A hit man is called back into action in this explosive thriller from the New York Times bestselling author and “master of nail-biting suspense” (Los Angeles Times). Michael Shaeffer is a retired American businessman, living peacefully in England with his aristocratic wife. But her annual summer party brings strangers to their house, and with them, an attempt on Michael’s life. He is … on Michael’s life. He is immediately thrust into action, luring his lethal pursuers to Australia before venturing into the lion’s den–the States–to figure out why the mafia is after him again, and how to stop them.
Eddie’s Boy jumps between Michael’s current predicament and the past, between the skillset he now ruthlessly and successfully employs and the training that made him what he is. We glimpse the days before he became the Butcher’s Boy, the highly skilled mob hit man who pulled a slaughter job on some double-crossing clients and started a mob war, to his childhood spent apprenticed to Eddie, a seasoned hired assassin. And we watch him pit two prominent mafia families against each other to eliminate his enemies one by one.
He’s meticulous in his approach, using his senior contact in the Organized Crime Division of the Justice Department for information, without ever allowing her to get too close to his trail. But will he be able to escape this new wave of young contract killers, or will the years finally catch up to him?
As the San Francisco Chronicle said about this Edgar Award-winning series, “The best thing about Thomas Perry’s thrillers are the devilishly ingenious schemes his protagonists devise to outwit their pursuers . . . Perry can really write.”
more
Thomas Perry’s high-octane “Butcher’s Boy” novels are safely ensconced in the top tier of contemporary crime fiction.
The new one, “Eddie’s Boy,” finds hit man Michael Shaeffer – now 61 and happily married and retired in England – under attack. A home invasion of hired killers provides the inciting incident that propels him back into the game.
So, what ghosts from Shaeffer’s past have conspired to bump him off now? That’s our hero’s quest, first to identify, then to find, then to kill his pursuers. All the while escaping death himself. The trail leads our favorite hit man from England to Australia to the United States with a humdinger finale I won’t spoil.
Even better for the reader, Shaeffer revisits his past and the untold stories of his training in the fine art of murder for hire. All of this started with “Butcher’s Boy” in 1982, winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel. As for the title of the new one, Eddie was the “Butcher” who taught Shaeffer the skills of his nasty trade.
In Perry’s capable hands, the plot crackles with energy and pace, the characters are rich and detailed, and the resolution satisfying and earned. Highly recommended.
Wow! Loved this book a solid five stars. Opens with action great prose smooth as silk and highly engaging. I immediately dropped into the “Fictive Dream,” and was held there the entire time. This reminded me of the best of Lee Child, the character Jack Reacher, only Eddie’s boy is more creative, not as tough and is vulnerable–flawed. He has to use his brain instead of his brawn which makes the story more intriguing. This book is the fourth in the series with this character. Perry is deep in his comfort zone and at his best. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes well-written thrillers.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson Series
Can a professional hit man ever retire? This is the compelling question posed in Thomas Perry in “Eddie’s Boy.” Readers are drawn into the world of a hitman, long retired, but always prepared. “Michael Shaeffer” killed people for about forty-five years. He had a long life for a man in his line of work. Now he and wife Meg are living a peaceful retired life in an English country manor house. Unfortunately, Michael’s past has come to England for him; he has not killed anyone for years, but this night he must.
Perry skillfully maneuvers back in forth in time so readers know “Michael” both then and now. His old age is possible because Eddie had made it possible, teaching him how to live and survive when he was young. These permanently entrenched habits, reflexes, and skills enabled him to expertly kill and survive then, and he needs them to survive now. Adversaries from his past have returned, and he must kill them or die himself. Michael’s search is deliberate, planned, and organized; however, there are plenty of unusual developments, surprising connections, and unexpected opponents. Michael is racing against time. The danger is imminent, and the tension is intense.
“Eddie’s Boy” is book four in the series, but new readers will easily follow along. Past events fold into current scenarios as Michael scrutinizes the past to unearth the enemies of the present. I received a review copy of “Eddie’s Boy” from Thomas Perry and Atlantic Monthly Press. It is a fascinating look at a character growing old, living through time, one that readers do not often see.
In truth, I was a little disappointed unless your interest is to get more information on his relationship to Eddie and how he developed. However, there was a lot of repetition from the previous books. Perhaps Perry only used it to explain present circumstances but I felt some of the how to story swing into too much detail. However, as the saying goes “all is well that ends well”.
As I’ve reached a certain age I’ve come to have a greater appreciation for books with older protagonists, ones who use a lifetime of skill and cunning to overcome a slowing of kick-ass abilities. Thomas Perry has become particularly good at aging his characters, and in this fourth novel about a highly skilled assassin we’re not disappointed. While I recommend starting at the beginning of The Butcher Boy books, this one could be read as a stand-alone novel, but why spoil the fun when you can watch our protagonist as he grows and matures from the very start of his apprenticeship with The Butcher.
Loved it.
You might think a hitman who has retired to a peaceful, even boring, existence in the English countryside for thirty years would have no lingering problems from his professional life. You would be mistaken. Michael Schaeffer, once known as “the Butcher’s Boy”, happily settled for thirty years with Meg, an English aristocrat, has had his golden years invaded by his old enemies’ hunting hounds. With the globalization of crime as well as commerce, running and hiding is not an option. To eliminate the threat, he will have to discover who wants him dead now. How he does it makes a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys the careful, nuts-and-bolts approach to any project, even murder.
I’ve been a fan of Thomas Perry’s books ever since I read SLEEPING DOGS, the second in the series of which EDDIE’S BOY is the most recent. It’s difficult to explain the charm of these books in which the main character is a former professional killer. But if it’s necessary to rationalize one’s enjoyment, his victims are career criminals who are trying to kill him.
I reviewed the advance, uncorrected galley of EDDIE’S BOY by Thomas Perry for NetGalley.
This was a well-written, entertaining book. Michael is retired, enjoying his peaceful life with his wife in England. Then someone tries to kill him, and he has to venture back into his past as a hit man in America to figure out who and why. The action was constant and the book was impossible to put down. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.
Eddie’s Boy is my first book by the author but won’t be the last for sure.
I always enjoyed stories where the hero is actually the villain and to discover what made them taking the decision of becoming part of the mafia or just working solo, it’s an interesting concept for me.
The story is very well written and had me engaged from the first page to the last, with barely time for breaks because i found myself lost into the fast-paced action and twists and turns that kept coming at me with every chapter.
It’s told in the present and past, then and now, how Michael Schaeffer, a retired sixty years old man is trying to catch up with his past and find out why the mafia is on his shadow. We get to read how he learned to be a hitman in the early years of his life and what a whirlwind his life has been.
It’s suspenseful and I highly recommend it to the lovers of the genre.