adopted son of a hitman/butcher, the acolyte, now calling himself Schaeffer, embarks on a campaign to eliminate the mafia boss who has put out a major contract on him. It’s virtually the entire crime world against him for having set up and destroyed Belacontana, a major crime figure, mostly as a way to protect himself. Now everyone seeks to ingratiate himself with Frank Tosca, the new Belacontana wanna-be. Schaeffer needs to make searching for him too expensive. (Parker does something similar in The Outfit by Richard Stark, if less violently.)

I have read several of the Butcher’s Boy series. This, while the latest, could stand alone, although I recommend reading them in order for a better historical sense of the characters, particularly that of Elizabeth Waring, the Justice Department investigator who is beginning to have the best sense of just who the Butcher’s Boy is. Some of the scenes might strain credibility, e.g., his running up the hill (he’s fifty) to get away from the lodge. Then again, there’s something to be said for staying in shape. (Personally, my idea of staying in shape is conforming to the contours of my reading chair.) Waring wants to get Schaeffer in a corner where his only protection will be to turn informant against those who formerly hired him.

I’ve also read several of Perry’s Jane Whitefield series and the similarities are obvious: the lone, competent, anti-hero competing successfully against large odds. It’s an appealing scenario, especially with Perry’s love of the outdoors and use of natural resources in the denouement.

I must admit to having become quite a fan of Thomas Perry and am reading my way through all his titles. Not Crime and Punishment, but very enjoyable. The order of the Butcher series is Butcher’s Boy, Sleeping Dogs, and The Informant. Read them all.(less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am just crazy about Thomas Perry and his books. He does not waste words, he just gets on with the meat of the story. You will never hear him tell that "the airy floral and lace curtain softly fluttered from the delicate evening breeze passing through the slightly opened bay window". Nope, there will be none of that. This book is a follow up of one of his earlier award winning books, The Butcher's Boy. How Perry can make a hit man on a revenge killing spree seem even slightly likeable and to ha...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Giacomo rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Informant, Thomas Perry.

I have been a big fan of Perry since the early days. Butcher's Boy was one of my favorites, and Sleeping Dogs held up well. I thought I would be disappointed with Vanishing Act, but wasn't.

The Informant has been great in that it allowed me to revisit BB after so many years, but it brought a little baggage with it. Thomas Perry is one of the best at developing a character who knows their business. Not many hit men I remember were drawn as well as the original BB. And...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Mike Barresi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller

http://knowthyself-mb.blogspot.com/20...

He pivoted to the left and brought the knife around so his body added force to the thrust, and the eight-inch blade was lodged to the handle in the space just below Delamina's rib cage. He stepped forward with it and pushed upward. As he did, he said quietly, "I'm the one you sent people to find. Go join them." Delamina went limp, fell to the kitchen floor, and lay there, his eyes open and losing focus.

This is the Butcher's Boy's first killing in Thomas Pe...more http://knowthyself-mb.blogspot.com/20...

He pivoted to the left and brought the knife around so his body added force to the thrust, and the eight-inch blade was lodged to the handle in the space just below Delamina's rib cage. He stepped forward with it and pushed upward. As he did, he said quietly, "I'm the one you sent people to find. Go join them." Delamina went limp, fell to the kitchen floor, and lay there, his eyes open and losing focus.

This is the Butcher's Boy's first killing in Thomas Perry's new suspense thrill, The Informant. I've never read any of the previous Butcher's Boy novels, so it's my first time seeing the notorious hit man in action. Cold, calculated and lethal to say the least. The Butcher's Boy takes the old adage, 'if you're going to shoot, shoot" to heart. His philosophy is more, "if you're going to shoot, shoot and then shoot some more and maybe once again." But the Butcher's Boy never has to shoot more than is required because he's literally deadly with the gun and knife and whatever else he needs to end the other person's life. And yet, he's likable.

The Butcher's Boy, was trained to kill by Eddie Mastrewski, a butcher that took him in after his parents died when he was a child. By his mid-teens, the Butcher's Boy, begins going on assigments with Eddie, learning the skills and resources that will make him the most fearsome killer.

In The Informant, the Mafia is out to kill him at all costs. Twenty years ago he worked as a hit man for the Mafia in their most important and difficult murders and now they want him and all his secrets, dead. Frank Tosca wants to become the next leader of the new La Cosa Nostra and the best way to get there is to kill the Butcher's Boy. Tosca is a throwback to the Mafia of old, only he's more ruthless. But no one's as ruthless as the unnamed assassin, code name the Butcher's Boy.

But the Butcher's Boy has a strange partner along the way Justice Department's Elizabeth Waring. Though Waring and the killer never really form a partnership in the true sense, they do trade information that allows the other to keep on with their tasks; the Butcher's Boy killing the Mafioso and Waring, bringing the Mafioso down. For the past twenty years, Waring has worked at the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Division and she knows all of the big time players in La Cosa Nostra. She's also familiar with the Butcher's Boy from his past dealings with the Mafia.

I question a few integral aspects of the book. Why does the Butcher's Boy have any care in the world for Waring? How does an Assistant DA not take a tip from Waring, the well respected twenty year veteran?

Perry may not have Lee Child's ability to create stories with finely tuned language, but in the end, this is a thriller that works. It worked enough that I'm excited to go back and see how this all started in Perry's first book in the series, aptly named, The Butcher's Boy.

*eBook provided for review courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley
**Cover design by Brian Moore of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt(less)

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Sep 15, 2011 comfort rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another chapter in the life of the Butcher Boy and once again my heart was racing and I couldn't sleep til I finished.

I am amazed at the situations Thomas Perry writes our "hero" into and then how he gets him out. He is constantly being painted into a corner but always finds a "magic" door to help him get away.

The BB is forced back into his old life as an assassin as the Mafia won't let him retire. They keep coming after him and the only way he will ever get some peace is to start killing all th...more

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Jul 08, 2011 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Butcher's Boy is back (again). As in the last reprise (Sleeping Dogs) nearly ten years ago, he has been discovered living quietly in England by some Mafia thugs, and now he must return (again) to the USA and (again) wreak havoc among the mafia while avoiding capture by the Justice Department. It's surprising that the mafia is still in business, since Jane Whitefield pretty much ruined them financially in Perry's earlier Blood Money. But never mind. As in all Thomas Perry books, the focus is...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Claudia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some very good bits, but overall not as good as the first two. Too much recapping, at too much length, and too many stories that felt sort of arbitrarily stuck in (didn't really need another motel shootout, btw). Shame, too, because some of them (bits of the main character's history and past) could have been useful in the earlier books.

One of my favorite scenes, though, came where the lead remembers a day he spent when he was just starting out with another young guy, and the two of them were ta...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-and-or-evil

The Butcher's Boy has been peacefully retired, happily married, in England for nearly 20 years, when an old Mafia client decides he wants him dead. He takes out the shooters who came for him, then returns to the US to try to find out who wants him dead after all these years. Elizabeth Warren is the only person in the Justice Department who believes he is an actual person, so he uses her to find out who hired the men he killed. He and Warren use each other - he wants to keep ahead of those who wa...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Elgin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysteries

This was one of Thomas Perry's Butcher's Boy novels. The Butcher's Boy is a unique character...a professional mob hit man who is retired, trying to live a peaceful life. However, now and then some Mafia guy spots him and tries to take him out (for a large reward!) Then watch out...this guy not only takes out the potential killer, but everyone that even had a remote chance of being the one who hired the killer. (These Mafia guys never seem to learn to leave this guy alone in these books.) Perry w...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Mary Frances rated it 4 of 5 stars

These books are among my guilty pleasures. Long before there was Dexter, there was the Butcher's Boy, a sympathetic psychopathic hit man He resurfaces in this book when threatened with death by Mafia guys with very long memories. Thus book strains credulity at times, although the author does a good job of trying to make the unlikely more likely. Perry writes a great thriller, and he does build characters in a richer way than many writers in the genre. Don't read this first, go for The Butcher's...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Virginia rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a great series! Thomas Perry's writing is tight, suspenseful, and consistent. He does a masterful job of blurring the line between the good guys and bad guys, proving that life is more about shades of gray than black and white. Some of the elements are a little beyond belief - if my kids had been left alone for several days when they were teenagers, I know they wouldn't have fixed asparagus for dinner and washed the dishes! But we can always dream...

I think it helps to have read the other b...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Toni Osborne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Book3, in the Butcher’s Boy series

Although I haven’t read the first 2 novels it didn't take me long to catch up and be captivated and totally absorbed in the excitement of this fast paced thriller. This series was first conceived in 1982 and has taking until now for the 3rd installment. One would think with such a large time span it would be hard to get into the swing of things, however, the author has added just enough details to bring us up to speed and set the stage for his protagonist, retir...more Book3, in the Butcher’s Boy series

Although I haven’t read the first 2 novels it didn't take me long to catch up and be captivated and totally absorbed in the excitement of this fast paced thriller. This series was first conceived in 1982 and has taking until now for the 3rd installment. One would think with such a large time span it would be hard to get into the swing of things, however, the author has added just enough details to bring us up to speed and set the stage for his protagonist, retired Michael Schaeffer. When he was younger Michael was employed by the Mafia and was eventually known in many circles as the Butcher’s Boy, an inner circle hit man. Inevitably, knowing too much he became a liability, realising his days were numbered he assumed a new identity and escaped the clutches of the Underworld just in time.

The story opens with Michael in his 50’s and 20 years into his new identity, living a quiet life with his wife in the U.K. One day his life takes a drastic change when he learns Frank Tosca, a ruthless underworld boss, has discovered his whereabouts and sent two of his assassins to fulfill a long standing contract on his life. With his new life as a family man threatened, Michael’s instincts for survival that were highly tuned while he was part of the underworld quickly kick in. He decides to confront his situation by attacking the man at the head, first he has to get up to speed on the current hierarchy and to do this he contacts Elizabeth Waring of the Justice Dep’t organized crime section. Elizabeth has known of his existence for over 20 years and realises helping him could be the catalyst to a new assault on organized crime….. The hunt is on in both the U.S. and Canada with Michael often barely escaping with his life.

This thriller is absolutely riveting from start to finish. The gamesmanship is breathless and the nonstop suspense starts the moment Michael becomes both prey and predator. The plotting is well-paced, complex and always exciting with a multitude of fascinating characters.

To sum things up, it is obvious I enjoyed this story immensely.(less)

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May 30, 2011 John Cain rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book about the Butcher's Boy by Perry. If you have not read the first two I recommend you do; not because you must read them to understand this book, but simply because they are great thrillers. These are not really so much mystery books, in that, you soon learn that those the Butcher's Boy wishes to kill will soon be dead.

The plot has various flaws. Perry overlooks some basic police investigative tools and sidesteps a few logical inferences to spin his yarn, but to hs credit n...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Schaeffer is the Butcher Boy, a retired mafia hitman trying to live in obscurity. When he is spotted, he becomes public enemy number one to every mafia family and Schaeffer decides he will go to war with them all before he is brought down.

Elizabeth Warren is a widowed justice department lawyer who is hot on Schaeffer's trail. He has contacted her with hopes of using her information against the families while feeding her bits she can use to bring the families to justice. Thomas Perry weaves their...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Clay Nichols rated it 3 of 5 stars

A breezy, bloody thriller. A perfect little beach read that kept my face in the Kindle and forced my wife to do more than her share of the lifeguarding. What kind of trick is it for and author to entice the reader to cheer for a mass murderer? Perry manages this with his nameless assassin, The Butcher's Boy. He bumps off mobster after mobster, colleague after colleague with awesome dispatch. Perry endows him with a wife and an emotional life of sorts -- all good to keep the fun from being too gu...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Betty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, american

I remember being blown away (no pun intended) when I read The Butcher's Boy in 1982 (has it really been 30 years?) and I was not disappointed in this continuation. The second in the series was published in 1992. If you are looking for a mystery, this isn't for you. It is a bad guy vs. bad guy thriller, keeping you wondering how he's going to get out of one tricky situation after another. And watching Perry manipulate you into sympathizing with The Butcher's Boy. For escape fiction, Perry is terr...more

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Jul 02, 2012 DR rated it 4 of 5 stars

Until Jeff Lindsay invented Dexter Morgan (2004), the Butcher’s Boy was the closest thing we had to a cold-blooded monster we wanted to root for, book after book. At least, the Butcher's Boy (still don't know his true name after three outings) tries, really tries, to stay retired from murder. You have to admire a series protagionist whose approach to having a Mafia contract put out on him is to take out the Mafia itself, bang-bang-bang. Recommend reading the first two before this one" THE BUTCHE...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Ted rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fast paced and slick, the first few chapters of the latest "Butcher's Boy" series book is very enjoyable. Although the plot lines are well worn [orphaned boy adopted by a morally upstanding Butcher who also happens to be an assassin on the side and schools his son in the fine art of killing] the writing is so good that the story still feels fresh.

However, as it goes on, the scale and scope gets bigger and bigger until it struggles to be credible. Unfortunately the novel moves from a portrait of...more

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May 09, 2012 Zakariah Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Informant opens with professional assassin, the "Butcher's Boy," and Justice Department analyst Elizabeth Waring back at their decades-long chess match. This is the third in the Butcher's Boy series, and like the other two it isn't so much a roller coaster--with ups and downs--as it is a slalom or log flume that starts you out at the top of the drop and then keeps on accelerating to the end. Thomas Perry's detailed knowledge of guns, knives, garrotes, and the proper way to employ them rings...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, suspense

The fourth in Perry's 'Butcher Boy' series and the second I've heard on audiobook, THE INFORMANT is, if anything, even better than its predecessor. We are in a post-modern GODFATHER chess game of fading Mafia dons struggling to regain former glory, inept and venal political appointees in the Justice Department, and collateral damage far and wide, as our contract-killer anti-hero, the aforementioned Butcher's Boy (the man with many names, and a face nobody notices until they see it and can't forg...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: brendan-books, challenge12

My husband's suggestion. He likes these kinds of books.

I like this one better than the first two books. At least the Butcher's Boy seems more human and the vendetta he's carrying out makes more sense. When I read "Sleeping Dogs", it was just a horrible misunderstanding that kept getting stupider to read about. At least Perry makes up for it by trying to explain how the Butcher's Boy learned later on what the misunderstanding was really about.

Oh, and why is the female government agent still annoy...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Gloria Feit rated it 5 of 5 stars

As in his earlier novels [and I’m thinking particularly of the wonderful Jane Whitefield series], the devil is in the details, and this author excels in conveying the meticulously planned and executed steps taken by his protagonist, so that credibility is never an issue. In this standalone – actually, a follow-up to Mr. Perry’s very first novel, The Butcher’s Boy [for which he won an Edgar award] – that eponymous character returns, twenty years older. Although he goes by any number of other name...more As in his earlier novels [and I’m thinking particularly of the wonderful Jane Whitefield series], the devil is in the details, and this author excels in conveying the meticulously planned and executed steps taken by his protagonist, so that credibility is never an issue. In this standalone – actually, a follow-up to Mr. Perry’s very first novel, The Butcher’s Boy [for which he won an Edgar award] – that eponymous character returns, twenty years older. Although he goes by any number of other names, that soubriquet is the name by which he is known, both to the authorities and to the mafia members who variously employed him, betrayed him, and then became his victims. The Butcher’s Boy kills without compunction. It is, after all, what he does best, taught since childhood, simply as a job, or a way to stay alive, or to seek revenge for the aforementioned betrayal. Rarely is it personal. Although somewhat more so of late.

Well-trained from the age of 10 by an actual butcher, whose “side job” is in “the killing trade,” beyond the necessary skills he is also taught “Everybody dies. It’s just a question of timing, and whether the one who gets paid for it is you or a bunch of doctors. It might as well be you.”

While working as a hit man, his philosophy was simple: He had “resisted the camaraderie that some of the capos who had hired him tried to foster. He had kept his distance, done his job, collected his pay, and left town before buyer’s remorse set in. He made it clear that he was a free agent and that he was nobody’s friend.” He has been out of the US for over twenty years, now over 50 years old, and afraid he had gone soft. But his skills are not diminished. He leaves no witnesses. The ones who aren’t dead never notice him entering or leaving a crime scene: “He was a master at being the one the eye passed over in a crowd.” And the authorities - - with one notable exception - - haven’t a clue. That exception is Elizabeth Waring, of the Organized Crime & Racketeering Division of the Department of Justice. She connects the dots and has no doubt that he has come out of retirement and is the one now murdering Mafiosi at an alarming rate, and sees in him, potentially, “the most promising informant in forty years.” Of course, to fulfill that possibility she must get him to agree and, even more difficult, keep him alive, as “he wasn’t worth anything dead.” They embark on an ambivalent, and somewhat fluid, relationship, equal parts grudging respect and fear of the danger the other represents, somehow both earning sympathy. The author’s trademark suspense as the end of the novel draws near had this reader literally holding her breath. I loved this book, and it is highly recommended.
(less)

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May 19, 2012 David Carr rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

Perry's novels about the Butcher's Boy are extensive portraits of an assassin, so effective and professional that American mafiosi accord him a special place in their awareness. It is him, no other pronoun is needed. In this third book, set in time a decade after the second, and two decades after the first, the Butcher's Boy is back from exile, traveling all across the United States to make it clear to his former employers that (1) he needs to be left alone, (2) he cannot be assassinated himself...more

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About Thomas Perry

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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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9309985-the-informant?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349004476l/9309985.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9309985-the-informant?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Informant by Thomas Perry[/url]

The Informant (The Butcher's Boy #3)

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