Sleeping Dogs
by Thomas Perry
List Price:
Our Price: $4.08
You Save: $3.91 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Thomas PerryEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-04-24
ISBN: 080411160X
Number of pages: 308
Publisher: Ivy Books
Book Reviews of Sleeping Dogs
Book Review: "They never forgot, and they never stopped looking."
Summary: 4 Stars
Thomas Perry's "Sleeping Dogs," the sequel to "The Butcher's Boy," opens ten years after the protagonist, a professional hit man, leaves the United States and settles in Bath, England. Posing as an expatriate American businessman named Michael Schaeffer, the fortyish butcher's boy has a beautiful and aristocratic girlfriend named Meg Holroyd and is beginning to let his guard down. One day, Meg drags Michael to Brighton for the races, where his luck runs out. An organized crime figure named Mario Talarese recognizes the butcher's boy from years back "as the hired specialist who had gone crazy years ago and whacked all those guys." This is an opportunity of a lifetime for Mario. If he can knock off the person who wreaked so much havoc, Mario's star would rise meteorically.
This unexpected development forces Michael to return to the United States and immerse himself once again in the world of murder and mayhem that he had hoped to leave behind. Fortunately, it seems that killing people is like riding a bicycle. You never quite forget how to do it once you have the knack. As in "The Butcher's Boy," almost everyone in "Sleeping Dogs" makes assumptions based on logic, but most of their theories turn out to be faulty. Rightly or wrongly, the butcher's boy has decided that certain people have to die in order to insure his safety. When he starts to implement his plan, Michael's quickness, ingenuity, determination, and experience with electronics and weaponry all stand him in good stead, just as they did in the past. Michael also takes this opportunity to learn more about his nemesis, Elizabeth Waring, who, as an analyst for the United States Justice Department with an expertise in organized crime, is one of the few people who appreciates his guile and daring.
Michael travels around the country, trying to tie up all of the loose ends that stand between him and the peaceful life he craves. Mob figures come out of the woodwork and, as usual, the protagonist boldly and audaciously takes them on. This is not a feel-good book in which morality and good-heartedness triumph, but it is entertaining in a quirky way. Perry's dry humor enlivens the proceedings considerably. For instance, a darkly comic sequence in New York City's Harlem has Michael negotiating with a clueless and arrogant street thug who has no idea how dangerous this benign looking dude really is. Another amusing scene shows sixty-six year old Carl Bala, a powerful capo serving life in prison, writhing in frustration after losing his umpteenth game of gin rummy to a fellow inmate. The author wryly notes, "Carl Bala hated losing more than he hated death." Nevertheless, he keeps playing and losing.
There are several jarring notes in this otherwise enjoyable novel: The "new Michael," who is civilized enough to sustain a long-term romantic relationship with a lovely young woman, does not quite jibe with the Michael who slaughters almost everyone who gets in his way. To be fair, he shows signs of mellowing, since he refrains from killing several people who are in his crosshairs. Another anomaly is the large number of coincidences that are essential elements of the incredibly convoluted plot. If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to buy these far-fetched scenarios, and if you have a higher than average tolerance for excessive violence, you will want to pick up this sequel to find out if one of the deadliest killers in the history of crime fiction succeeds in obliterating his foes.
Important note: You must read "The Butcher's Boy" before "Sleeping Dogs" in order to have any understanding of the characters as well as of and the sequence of events as they unfold.
Summary of Sleeping Dogs
He came to England to rest. He calls himself Michael Shaeffer, says he's a retired American businessman. He goes to the races, dates a kinky aristocrat, and sleeps with dozens of weapons. Ten years ago it was different. Then, he was the Butcher's Boy, the highly skilled mob hit man who pulled a slaughter job on some double-crossing clients and started a mob war. Ever since, there's been a price on his head.Now, after a decade, they've found him. The Butcher's Boy escapes back to the States with more reasons to kill. Until the odds turn terrifyingly against him . . . until the Mafia, the cops, the FBI, and the damn Justice Department want his hide . . . until he's locked into a cross-country odyssey of fear and death that could tear his world to pieces . . .
"Exciting . . . Suspenseful . . . A thriller's job is to make you turn the pages until the story's done and your eyes hurt and the clock says 3 a.m. . . . I wouldn't try to grab this one away from somebody only half-way through. No telling what might happen."
-- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.76
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Nightlife: A Novelby Thomas Perry
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-05-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Blood Money (Jane Whitefield, Book 5)by Thomas Perry
Ballantine Books; Published: 2002-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.63
Price in other shops:
Silence (Otto Penzler Book)by Thomas Perry
Mariner Books; Published: 2008-05-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.12
Price in other shops:
Dance for the Dead , A Jane Whitefield Novelby Thomas Perry
Ivy Books / Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
Pursuit: A Novelby Thomas Perry
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2006-02-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.08
Price in other shops:
Death Benefitsby Thomas Perry
Ballantine Books; Published: 2001-11; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
The Informant: An Otto Penzler Book (Butcher's Boy)by Thomas Perry
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2011-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.34
Price in other shops:
Vanishing Act (Jane Whitefield Novels)by Thomas Perry
Fawcett; Published: 1996-03-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.58
Price in other shops:
Metzger's Dog: A Novelby Thomas Perry
Random House; Published: 2003-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.21
Price in other shops:
The Butcher's Boyby Thomas Perry
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2003-06-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops: