The Butcher's Boy

By: Thomas Perry

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Edgar Award Winner, Best First Novel, 1983

Thomas Perry's Edgar Award-winning debut novel follows a professional hitman on the run from both the mafia and the government.

©2003 Thomas Perry (P)2008 Tantor

If you like Jack Reacher, you'll enjoy this

Perry does a great job creating a tension between a surprisingly sympathetic mob hit man and the Department of Justice lawyer who is chasing him. First in a series that I've pretty much finished.

Not your prototypical enjoyable listen. The reader sounds a bit like a 50's film noir detective (just the facts, ma'am) and the hit man guesses right just a bit too often, but it all ... just ... works.

If you like Reacher, I'm guessing you'll like the Butcher's Boy. Not 6'4", but the same kind of analytical thinking and get 'er done attitude. A total steal at the $4.95 sale price; definitely worth it at full retail.

Loved the story. The narrator was ok

I had a difficult time getting "into" the story at the beginning. The narrator's tone just did not get my attention. I thought he did a good job with the voices of the characters, but the narrative voice was bland to me.

Perfect Gangster Story

This is a classic. Thomas Perry excels at crime stories. This was his first.

The Best Ever Crime Novel

Thomas Perry is amazingly talented and extraordinarily clever. I imagine that writing a novel is a long, difficult, exhausting job, but Thomas Perry must also have a great deal of fun doing it.
The Butcher's Boy is certainly terrific fun to read, reread and listen to. I have done all three and remain enchanted.

A writer with extreme talents.

This is Mr. Perry's first book, originally published in 1982. Although it's a little dated (a full gas tank, 12 gallons, for $10!) that is the only flaw I can find. Michael Connelly, one heck of a writer himself, has written an introduction to the book, which accurately describes Perry's awesome talent and assuredness. Connelly uses the word "velocity" as a description of plots that delight us, and this is the perfect word for Perry's plot. There are only two main characters, the unnamed professional hitman, and the Justice Department agent Elizabeth Weiser, plus many other characters. Perry cleverly alternates chapters between these two characters to hold our interest, and this is a very successful suspense device. The book flies by. The hitman takes on the Las Vegas mafia families single-handedly, and you believe that he can manage it. He is no non-human superhero, though. He is believable in every way. Likewise, Elizabeth is also a real human being, in the field reluctantly for the first time, and simultaneously doubtful and self-confident. You just have to read Perry's work to see how smoothly he creates these characters. He also sees Las Vegas as what it is, or was thirty years ago. The narration is flawless. Mr. Kramer understands the writer, and has narrated all of Mr. Perry's books. He is fluid and entertaining. He builds the suspense for us. You can never guess the plot's twists and turns. You will at one moment fully suspect that someone with a gun will sneak in the door, and then Mr. Perry surprises you. Even Elizabeth is surprised and hoodwinked. This is a terrific book, and I am sure that I will eventually listen to all of Mr. Perry's books. Great entertainment!

Like a Tycoon's Diamond - Flawless

First Novel??? Yoa! Reminds me of David Baldacci's first novel, "First Power" in the fit for each of this story's piece into a puzzle that squirms and spurts through your imagination. Michael Kramer's read is finer than a tycoon's diamond collection. Okay... let me find a nit to pic... thinking.... thinking... thinking... Nope... not a nit to this thing that will act like a vacuum on your time tugging it away from all sorts of alternatives. I'm thrilled that this is a series and I'm off to download... "Sleeping Dogs". I'm not hoping that Perry will top "Butcher's Boy", just take me along on another ride as intriguingly plotted, charactered, and revealed.

Disappointed...

Read this book based on the reviews... This book is simply an average mystery, nothing special. Characters are interesting, plot is simplistic, dialogue is amateurish, and the ending is predictable. A good summer beach read, but greatly over rated as far as mysteries go. I was hoping for more, a new series to delve into based on the reviews. I will pass on the sequels... Looking for a quick light read? This is your book!

Good story, boring narrator

The narrator's voice is so boring and listless that it kept putting me to sleep or my mind would wander off to other things. I had to keep rewinding it to get back into the story. The story itself was good and the ending made it obvious that there would be a sequel. Unfortunately, it is the same narrator. I noticed that all of the books narrated by this man have a slightly lower star rating that the other Thomas Perry novels that are read by other narrators. I'll have to drink a lot of coffee when listening to the next book.

Excellent

A welcome surprise as a well written and well narrated yarn. The characters navigate a believable and interesting path of destruction without breaking the suspension of disbelief. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good tale of intrigue and diabolical intent.

the best of the best

Thomas Perry would have gone under my radar without this appetite for the voice of Michael Kramer. Perry is a wonderful writer and other writers think so as well. I have pursued much of what Perry has written since I first heard this book. It is well worth the time and money, but this trilogy is always going to be one of the best in literature. The narrators can bring the books more shine or less but the elements of excellent writing is always there.