A small-town cop seeks vengeance on twelve escaped inmates in this novel of “jaw-dropping twists . . . crisp in execution and thrilling until the very end” (The Wall Street Journal). When twelve inmates pull off an audacious prison break, it liberates more than a thousand convicts into the nearby small town. The newly freed prisoners rape, murder, and destroy the quiet community–burning down … destroy the quiet community–burning down homes and businesses. An immense search ensues, but the twelve who plotted it all get away.
After two years, the local and federal police agencies have yet to find them. Then, the mayor calls in Leah Hawkins, a local cop who lost a loved one that terrible night. She’s placed on sabbatical to travel across the country learning advanced police procedures. But the sabbatical is merely a ruse. Her real job is to track down the infamous twelve–and kill them.
Leah’s mission takes her from Florida to New York and from the beaches of California to an anti-government settlement deep in the Ozarks. But when the surviving fugitives realize what she’s up to, a race to kill or be killed ensues in this nonstop tale of vengeance from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Butcher’s Boy.
“Leah proves to be both a brilliant detective and a cunning predator.” —Associated Press
“Perry is an expert storyteller . . . A Small Town unfolds like a 1950s film noir.” —Wall Street Journal
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“A Small Town” by Thomas Perry opens with a tragedy of epic proportions. On July 19, there was a disturbance on cellblock C of Weldonville Federal Penitentiary in Colorado. The prison break had been designed so multiple inmates executed every step accurately and methodically, like a well-designed piece of machinery. Twelve hundred inmates left prison that night; ninety-seven people were murdered including eight officers. For Weldonville, there were two times: the time before and the time after.
Detective Lieutenant Leah Hawkins mourned the loss of the city and the people she knew and loved. Two years later the FBI had still not found the twelve who engineered the massacre, and Hawkins was determined to change that. This task would be the ultimate test of her skills. She practiced; she trained; she studied; she equipped herself for the task. She had been a great homicide cop, and she did not need anyone’s help to commit a few murders.
Every aspect of her plan was comprehensive and meticulous. She was focused, systematic, and sometimes simply lucky. She took her time, a lot of time; after all, she had all the time she needed, but time was running out for the twelve. The twelve had not forgotten either; they were, after all, dishonest and vicious men. They would not let Hawkins just run through her list without complications.
“A Small Town” is full of tragedy, persistence, determination, and many lucky coincidences. Flash backs fill in chilling details of the escape, expanding the actions and roles of prisoners, police, civilians, bystander, and relatives. “A Small Town” is easy to read with a compelling plot. Hawkins is a likeable character despite her operation, and her mission has a surprising and satisfying end. I received a review copy of “A Small Town” from Thomas Perry and Mysterious Press. It was easy to suspend reality during parts of Hawkins’ quest, and I found it fascinating and enjoyable to read.
I always love Thomas Perry’s characters … always original and interesting. Every one is a page turner.
A real twist on the usual escape novel wow.
This is a how-done-it, no mystery and not really a thriller. I was led to believe (by a friend) it was both. My expectation was wrong, so I’m writing this and trying not to let that bother me.
The story has no surprises. It’s a series of clever and interesting things the heroine does to revenge the opening horror. The writing is visceral and fascinating enough to make the predictable outcome a pleasant read. In terms of realism, as long as you can believe the opening premise didn’t have the President sending out the National Guard, and that the press and everyone involved forgot about 100+ people dying in a prison break in two years–and I did suspend my disbelief because the writing made it worthwhile–then the rest of it is a great read.
Had there been a shred of mystery or a twist of some kind or a ticking clock, I’d have given it four stars (I’m stingy on five). If you like great writing over plot twists and intrigue, you’ll love this one.
I need to preface this review; I’m a huge Thomas Perry fan. Loved The Old Man, The Bomb Maker, Forty Thieves, just to name a few. A Small Town might not before everyone but the premise is one I really enjoyed. This book is classic Perry. He has a unique style/voice it’s more telling than in scene but it works well. I had no problem dropping into the, “fictive dream,” and staying there. The only problem with the book is that I read it too fast and now have to wait until 2021 for the next one.
The conflict to the plot was set up well and the characters had more than enough motivation for their actions. This story is built around a strong female character who came alive on the page. I hope Perry uses her in future books. The ending was very satisfying. I highly recommend this book for those who read thrillers.
Tom Perry is a bit of an odd duck as writers go these days. Most of us now write a series or two when we find readers like the characters we’ve created enough to justify it — and, let’s face it, book marketing these days almost requires you to be offering a series for promotion to be commercially viable — but Perry still publishes actual, individual, stand-alone novels, one after another. In 2020, that qualifies as an act of courage for a writer.
A SMALL TOWN is a nearly perfect little book that is a prime example of what Perry does better than most anoyone these days. Quirky, involving, and wildly propulsive, it sweeps you along toward its final pages, all while you are screaming “WHAT HAPPENS NEXT???” It’s a really terrific book. Read it.
A Small Town hooked me with an intriguing premise, and it started out well enough. The problem is that it quickly started to fizzle, and in the end, I forced myself to just get through to the end. Don’t get me wrong, I still think the idea of this one was great, but it came up sorely lacking in the execution in my opinion. First, it relies heavily on a massive suspension of disbelief. This is fiction, but come on, it really does need to make sense.
The thing here is that in order for this prison break to actually work, we either need a group of really smart bad guys or really incompetent prison guards, or both. Then the same goes for the twelve to manage to stay completely off the FBI’s radar. Again, they’re either some crazy smart bad guys or the FBI is completely incompetent, and the way this one reads, I have to lean toward the latter because these bad guys act like the run of the mill variety, and they are pretty much right where Leah expects them to be. So, a whole team of FBI agents can’t find hide nor hair of these guys, but she just gets lucky?
Then we have Leah as a main character. I think it’s great that Perry writes such a strong female character, but there really needs to be a balance. Leah is so cold that she often comes across as almost robotic. I get that she has plenty of reason to be out for blood where these guys are concerned, but a little character depth would’ve gone a long way toward being able to find a connection to Leah. And I really needed more where she’s concerned.
As I mentioned, the story starts out well enough, and it has a fair bit of tension, but this never felt like a thriller to me. Procedural, definitely. This book takes procedural to the extreme at times, but not a thriller. And there’s nothing wrong with a good procedural, but somewhere around the 40% mark, my interest started to wane. The story started getting wordy and repetitive, and at times, just plain boring. Things do pick up here and there, but overall, A Small Town just left me disappointed.
“Leah Hawkins was a woman who met freezing weather with warm clothes instead of complaints.”
Weldonville, Colorado is a small town that is dying slowly until a proposed federal penitentiary is built on the outskirts. This provided local jobs during the construction and then local jobs when it opened. It was originally supposed to be a minimum security prison but over a few years it actually became a maximum security facility, holding the worst of the worst.
On July 19 there was a carefully orchestrated prison break, led by twelve convicts. The small town is decimated – rape, murder, arson. Two years later all of the convicts that escaped are accounted for except the twelve ringleaders.
Two years later Detective Lieutenant Leah Hawkins of the local Weldonville Police Department is called in to a secret meeting with the City Council, the Mayor and other police officers and sent on a secret mission to revitalize a town that has suffered so much.
I always like a good story about vengeance and I enjoyed Leah’s tale very much. Maybe it wasn’t totally believable but it is fiction and I read it as such.
I received this book from Mysterious Press through Edelweiss in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.
A simply fantastic story. A town raided by criminals tries to find a way to make them pay. They choose an unusual step and this that story. Leah is unapologetic about the life she has lived and the things she has set out to do. She had an unusual and loving relationship that was snatched from her. Her knowledge of police procedural and ability to stay on task makes this story hard to put down. As she goes through and acquits herself you will not help but fall in love with her character.
I enjoyed this well-written, fast-paced book. Leah Hawkins is a local cop who lost a loved one in a prison break two years before. The twelve inmates who organized it have never been found. Leah takes a sabbatical, supposedly to learn about advanced police procedures, but her true intention is to track down the 12 inmates and kill them. This was an entertaining book and I look forward to reading more books by this author.
I read this in two days. Excellent!!!