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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 33 |
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"SILENCE" |
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Thrillermeister Perry
brings in another winner
of TheColumnists.com
A young woman knows something about the disappearance of another young woman that makes her a target for a pair of hired killers. Okay. Sounds like a reliable plot for a typical mystery thriller, right?
Sure. But know let me tell you that that slender plot line is in the hands of one Thomas Perry, the same diabolical author who wrote three of the great classic crime thrillers of the 20th century: "Metzger's Dog," "The Butcher's Boy" and its sequel "Sleeping Dogs."
Hey, come back here. Finish reading this g.d. review before you rush out to buy a copy of the new Perry book--"Silence" (Harcourt, $25). I don't do this just to hear myself talking!
Seriously, folks, "Silence" is one of those books you hate yourself for putting down long enough to eat, sleep or have sex with someone gorgeous. And if you're real smart, maybe you can find someone gorgeous who likes Thomas Perry novels and you can persuade her to read it to you while you're...but I digress.
Perry is the very best at stories that involve carefully planned killings, hiding from assassins or the authorities or just plain making people vanish when somebody is looking for them. "Silence" has all those elements--and then some.
Wendy Harpter is a partner in one of the hottest new restaurants in Los Angeles. Her partner, Eric Fuller, is the supervising chef and former lover. So, when Wendy suddenly disappears and a baseball bat covered with her blood is found near her home, the district attorney's office naturally assumes Eric did her in and hid the body. After all, he does inherit her side of the business, which makes him even filthier rich than he already is.
But Jack Till knows better. He's the former L.A. police detective, now a private eye, who Wendy hired to help her hide from the people who want to get rid of her. Jack showed her how to create a new identity and start a new lfie, far away from the man who attacked her with a baseball bat and nearly beat her to death six years earlier.
Now Jack feels he has to step forward and convince the authorities that Eric Fuller is innocent. He can't stand by and let him be imprisoned or even executed for killing a woman Jack knows is still alive.
But yout know how the authorities are. They want proof. Bring her in, they tell Jack. Easier said than done. Now Jack has to find the woman that he hid so well that not even her closest friends or family members have heard from in six years. Worse yet, Jack told her he didn't want to know where she went. So how does he find her?
That makes up much of the plot of this roller-coaster thriller. Helping build the thrills is the fact that the man behind the plot to kill Wendy has retained the services of the Turners, a husband and wife murder team like none you've ever met in thriller land before. She's an ex-porn star who adores her vicious killer husband and not only gets off on watching him in action, but has convinced him to train her as his special partner in mayhem.
This is a fast-paced read, loaded with fascinating details about how to track somebody down to either save them or kill them. It's also blessed with Perry's usual nasty sense of humor. As you might have figured out by now, I loved this book. Okay, you can go buy it now. Thanks for listening.
©2007 by Ron Miller. The book cover illustration is courtsy of Harcourt. This column first posted Aug. 6, 2007.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
You can comment on this column online. Please address your message to either "The Editors" or Ron Miller. To send an email, click here and don't forget to mention Ron's name: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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