From the New York Times-bestselling author of Poison Flower: a retired intelligence officer is caught in “[a] harrowing hunt-and-hide adventure” (The New York Times). To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big mutts and a grown daughter he keeps in touch with by phone. But most sixty-year-old widowers don’t have multiple driver’s licenses, savings stockpiled in … driver’s licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country, or two Beretta Nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run.
Thirty-five years ago, as a young army intelligence hotshot, Chase was sent to Libya to covertly assist a rebel army. When the plan turned sour, Chase acted according to his conscience–and triggered consequences he never could have anticipated. To this day, someone still wants him dead. And just when he thought he was finally safe, Chase is confronted with the history he spent much of his life trying to escape.
“Perry drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone [novel] . . . Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying. Liam Neeson would be perfect in the title role.” —Kirkus Reviews
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I have read a lot of Thomas Perry’s books, including the Jane Whitefield series. However, I have really enjoyed some of his separately developed characters as in “The Old Man”; Death Benefits (AWESOME); Dead Aim; 40 Thieves; The Boyfriend; Metzger’s DOg (GREAT BOOK), and the Butcher’s Boy Series.
Perry offers well developed characters, humor and irony, and a good read.
I can’t really recall one of his books that I really did not like.
The Old Man is another thriller in that same genre. Flows well, keeps up the interest, and leads to an interesting denouement which suggests that there might be other books in the series.
Just finished this this week. I liked it. Don/Peter tried to do the right thing 30 years ago and he was double-crossed by his government. He has been waiting for a reckoning ever since.
He has lived his entire life since the event preparing for the next attack. His wife and daughter were also kept prepared. His wife is now dead. His daughter is married with kids. And all he has is his life and his two dogs.
When the bad guys start showing up, they are out of their league. Don/Peter is lethal. And with one exception, he leaves no witnesses.
It’s nice to see the old, has-been get the upper-hand for a change.
Lots of action, but the guy is also smart and thinks on his feet. A good read.
A good solid 4star read, so much so, I may even check out some of Thomas Perry’s other books. Very interesting story even though some parts dragged a little. I have mixed feelings about the end too. I loved it on one aspect it seemed kind of rushed and anti-climatic. On the other hand, it ended the story for the old man’s running.
Very good! Zoe’s story is not quite believable re the early crime. Killing HF just a little too coincidental, too fortuitous.
Interesting book, it kept me on edge wonder how it would end. Between the self serving characters and those that were just following orders it kept me wondering who was going to make it. The Old Man and the independent gov’t contractor were about the only honest people in the book. I loved Dave & Carol and the Old Man’s dedication to and treatment of them. The book was good but not an easy read.
I love anything by Thomas Perry. Truly a great writer. This is one of his best.
DP Lyle
Wow! One of the best system
And books I’ve read in a long time. It was a real page turner, with likeable main characters. I recommend It very highly.
A lot of twists and intellectual planning. I am never disappointed with a Thomas Perry book! An excellent writer
This is another excellent stand-alone novel from Thomas Perry, author of the Butcher’s Boy and Jane Whitefield series. The protagonist, whom we meet as “Dan Chase,” is a sixty-something retired guy, a widower with two dogs named Dave and Carol, who is otherwise alone and attempting to mind his own business, living under the radar in Vermont. Chase is a man with a past, though, who’s been looking over his shoulder for more than thirty years, hoping that it won’t catch up with him. But, of course, it finally does; otherwise there would be no novel.
As a young army intelligence officer, Chase was assigned to funnel $20 million to a Libyan warlord thought to be friendly to the United States. The warlord, in turn, was to give the money to a group of insurgents who would advance American interests in the country. But the operation went south, and when it did, Chase acted in a way that he thought best to protect the interests of the U.S. Not everyone agreed with his course of action though, and Chase thus became a marked man, waiting for the ax to fall. When it finally does, he has spent years preparing for the moment, assembling new identities and stockpiling weapons and cash. Dan Chase may be an old man, but he’s not going down without a fight.
As he’s demonstrated in earlier novels, Perry is the master of explaining how people can go on the run and elude, at least temporarily, very skilled and determined adversaries who are in pursuit. Of course, that’s becoming increasingly hard to do in this day and age, when virtually everything a person does, seems to leave a digital trail. As always, though, Perry’s protagonist is ahead of the game, at least in the beginning, and the result is a gripping story that leaves the reader glued to his seat, rooting for the Old Man to succeed when the odds suggest that he never can. All in all, a great character, a great plot, and a great read.
“The Old Man” is a very good adventure story told well about a 60-year old former intelligence operative, Dan Chase, who has stayed hidden for 35 years. When he was young, one mission went bad in which he made a dangerous foreign enemy, and was deserted by his handlers. After 35 years, that foreign enemy discovered his identity and tried to kill him. If that is not bad enough, US intelligence services assisted his enemy in the process of buying influence in that unstable country.
Dan had thoroughly planned for the possibility that his former enemies might resurface. He begins his flight following the initial murder attempt with his faithful dogs, which had saved his life. Dan’s attempts to escape take many imaginative turns that show “the old man” retained his operator’s skills. Throughout this race for Dan’s life, we learn more about his past.
The plot is mostly plausible, but the depravity and evil of the US intelligence system belongs more to a conspiracy theorist story. Everyone that I have encountered in the intelligence services have been honest, moral patriots instead of the self-serving types in this story. Dan began his intelligence work with the military, who do not believe in leaving a man behind. There is also no chance that those evil spies could have brought in an active army unit to hunt down an American citizen on US soil. Such use of soldiers is highly illegal.
I Thoroughly enjoyed the story despite the denigration of our intelligence services.