The Informant: An Otto Penzler Book

“Perry’s novels—the best ones—are a master class in thriller writing. The Informant should be the newest addition to that syllabus, read for devouring first, and analysis thereafter.”—Los Angeles Times

“Excellent . . . Perry offers a compelling, rapid-fire plot, credible Mafia and FBI secondary characters, an indictment of self-serving officialdom, and the old soul-shattering moral dilemma: what is truth?”—Publishers Weekly

The Butcher’s Boy is back. Thomas Perry’s vengeful assassin has returned to play a deadly psychological game with Elizabeth Waring, the only Justice Department official who ever believed he existed.

The Butcher’s Boy knows Waring can help him hunt down the Mafia boss who sent a team of hit men to kill him—and in return he offers her key information that will help her crack an unsolved murder. So begins a new assault on organized crime and an uneasy alliance between opposite sides of the law. As the Butcher’s Boy works his way ever closer to his deadly enemy in an effort to kill him first, Waring is in a desperate struggle, either to force her unlikely ally to become a protected informant, or to take him out of commission for good.

THOMAS PERRY is the author of the Jane Whitefield series as well as the best-selling novels Nightlife, Death Benefits, and Pursuit. He won the Edgar Award for The Butcher’s Boy, and Metzger’s Dog was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.