Remembering Thomas Perry: A Leading Force in Contemporary Suspense Thrillers

Leah Hawkins is a small-town cop who lost a loved one when 12 inmates pulled off a daring prison break, freeing more than a thousand convicts into her quiet town. 

Two years later, she's put on sabbatical to learn advanced police techniques—at least, that's what it says on paper. In reality, she's been tasked with tracking down the convicts who planned the escape, and ending their lives.

Retired businessman Michael Shaeffer has carved out a nice routine for his family in England and is enjoying a life of tranquility. As this is a Perry novel, we can guess already that that's not going to last for long. 

When a casual party at their home turns into a death match at the hands of the mafia, he's thrust, once again, into an adventure of a lifetime. Trouble is, he's running out of lives. 

When a hitman becomes a liability to his employers, it’s up to one bright young analyst in the Justice Department to find out the truth about the killer—and those who pull his strings—before something much worse than a contract murder goes down. 

“Thomas Perry keeps pulling fresh ideas and original characters out of thin air,” The New York Times Book Review said of this novel introducing Jane Whitefield, Perry’s longest-running character. 

A Native American woman with a knack for helping people in trouble disappear, Jane may have run into more than she bargained for when she meets an ex-cop suspected of embezzling.

A cold-blooded killer is pursuing an eight-year-old boy in this second adventure starring Seneca guide Jane Whitefield, who Entertainment Weekly called “the most arresting protagonist in the ‘90s thriller arena.” 

Check out this gripping novel of pursuit to see for yourself why The Washington Post Book World declared that “nobody writes a chase better than Perry.”

Jane Whitefield has spent her life helping people in trouble disappear—now she's about to perform the same trick on herself, settling into a new life as Carey McKinnon. 

But her quiet world is interrupted when she’s pulled back into the game to help a young girl escape from the mafia. The job intensifies when she finds herself partnered with mafioso Bernie the Elephant to pull off a daring heist: stealing billions in mob money and donating it to charity.

John Walker’s life may not be exciting or glamorous, but his work as a data analyst for a California insurance company promises him a long and successful career—until a former colleague with whom he once had an affair disappears after paying out a very large death benefit. 

Now, Walker and security consultant Max Stillman are on a cross-country chase to find out the truth—which may come at a higher price than either wants to pay.

The Los Angeles Times called Thomas Perry “a master of nail-biting suspense” and said that his writing was “as sharp as a sushi knife.” He shows it off in Dead Aim, as we watch a man’s life unravel after a chance encounter with a mysterious young woman on the beach. 

Desperate to learn more about this stranger, Robert Mallon hires detective Lydia Marks—but they soon find themselves up against someone who has a deadly revenge plan in store for them.

When James Shelby is unjustly convicted of his wife’s murder, Jane Whitefield helps him escape from a heavily guarded criminal court in downtown Los Angeles, only to find herself kidnapped and at the mercy of those who were actually responsible for the murder. 

Though she manages to escape, she's pursued by both the police and by the killers—not to mention by many of the people she managed to elude over the years.

The murderer's row of enemies all bid in a deadly auction to see who gets the right to extract information from her once she's finally captured.

Jack Till is a retired homicide detective who plans to live out the remainder of his life taking routine cases as a private investigator—until the parents of a murdered girl ask for his help. 

The case will draw Till into the secretive world of online escorts, and a plan to trap a killer more deadly than he could have ever imagined—one who has left a long trail of bodies in their wake.

“Thomas Perry has once again resurrected a remarkable character who seems imbued with a strange immortality and an unusual morality,” The Washington Times said of the eighth Jane Whitefield novel, “and he is to be congratulated.” 

A Booklist starred review put it more succinctly, calling A String of Beads “first-rate suspense.” Jane has settled into a quiet life in New York when her past comes calling—sending her on a walking trip that she last took when she was 14, and into an adventure so deadly it may be her last.

A 60-year-old widower living in Vermont with two big dogs, Dan Chase doesn’t seem much different than any other retiree—but he has a secret. 

Years ago, when he was a young army intelligence officer, he worked a job in Libya that went south. He has been dodging someone who wants him dead ever since.

Now, in his golden years, the past has come to collect—with a vengeance.

A pair of married sleuths cross paths—and wits—with a couple who specializes in murder-for-hire in this action-packed novel that The New York Times called “priceless.”

When the body of a research scientist is pulled from a storm sewer, husband-and-wife detective team Sid and Ronnie Abel are put on the job. 

Unfortunately, so are Ed and Nicole Hoyt, a pair of deadly assassins. As the duos circle each other, the plot thickens in this “double-barreled Southern California thriller that moves almost faster than a speeding bullet” (The Wall Street Journal).

Elle Stowell is a burglar, making her living by breaking into ritzy Bel Air houses and sneaking off with a few valuables. 

When she breaks into the wrong house and stumbles upon a grisly triple homicide, however, she suddenly finds herself pursued by something much more dangerous than the local police force. 

With a target on her back, she must use her skills as a burglar to find out the truth about the murder, before she becomes the next victim.

A New York Times Notable Crime Book, Strip begins with Claudiu “Manco” Kapak, a strip club owner, who has just been robbed by a gunman. He sends out his security men to catch him, only for Joe Carver, an innocent man, to be framed.

In the meantime, the real culprit and his girlfriend continue stealing from Manco, while Carver must find a way out of what is ramping into a brutal gang war. 

Los Angeles P.I. Phil Kramer is killed, and his wife, Emily, is left with many questions—namely, why did he empty the bank accounts, and where did the money go? 

Professional hit man is not paid to ask questions, but when he is asked to kill Kramer’s widow next, he begins to sense something fouler at play, in a fast-paced thriller that “rivets attention [...] and displays distinctive Perry hallmarks, especially in its standoffs” (New York Times).

In this enlightening behind-the-scenes, Thomas Perry explores the backstory of his infamous heroine. Jane Whitfield, a Native American of Seneca descent, has made a name for herself by offering people new identities and making the old ones disappear without a trace.

But, in the process, she’s made a lot of enemies who want to find her. A group of men kidnaps three people close to her, among them is her longtime friend Jake Reinert.

When pondering their escape, Jake tells the life story of the one person who could save them: Jane Whitefield.

Jane Whitfield has promised to retire from her unusual profession and has since assumed the identity of Jane McKinnon, the wife of a surgeon in Amherst, New York. 

But when a bomb goes off in a hospital fundraiser, and Jane finds the cause of the explosion, a young pregnant woman being chased across the country, she decides she must become her former self once more. 

Described by Delson DeMille, author of the John Corey series, as an “ingeniously plotted and tightly written novel of taut psychological suspense,” Silence follows private investigator Jack Till as he deals with the consequences of helping Wendy Harper disappear years ago. 

Now, her ex-boyfriend and former business partner is being framed for her presumed murder, in the hopes of bringing her out from the shadows. Till must find Wendy before two assassins out for blood get to her first. 

When tragedy strikes the LAPD Bomb Squad, they call upon a veteran they know they can count on: Dick Stahl. As the former commander and now owner of his own security company, Stahl is used to danger.

But, it quickly becomes clear to him they’re dealing with an innovative mastermind, in a “twisy, timely, and pulse-pounding” thriller (Entertainment Weekly). 

A follow-up to Butcher’s Boy, the story begins years later, when the Butcher’s Boy finds the stability he’s created in the present, threatened by his past with the Mafia.

Commended as “a master class in thriller writing,” he must assume his old ways and fight for his life like never before, with only the Justice Department official Elizabeth Waring knowing he ever existed (Los Angeles Times).