Hero

Review by Booklist Review

In this thriller so suspenseful it should be required reading for thrill seekers, Perry splices together two fascinating procedurals and an extended cat-and-mouse game. On one side is crafty Justine Poole, a security operative for an L.A. outfit that specializes in protecting the privacy and well-being of celebrities and CEOs. On the other side is equally crafty Leo Sealy, who tracks down people who have run afoul of an L.A. crime boss overseeing a home invasion crew. After a night of doing bodyguard work for a comic, Justine witnesses the home invasion of a famous Hollywood writer-director and his wife and thwarts the crime, killing two of the would-be robbers. She becomes an instant media darling, as well as the target of the crime boss, who doesn't appreciate the bad publicity. The suspense is lethal, as Poole, abandoned by her firm and hunted by both media and Leo, must try to outwit, outrun, and even out-climb a trained assassin. Perry alternates between the points of view of the hunter and the hunted, letting readers in on both of their perspectives, and their plans. Fascinating on the procedures of both security and crime, with a harrowing climax. A tour de force.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A security guard flees from a professional killer after she gets on the bad side of an L.A. crime boss in this low-voltage chase thriller from Edgar winner Perry (The Left-Handed Twin). Justine Poole works for a private agency as a bodyguard for celebrities. As Poole returns a Hollywood power couple back to their Beverly Hills estate one evening, she confronts a band of home invaders on the premises, killing two. Hailed as a hero in the press but fired by her employer for causing a legal liability, Poole quickly becomes the target of journeyman assassin Leo Sealy, who's hired by the mastermind behind the home invasion to track Poole down. Sealy considers it a simple job, but his bumbling start--he accidentally kills Poole's boss, as well as an innocent bystander--provides the first in a slew of complications. For a cat-and-mouse chase, Perry sets a surprisingly unhurried pace. He mixes in welcome moments of dark humor throughout (Justine's bumbling pursuit of a freelance journalist yields several laughs) but fails to keep the match lit through the story's humdrum conclusion. Thin swipes at character development--neither Poole nor Sealy ever emerge as full-fledged personalities--don't help. This won't win Perry many new fans. Agent: Mel Berger, WME. (Jan.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

Justine Poole drifted into her job as a private security agent. Now, in her mid-20s, she provides security for the wealthy and famous of Los Angeles. One night, things go wrong. Five men follow an older couple onto their property, but Justine is already there. She shoots and kills two of the men, and the others are arrested. The media is hungry for Justine's name and photo, wanting to make her a hero, but her boss wisely realizes that the media might turn on her, branding her a murderer. This plays right into the hands of a villain who's angry that a young woman has killed two of his crew; he hires a killer to hunt her down. He doesn't count on the evasive smarts of a wily young woman who knows the LA streets and how to hide from a stalker. Justine can only rely on herself in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. VERDICT The latest from the author of Murder Book offers little character development, but it's a fast-paced thriller for those who like novels in which antagonists attempt to outsmart each other.--Lesa Holstine

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A Los Angeles security guard's act of heroism comes back to bite her. Justine Poole is just doing her job when she follows Jerry and Estelle Pinsky from a fundraiser to their gated home and foils a robbery attempt by five men, two of whom she shoots dead. But that's not how Mr. Conger, the crime boss who hired the crew for the job, sees it. He needs to maintain the reputation of his operation by making a strong statement about what happens to anybody who thwarts his plans. So even as Justine's name springs into local headlines and she's asked to do press interviews she has no intention of giving, methodical assassin Leo Sealy has already accepted a $50,000 down payment to liquidate her. After he kills her boss, Ben Spengler, instead of her, Spengler's siblings terminate Justine's contract to insulate Spengler-Nash Security from further fallout and warn her away from any contact with the co-workers who might have helped protect her. Needing an ally, Justine picks out crime reporter Joe Alston, who proves surprisingly helpful considering how little she tells him. In the meantime, Conger kicks things up a notch by encouraging the three thieves the police caught to claim they were ambushed by a vigilante, entangling Justine with the police and further tarnishing her reputation while Sealy draws a bead on her. When the skill sets of the hunted and the hunter, who reflects that Justine is "more of a problem than most," are so evenly matched, luck will play a decisive role, and Justine's luck can't hold out forever. A cat-and-mouse tale done to a turn by a veteran who doesn't waste a word or a tear. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Justine hated this part of the job--the waiting when she knew the threat was real and she was putting the body she lived in, the creature that she was, at risk. She also loved this part, when she was crouching in a well-chosen spot, knowing things the adversaries didn't suspect yet, and sure that the most crucial thing they didn't suspect was Justine Poole. She could feel her heart gradually increasing its beat, like an engine warming up. She knew she must not stand up or try to look out through the gate. She needed to see her opponents well before a confrontation happened, but she also had to be alert to the possibility of an advance scout sent ahead to detect the presence of professional security. Just today Ben had sent her security footage to help her learn how the latest group of follow-home robberies were being choreographed. They hadn't had time to talk seriously yet about how to go about stopping one. She knew that Spengler's method would begin by following the robbers' Mercedes and taking good, clear pictures of it that showed the license plates. When the Mercedes reached the gate--closed or open--he would pull in behind it so he could block the robbers' escape and do whatever would get their attention away from the victims while the police caught up. Why hadn't he called her by now? And here came the Pinskys. She watched the glow from their headlights moving along the canopies of the trees, but she heard only the whisper of the tires on the pavement as their electric vehicle approached. The car began its turn toward the gate and a slight brightening appeared in the driveway that allowed Justine to see the paving stones. The car completed the arc and straightened, and its headlights shone up the driveway and lit the garage door as the car kept going. Jerry must have pressed the remote control in the car because the electric motor beside Justine turned and the teeth of its main gear meshed with the chain and the gate began to close behind it. Justine rose to a crouch, keeping her head low and on the safe side of the motor housing, and waited. The garage door at the end of the driveway started to rise. The Pinskys' car pulled ahead and its headlights illuminated the back wall of the garage. Justine could see their silhouettes through the rear window, Jerry's head on the left side, and Estelle's on the right. The lights went out. Get out, she thought. Get into the house. Didn't they know? Outside the wall there was an engine noise and more lights. Justine returned her attention to the gate. The Mercedes arrived and pulled forward, and the first man was already out and running. He stuck his leg into the space in front of the moving gate in time to interrupt the beam of light to the electric eye. The gate stopped instantly and then began to roll back in the other direction. The three passenger doors of the Mercedes swung open and men sprang out and ran to join the point man in the driveway. Everything felt unsettled, almost unreal. She thought, Act now or miss the chance to save this. She stayed low, drew her pistol, aimed at the first man and shouted, "Hold it! Stay where you are or I'll shoot!" She held the tactical flashlight as far from her body as possible and pushed the switch, bathing the men in its wide, blinding glare. They all looked young and large, all wearing black masks and dark clothes. The point man and one of his companions raised pistols she hadn't seen in the dark, and fired at her light. She fired back, the shot hit the point man in the chest, and as he collapsed backward toward the ground, she shifted her aim to the second gunman and fired. He had been the driver, last out of the car, so he was closest to her. He fell too, dropping his pistol on the pavement. A third man fired at her and she felt the bullet cut the air a foot above her ear. She fired in response and he went down, but she was sure she had missed him and he was just ducking. She turned off her light and sprinted for the gate with the vague idea of using their own Mercedes as a shield. Even though it was probably stolen, they might hesitate before damaging their means of escape. As she ran, a volley of wild shots ricocheted off the inner side of the wall where she had been, and when she dashed behind the Mercedes, she heard the front door of the house slam shut. She inhaled and felt her lungs swell in elation. The distraction must have done it. The Pinskys were inside. She kept running past the rear of the Mercedes, made it to the gate stanchion and twenty feet past it along the outer wall, pivoted, dropped to her belly, and aimed her pistol at the mouth of the driveway. She used her left hand to take out her phone and dial 911, then returned her eyes to the open gateway. Excerpted from Hero by Thomas Perry All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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