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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
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!"
Actually threw a few turns in it that ai never saw coming my favorite kind of suspense.
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
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.
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.
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.
Twelve prisoners conspire to break out of prison and leave the gates open on their way out so thousands of others can follow behind. They storm into the nearby small town and rape, murder, and destroy everything in their path to freedom. Most prisoners are caught, but not all. Two years later, the twelve masterminds are still at large despite every police agency chasing them. Leah Hawkins, the town's police Lieutenant, officially goes on sabbatical to learn new police procedures. But really she goes to hunt down the infamous twelve and kill them. Her search takes her all over the country.
I found the story to be real interesting, keeping my attention throughout. I think it would make a good movie!
I found the story to be real interesting, keeping my attention throughout. I think it would make a good movie!
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Lots of suspension of belief needed but a quick read.