Short Synopsis
The third novel featuring the title character first introduced in Thomas Perry's Edgar-winning debut The Butcher's Boy finds the highly skilled hit man going up against the mob to protect his new way of life.

Full Synopsis
Married and living in England under the name Michael Schaeffer, the assassin known as the Butcher's Boy is the target of a Mafia hit team sent to exact revenge for his deadly campaign against the Balacontano family years earlier. Schaeffer kills all three attackers, but he knows more will come and needs to find whoever sent them to end it once and for all.

Soon Elizabeth Waring, now high up in the Organized Crime Division of the Justice Department, receives a surprise late-night visit from the Butcher's Boy. Knowing she keeps track of the Mafia, he asks her who the three men work for. Not knowing they have been murdered, she gives him a name: Frank Tosca, an aspirant to the Balacontano throne. In exchange, he tells her about a murder Tosca committed over twenty years ago. So begins a new assault on organized crime, and the uneasy alliance between the Butcher's Boy and Waring, who trade current information for old secrets.

As the Butcher's Boy works his way ever closer to his quarry in an effort to protect his new way of life, Waring finds herself in a race against time, either to convince him to become a protected informant or to take him out of commission for good.

"There are probably only half a dozen suspense writers alive who can be depended upon to deliver high-voltage shocks; vivid, sympathetic characters; and compelling narratives each time they publish. Thomas Perry is one of them." ---Stephen King

"Thomas Perry is, quite simply, brilliant. And as each book comes out he becomes more so." ---Robert B. Parker

"Perry offers a compelling, rapid-fire plot, credible Mafia and FBI secondary characters, an indictment of self-serving officialdom, and the old soul-shattering moral dilemma: what is truth?" ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Beneath the sky-high body count, the twisty plot is powered by Perry's relentless focus on the question of where the next threat is coming from and how to survive it." ---Kirkus Starred Review

"A book-length war of nerves that accentuates the best of Mr. Perry's gift for using pure logic and gamesmanship to generate breathless nonstop suspense." ---The New York Times

"Kramer embraces the story's emotional tides, fully defining Perry's characters and highlighting his well-written prose." ---AudioFile

"Relentlessly plot-driven, briskly paced and undeniably violent, Perry's latest is the quintessential 'guy book.'" ---BookPage

"Perry is a consummate craftsman. No one makes killing bad guys more fun, no one is smarter at blending research and invention, and no one offers a higher body count of ingenious hits." ---Library Journal Starred Review

Publishers Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Kirkus Bestseller

Library Journal Review