Review by New York Times Review
At age 60, Dan Chase figures he has outrun all his old enemies. But then a car seems to be following him while he's walking his dogs, and a man with a gun turns up outside his house later that night - and Chase realizes that he's let his defenses drop since he settled into a quiet life in rural New England. A flashback reveals that he made off with close to $20 million after an aborted Special-Ops mission in Libya. Although he's tried to return the money, the government considers him a traitor and a murderer. "Once you run, there isn't any possibility of not running," he explains to the woman who becomes his companion on this harrowing hunt-andhide adventure, which takes them up Bear Mountain, then racing back down on skis, pursued by six armed men on snowmobiles and another assassin in a chopper. Nobody writes chase scenes like Perry, who devises intricate itineraries, multiple identities and frequent costume changes for Chase and Zoe McDonald, who rents him an apartment in suburban Chicago and winds up sharing his bed. "Running away with him is more fun than most people have in a lifetime," Zoe tells her worried daughter, who tries to talk her out of hitting the road with a reckless old man. But Chase is old "in the way a seven-foot rattlesnake was old," and Zoe proves to be a natural at destroying evidence, switching personalities and handling a Beretta. It takes a lot of ingenuity to get these fugitives across the country and into Canada without being plugged by hired killers or caught by one of the smart government agents who are all "too fast, too young and too strong," not to mention adept at the kind of procedural "tricks and traps" that didn't exist when Chase gave up the game - if anyone ever really gives up the game for good. THE CHINESE AUTHOR Chan Ho-kei takes on the staggering task of covering 50 years of Hong Kong's criminal past in THE BORROWED (Black Cat, paper, $16). This episodic novel, translated by Jeremy Tiang, derives its historical sweep from the career of the famed detective Kwan Chundok, who is on his deathbed when the story opens but becomes progressively younger as the chapters unfold in reverse chronology. Viewed from the perspective of Kwan's protégé, Inspector Sonny Lok, each of the six stories reflects the city at a time of social or political upheaval, including the handover from Britain to the People's Republic in 1997 and the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Inspector Kwan ("the genius detective") solves each crime - from domestic murders to turf wars among organized crime triads - by applying his superior powers of deductive reasoning. In this, the author hews to tradition, but you need to be a genius yourself to solve his confounding puzzle mysteries. THE BEAUTIFUL DEAD (Atlantic Monthly, $25) is something of a misstep for Belinda Bauer, whose suspense novels usually have a sly touch of the macabre. This one comes closer to a conventional woman-in-peril narrative, with a plot that features a young television reporter who catches the eye of a serial killer. Eve Singer is with iWitness News, assigned to the "meat beat," a never-ending spectacle of "bodies, black bags and bloodstains." Eve's stalled career seems to get a boost when a murderer singles her out from the press pack - until he starts stalking her. "We both crave death," he tells her, "and an audience." That's a tired conceit, and Bauer doesn't do much with it. But she can still turn a phrase (Eve's pet hamster rushes into his wheel "as if it were a getaway car") and write a tense scene (like the one that has Eve witnessing a murder in the London Underground), so we trust she'll be up to form next time. THERE WILL ALWAYS be civilized weekend parties in grand old English mansions, especially on the threshold (or in the aftermath) of a world war. And so it is in THE DEATH OF KINGS (Viking, $27), Rennie Airth's new mystery featuring Inspector John Madden, who comes out of retirement to reopen an old murder case at Foxley Hall, the stately home once presided over by Sir Jack Jessup. There, back in the summer of 1938, an actress named Portia Blake went for a walk in the woods and was murdered, supposedly by a man who confessed and recanted but was later hanged for the crime. Now it's 1949, and the jade pendant she was wearing on the day of the killing has been sent to the Canterbury police. Vestiges of the war always make their way into Airth's novels. "It's like the war never ended," a housewife says of the persistent food rationing. And in contrast to bucolic scenes that have hop pickers harvesting in the fields, there are startling glimpses of the bombed-out port of Rotterdam and heavily targeted British cities like Canterbury, the dumping ground for any bombs left over from the Luftwaffe's forays over London. Airth knows not to overdo the historical background; he gives us just enough to see this period whodunit from a wider perspective.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 1, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* There are thriller heroes like Lee Child's Jack Reacher or Alex Berenson's John Wells whose combination of cunning and physical prowess makes them intensely appealing fantasy figures. And then there are thriller heroes like Thomas Perry's Old Man, who, at 60, has lost most of whatever physical attributes he once possessed but who can still think his way out of jams that would leave the rest of us whimpering for mercy. This is hardly the first time that Perry has written about a seeming Everyman with a hidden wealth of special training and ratiocinative ability, but the Old Man, who has many names on call and changes them as situations dictate, is surely one of the most appealing. A long time ago, he found himself in an untenable position in the Middle East but managed to escape with his life and a pot of CIA money. Hiding was his only way to stay alive, and so he has managed to do, until now. After decades of eluding but never exhausting his would-be assassins, the Old Man realizes he has no choice but to go on the offensive. This one's all about suspense and narrative propulsion, but the Old Man will remind Perry devotees of Chinese Gordon, the wacky hero of Metzger's Dog (1983), Perry's Edgar-winning comic caper novel. Both men are crazy good thinkers and planners and improvisers, and it's pure pleasure to watch them at work. Another delight from a writer who never disappoints.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nearly half a lifetime ago, an Army intelligence officer using the name Dan Chase participated in a mission in Libya during which he allegedly stole $20 million from a corrupt "asset." Since then, he's been in hiding, living in Vermont with his two dogs. When Libyan assassins suddenly appear, only to be turned into chew toys by his trained pets, Chase starts running, not only to save his life but to find out who wants to kill him and why now. Author Perry fills this standalone thriller with nonstop action, shifting from Chase's long-prepped escape maneuvers to chapters featuring Julian Carson, a young special ops contractor hired by military intelligence because of his tracking skills. He's too honest not to do the job he's being paid for, but also honorable enough to sympathize with Chase once he realizes his bosses are cynical, deceitful, and without conscience. Reader Berkrot sets an energetic pace right from the start and, once Chase flees, both protagonist and reader put the pedal to the metal, slowing down only long enough for the old man to hook up with Zoe McDonald, a 40-something pianist, who becomes his traveling companion. A Mysterious hardcover. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Dan Chase seems to be an ordinary retiree and is devoted to his two dogs and his daughter and grandchildren. However, his past as a covert operative in army intelligence, stationed in Libya, when he made a decision that botched an assignment, has found him. And now his life is on the line. Reawakening his professional skills and instincts, Chase turns the tables, and the hunted becomes the hunter. Narrator Peter Berkot gives a strong performance in this exciting tale of espionage, credibly affecting different voices for various characters. His inflection is suitably expressive and confident throughout. Verdict Public libraries should strongly consider. ["Perry plays his plot with virtuosic deftness, thrilling readers to the core": LJ 11/1/16 review of the Grove hc.]-Michael T. Fein, Central Virginia Community Coll. Lib, Lynchburg © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Perry (Forty Thieves, 2016, etc.) drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone about a long-ago Army intelligence officer whose less-than-grateful nation just wont let him be.Dispatched to Libya a generation ago to deliver $20 million to Faris Hamzah for distribution to rebel fighters, Michael Kohler watched as Hamzah sat on the money, purchasing a Rolls-Royce, financing a cadre of personal bodyguards, and doing everything except pass the bundle to the intended recipients. So Kohler grabbed the rest of the money and hightailed it back to the USA. His offers to return the money to the National Security Agency fell on the deaf ears of bureaucrats who informed him that he was a wanted criminal whod better turn himself in and face the music. So Kohler went off the grid as Dan Chase, of Norwich, Vermont, invested the money cautiously, and set up several false identities, just in case. Ten years after his wife died, his past catches up with him in the shape of two Arab-looking men who break into his house while hes supposed to be asleep. After taking care of business with brutal efficiency, he goes on the lam once more. As Peter Caldwell he drives to Chicago, where he meets Zoe McDonald, whos quickly drawn to him. They make some sweet memories together as Henry and Marcia Dixon; then its time once more for Henry to leave. Julian Carson, the special ops contractor assigned to locate Dixon and set him up for the kill, ends up sympathizing with him insteadespecially after he helps arrange the return of the $20 million and sees that it doesnt lessen the pressure on Dixonand passes on the information that allows the Dixons to escape, though it doesnt exactly feel like an escape to Marcia. They retreat to an isolated cabin in Big Bear; Carson quits the assignment and marries his Arkansas sweetheart. Both men wait for the inevitable, and in the fullness of time, it arrives with guns ablaze. Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying. Liam Neeson would be perfect in the title role. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
