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matosapa's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
hedread's review against another edition
4.0
Who doesn’t love a strong woman that gets the job done?
gmullery's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
dotorsojak's review against another edition
3.0
2.8 stars rounded up
I just reread this right after having reread THE BURGLAR. This one too has a female protagonist, a cop and she is a real badass to boot. Her name is Leah Hawkins and she is an ex-D1 basketball player.
Much of TP's description of Hawkins's hunt for the killers is fascinating, especially the hunt for the first perp, Albert Weiss. But almost none of the rest of the perps exercise the care and caution that Weiss does, and this lack of caution is never explained.
There's a lot of killing in this book, also other violent (and non-violent) crimes.
It is not a spoiler I think to quote an O. Wilde's character (Miss Prism) on the topic of fiction in general and this fiction in particular: "The good end happily and the bad unhappily--that is what fiction means."
I pretty much like all of TP's books, but this is not among his best.
I just reread this right after having reread THE BURGLAR. This one too has a female protagonist, a cop and she is a real badass to boot. Her name is Leah Hawkins and she is an ex-D1 basketball player.
Much of TP's description of Hawkins's hunt for the killers is fascinating, especially the hunt for the first perp, Albert Weiss. But almost none of the rest of the perps exercise the care and caution that Weiss does, and this lack of caution is never explained.
There's a lot of killing in this book, also other violent (and non-violent) crimes.
It is not a spoiler I think to quote an O. Wilde's character (Miss Prism) on the topic of fiction in general and this fiction in particular: "The good end happily and the bad unhappily--that is what fiction means."
I pretty much like all of TP's books, but this is not among his best.
bofrazer's review against another edition
5.0
Fabulous. Shades of Jane Whitefield and Butcher's Boy, my favorites of his.
I usually read women authors, because they often have a better handle on emotional nuances and I very much enjoy the female gaze. But every once in a while I need a good shoot-em-up violent shot of testosterone. Elmore Leonard was a favorite, but now I rely upon Thomas Perry. This one doesn't disappoint. There's nothing like a good revenge story and, as they said about The Bride in Kill Bill,
"Boy, does she have it coming!"
I usually read women authors, because they often have a better handle on emotional nuances and I very much enjoy the female gaze. But every once in a while I need a good shoot-em-up violent shot of testosterone. Elmore Leonard was a favorite, but now I rely upon Thomas Perry. This one doesn't disappoint. There's nothing like a good revenge story and, as they said about The Bride in Kill Bill,
"Boy, does she have it coming!"
thaynes31's review against another edition
5.0
Actually threw a few turns in it that ai never saw coming my favorite kind of suspense.
kshea1's review against another edition
4.0
Exciting
This was an exciting book without being a total thriller. I was nervous for Leah and also very curious to learn all of her tricks of the trade
This was an exciting book without being a total thriller. I was nervous for Leah and also very curious to learn all of her tricks of the trade
willac's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent, one of the best books I’ve read this year. A prison has been located in a small town in Colorado. Originally intended to be a minimum security prison,it soon houses mostly violent criminals, due to overcrowding at other prisons.
Twelve of these inmates meticulously plot an escape, and soon the small town is overrun by over a thousand escapees. They steal what they want, rape and kill, but after most of the inmates are rounded up, the masterminds are still at large.
After two years neither the police nor the FBI have any leads, so a female police lieutenant, with the secret blessing of the town leaders, sets out to find and kill them in order to bring some closure to the townspeople and justice for the slain.
I loved the amount of detail in the book. Highly recommended.
I was given an I corrected advance frog from Mysterious Press and NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Twelve of these inmates meticulously plot an escape, and soon the small town is overrun by over a thousand escapees. They steal what they want, rape and kill, but after most of the inmates are rounded up, the masterminds are still at large.
After two years neither the police nor the FBI have any leads, so a female police lieutenant, with the secret blessing of the town leaders, sets out to find and kill them in order to bring some closure to the townspeople and justice for the slain.
I loved the amount of detail in the book. Highly recommended.
I was given an I corrected advance frog from Mysterious Press and NetGalley in return for an honest review.
usbsticky's review against another edition
4.0
Spoilers below:
A somewhat unusual story line. The book starts off with a prison escape where 12 masterminds manage to kill all/most of the guards of a federal penitentiary. Then they open all the doors for over a thousand prisoners to escape with them and create chaos. When they get to a small town nearby they murder and rape the families of some of the guards and escape. The staties and feds are called in and the rest of the prisoners are either killed (with some townspeople) or caught. The 12 manage to escape since they had prepared for the breakout.
Fast forward to a couple of years later, the town council (or the mayor and assistant) secretly authorizes the chief of detectives Leah Hawkins to hunt down and kill the 12. They give her a $1M credit line to use (from a federal grant).
Most of the middle of the book is Hawkins finding and killing 6 of the prisoners. The remaining 6 figure that the town has put a hit on them and decide to attack the town in order to kill the people who ordered their hit. They chance upon the town council meeting but Hawkins kill 3 of the attackers and the rest escape.
The 3 escape back to Arkansas(?) where one of them is the leader of a survivalist cult/movement. While there, two of them fight over a woman and are killed. The leader decides to go rob a bank to get funds for the movement. Hawkins tracks them down there and kills the leader in the act. The end.
Like all the Thomas Perry books I've read so far, all the characters operate in Easy Mode. Hawkins manages to track and kill easily. The bad guys also pull off their escape in Easy Mode. I don't really mind as it makes for easy and stress free reading. Also at about 66% of the book, it suddenly switches to one of the escapee's POV. This seems to be a common plot device of Perry but makes the book feel like unstructured or ill planned. Apart from that, I find these books are easy and quick to read action books. You'll either like them or not.
A somewhat unusual story line. The book starts off with a prison escape where 12 masterminds manage to kill all/most of the guards of a federal penitentiary. Then they open all the doors for over a thousand prisoners to escape with them and create chaos. When they get to a small town nearby they murder and rape the families of some of the guards and escape. The staties and feds are called in and the rest of the prisoners are either killed (with some townspeople) or caught. The 12 manage to escape since they had prepared for the breakout.
Fast forward to a couple of years later, the town council (or the mayor and assistant) secretly authorizes the chief of detectives Leah Hawkins to hunt down and kill the 12. They give her a $1M credit line to use (from a federal grant).
Most of the middle of the book is Hawkins finding and killing 6 of the prisoners. The remaining 6 figure that the town has put a hit on them and decide to attack the town in order to kill the people who ordered their hit. They chance upon the town council meeting but Hawkins kill 3 of the attackers and the rest escape.
The 3 escape back to Arkansas(?) where one of them is the leader of a survivalist cult/movement. While there, two of them fight over a woman and are killed. The leader decides to go rob a bank to get funds for the movement. Hawkins tracks them down there and kills the leader in the act. The end.
Like all the Thomas Perry books I've read so far, all the characters operate in Easy Mode. Hawkins manages to track and kill easily. The bad guys also pull off their escape in Easy Mode. I don't really mind as it makes for easy and stress free reading. Also at about 66% of the book, it suddenly switches to one of the escapee's POV. This seems to be a common plot device of Perry but makes the book feel like unstructured or ill planned. Apart from that, I find these books are easy and quick to read action books. You'll either like them or not.
mommasaystoread's review against another edition
2.0
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.
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.