The Boyfriend

By Thomas Perry

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Release date: Mar 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9780802193681

Thomas Perry

Thomas Perry is the New York Times bestselling author of nearly thirty novels, including the critically acclaimed Jane Whitefield series, The Old Man, and The Butcher's Boy, which won the Edgar Award. He lives in Southern California. Follow Thomas on Facebook at @ThomasPerryAuthor.

Reviews for The Boyfriend

[mhanover10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. Fast paced and the characters were interesting. I have not read the first of the series and felt this one stood alone. I didn't feel like I was missing anything from not read the first book of the series. I'm sure I would know more about Jack Till and his daughter Holly. It's a good murder mystery and I would recommend it.

[mikedraper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read a number of terrific reviews of this book and couldn't wait to read it. The book delivered and was a great read.Retired LAPD homicide detective, Jack Till, is hired by the parents of their daughter who worked as a female escort.Till discovers that there were other female escorts of the same description killed in other cities and in each city there was another murder. He surmises that the killer made friends with the escort, stayed at her place while planning his main target. Once that was accomplished, he murdered the escort so she couldn't identify him.This is a well written story with good insight into Till's motivation and relentlessness to find the killer. He has a daughter the same age as many of the victims. His daughter lives at a group home with Down Syndrome.The plot is carefully laid out and the story will catch the reader's attention from page one.

[petrichor8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

really great read, enjoyed every minute of it, would definitely recommend reading!

[maryann12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is definitely a great read for those who enjoy a lot of twists of turns in the story.
Fast paced with constant action. Multiple characters introduced throughout; all comes together toward the end. Really enjoyed this book. Very well written.

I was given this book from GoodReads.

[alanteder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thomas Perry has always been one of my favourite suspense authors. This is especially so when he is writing in his specialized niche of 'hunt and evade' thrillers. Some of these have been one-off novels such as "Pursuit" or "Death Benefits", and some have made for excellent series characters such as the Jane Whitefield or the Butcher's Boy series. With "The Boyfriend" we now have the 2nd of the Jack Till books, the 1st being 2007's "Silence", thus turning Till into a further series character. So why such a relatively low rating of 3 for "The Boyfriend"? For a favourite author you'd expect to give at least or 4 or 5 usually.I had too much the sense of recycled plot ideas in this novel, probably esp. from the Butcher's Boy, with the scenes of a veteran hit-man teaching a novice the trade. Also, the 'hunt' element just seemed too unbelievable. Jack Till is able to single-handedly identify the patterns of a serial killer and hit-man and is able to start predicting and tracking down future victims when the entire police services of several major cities and that of state and federal authorities were completely clueless to these things. Of course, there would be no novel if this wasn't the case, but you hope for a bit more cleverness, a bit more outside-the-box thinking, to propel the hero over the regular crowd, and i just didn't feel that sort of kick from the steps that Jack Till takes to track down the killer. It all seems to come remarkably easily to him, even if he is often a step behind where he needs to be (and he has to be or the book would end too quickly). Lastly, especially from Thomas Perry, who has written strong female characters in the past, this book's recurring victimhood of a series of otherwise sharp self-employed call-girls was another distressing element.Of course I finished it within a few days, Perry has not lost his knack for writing compulsive reads. It just didn't win me over. The women are sadly interchangeable victims, the Jack Till character is just too bland and you aren't exactly going to side with the sociopathic killer, so who is there left to root for?

[ronrose1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a smart, straight forward, detective, action, thriller novel, highlighted by an intelligent P.I. and equally intelligent and deadly criminal. These two face off in a book that will hold you hostage till the last page. The savvy ex-cop turned private investigator, Jack Till, reluctantly takes a case that the police don't seem to have time for. The parents of a murdered young woman want Till to find her killer. The problem is, she was a highly paid prostitute working on her own using the internet to score her john's. The police seem to see it as a low priority case and are not pushing to solve it. Till knows it will take lots of time and money to track down this girl's killer. What he doesn't know is she is not the killer's first victim. As it turns out, she is only collateral damage for a highly paid, highly skilled assassin. This is my first introduction to Thomas Perry's books, but it won't by my last. Book provided for review by Amazon Vine.

[liz1564 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am a great Thomas Perry fan and read this book in two days. The plot of a private detective pursuing the murderer of call girls who seem to be clones of each other is intriguing, especially when their deaths become linked to high profile assassinations. However, the entire plot unraveled in the last quarter of the book. There seemed to be a total disconnect with the previous events. I just don't think such a savey antagonist would have burdened himself with the two new characters he encounters. Perry's writing is exciting so I think that the book is worth reading, but not worth rereading which I do with his other novels.

[W Mark Colvson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best opening chapter of a thriller I've ever read. Satisfying all the way through. Strong characters, tight plot. I'll remember this one for a long time.

[susandennis-139327 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My opinion of any Thomas Perry book should be given no credence whatsoever. I've read every one of his books and enjoyed them all. This one may be one of the very best. The Boyfriend is an assassin who has a big contract to off a bunch of different people around the country. His MO is to find a high priced hooker and become her Boyfriend. This is just a great story, really nicely told. I hope Perry writes a million more books. I'll buy them all right now.

[johnstod_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Very creepy serial killer who you do not want as your boyfriend.  

[ecw0647 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I do like Thomas Perry. I've read most of his other books (both the Butcher's Boy and Jane Whitfield series are excellent) and was pleased to get this one as an advanced reader copy. It introduces a new character, Jack Till, ex-homicide detective, who is hired (for a considerable amount of money, which, given what they already know about their daughter, surprised me they would want to discover more,) to find the killer of their high-priced escort daughter, Catherine.

The Boyfriend has all the ingredients of a first rate thriller: a competent assassin, beautiful escorts who are getting killed as cover for the assassin's work (we learn this, and the identity of the killer, early in the book so it's not a spoiler,) and a driven P.I., an ex-homicide cop. The chase is on. This book does not disappoint and lives up to Perry's other books. Very enjoyable.

One mild complaint. It would seem that each new detective has to have some personal travail. In Jack's case, it's his Down Syndrome daughter with whom he has a charming relationship, but about whom he is totally freaked out paranoid that some monster he put in jail years before will take the trouble to hunt down and harm. I long for the days of just a good-old investigatory police procedural or detective story that focuses on the investigation without unnecessary and unrealistic baggage of dysfunctional families, personal threats to families, etc.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a free copy in return for my always independent reviews.

[dianaleez · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Those familiar with Thomas Perry's best selling 'butcher boy' series will remember Jack Till, retired LAPD homicide detective turned private investigator. He's an appealing protagonist – middle-aged, attractive, caring father of a Downs Syndrome adult daughter, and clever and sharp as only a Perry hero can be.Till, who had only a supporting role in Perry's 'Silence' steps to the fore in 'The Boyfriend,' where he finds himself on the track of a call-girl murdering psychopath.The personals ad might read 'beautiful very agreeable strawberry blonde seeks man who has needs to be met....if you've got the money I've got the time.' But perhaps unfortunately for them, these lovely blondes are also lonely young women isolated by their calling and easy prey for a handsome stranger looking for a place to stay that's 'off the books.' What better way for a professional killer to stay in a strange city while he arranges his next hit? It's a free lodging with multiple benefits. Unfortunately, of course, at the end of his stay, the only person who can describe him must be dispatched.As usual, Perry's novel is divided between hunter and prey. Chapters describe Till's hunt and the planning and execution of the killer's agenda.Perry's novels are usually a bit more gripping than 'The Boyfriend.' Here there's just a tad too much recitation of everyday events to achieve the needed fast pace. There was no point at which I couldn't have walked away from the novel if a better book had come along.Perry is an able writer and 'The Boyfriend' is far better than many other mysteries currently on the market, but it's not Perry at his best.(A free reviewer copy was provided.)