298 pages
English language
Published May 2, 2013 by Grove/Atlantic.
Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case. It was discovered after her death that the victim had been working as a high-class prostitute, and the police are content to assume she was killed by a client, common in such a dangerous line of work. Yet as Till digs deeper, he realizes that the victim is just one of several young female escorts killed in different cities in the exact same way--all had strawberry blonde hair, and all were shot with a 9mm handgun in the sanctity of their apartments. Till must find …
Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case. It was discovered after her death that the victim had been working as a high-class prostitute, and the police are content to assume she was killed by a client, common in such a dangerous line of work. Yet as Till digs deeper, he realizes that the victim is just one of several young female escorts killed in different cities in the exact same way--all had strawberry blonde hair, and all were shot with a 9mm handgun in the sanctity of their apartments. Till must find his way around the tawdry and secretive online escort business, and decode ads placed by young women who all use false names, sometimes advertise using other women's pictures, and move from city to city every few months. Yet when Till is finally able to catch up with the killer, he finds that the man he's after is far more dangerous and volatile than he ever could have imagined. As the body count rises, Till must risk his life to find this seductive and ruthless killer whose murderous spree masks a far deadlier agenda.
I loved Perry's Jane Whitfield book, and believe he came up with a good character (and daughter) for this one -- but I was very disappointed by the meandering plot.
I loved Perry's Jane Whitfield book, and believe he came up with a good character (and daughter) for this one -- but I was very disappointed by the meandering plot.
I just happened to see the latest Thomas Perry novel on the shelf in the library, so I picked it up. Turns out it is book #2 in the Jack Till series, featuring a retired LA detective. I usually hate to start on any book but the first in a series, but I plowed on anyway.
Jack Till, a private detective, gets asked by the parents of a murdered girl to find her murderer. They found out that she was a paid escort (aka call girl), working on her own via Internet advertisements. So the police aren't really interested in working that hard on her killing, so Till promises to do his best.
He eventually uncovers the existence of The Boyfriend, as Till started to call him. The Boyfriend would ingratiate himself with an escort and somehow get them to make him their live in boyfriend. Till spends some time …
I just happened to see the latest Thomas Perry novel on the shelf in the library, so I picked it up. Turns out it is book #2 in the Jack Till series, featuring a retired LA detective. I usually hate to start on any book but the first in a series, but I plowed on anyway.
Jack Till, a private detective, gets asked by the parents of a murdered girl to find her murderer. They found out that she was a paid escort (aka call girl), working on her own via Internet advertisements. So the police aren't really interested in working that hard on her killing, so Till promises to do his best.
He eventually uncovers the existence of The Boyfriend, as Till started to call him. The Boyfriend would ingratiate himself with an escort and somehow get them to make him their live in boyfriend. Till spends some time trying to figure out a motive, but by the time he does, a few more go missing. Some police believe his theory, although oddly enough not the LA police, who give him the real brush off. Till gets close on several occasions, only to lose him, until the final, climatic battle.
In many ways, this reminded me of another recent Perry book, [b:Nightlife|451063|Nightlife|Thomas Perry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320534128s/451063.jpg|226954], about a serial killer and someone trying to track them down. Till basically knew everything by about 75 pages into it, and the rest of the book was him trying to pin him down, just like in Nightlife. Which got equally annoying in this book, as he would get closer and closer, but never quite rope him in until the end.
Not really a strong effort by Perry. One thing I miss in these books is Perry's sense of humor, used so deliciously in [b:Metzger's Dog|234335|Metzger's Dog|Thomas Perry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320490318s/234335.jpg|1256623]. This book is played pretty straight, with no humor and only a little philosophy. Till just slogged through to the end, not showing much imagination and a dogged determination to tell the girl all about The Boyfriend, rather than just get the boyfriend, often with fatal consequences.
I put the first Till book on my To Read shelf, but I'm not going to go out of my way to find it. There's no real spark to these books any more, sadly enough.
