A Small Town

By Thomas Perry

Perry is one of America’s premier thriller writers and the Mysterious Press’s best-selling author.

Perry’s previous novel, The Burglar—which follows a young burglar as she realizes she must solve a string of murders, or else become the next victim—was more local, set in LA. A Small Town is centered in small-town Colorado but features action-packed sequences across the country.

Perry’s 2016 novel, Forty Thieves, was a finalist for the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel and was named one of Booklist’s Top 10 Crime Novels of the Year. A String of Beads was a national bestseller.

In a New York Times Book Review “By the Book” interview, Stephen King named Perry among a list of “unheralded writers” we should be reading.

Perry co-wrote two books in a #1 New York Times bestselling series with Clive Cussler.

Poison Flower was named one of the 101 Best Crime Novels of the Past Decade by Booklist; Vanishing Act was named one of the 100 best mysteries of the twentieth century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers' Association; and Metzger’s Dog was voted one of the best 100 thrillers ever by NPR listeners.

We have a significant investment in Perry, with seven previous titles in print and a guaranteed marketing spend/travel budget for each book. We will continue to promote the backlist through BookBub and other promotions.

Perry is a Goodreads author with over 67,000 ratings and 6,000 reviews.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mysterious Press
• Release date: Dec 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9780802148070

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 A Small Town

[1randal-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was the first of the author's books that I have read. I found the book to be easily readable, however highly unrealistic. The premise of the book is that twelve inmates take over a federal prison, release the entire inmate population, rape and pillage their way through a local town, and then disappear into the night. The main character, a former police officer, is hired by the city council to go rogue and track down, and eliminate, the twelve main escapees. First. I am a retired Federal Bureau of Prisons employee. The premise and scenes described are completely unrealistic. The overpowering of the "control center" of the prison is impossible. Inmates do not have access to the entrance. Same with the prison armory, they are not located inside the prison where inmates have access. Same with the armed guards patrolling inside the prison. Doesn't happen. Along with many, many other details in the book, it makes me wonder if the author ever actually researched Federal prisons? Second. The idea that a city council would hire a vigilante police officer to hunt down and kill people. Does the author really want the reader to believe the idea of that many people being able to keep a secret? Not today!Third. The vigilante. How is the reader to believe that a single police officer is able to independently track down, across the entire country, people that the FBI/State Police agencies/etc, could not? And a couple of years after the initial escape? The FBI/BOP/etc would NEVER, EVER give up the search where so many of their own brothers-in-arms had been murdered! And the thought that these simple criminals could evade the best minds in law enforcement is laughable. Fourth. The idea that this vigilante could just walk into a place and murder people, with no repercussions or investigation by the affected jurisdiction is crazy. No, while the story would make a semi-successful B movie plot, it is totally unrealistic. I have to pass on recommending this one!

[ecw0647 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have always been a fan of Thomas Perry so I was pleased when Net Galley offered an advance copy of Perry's most recent book. I didn't think it measured up to the previous titles of his I enjoyed. There's no mystery. We know the why, how, what and where of the bad guys and the same for the heroine who would appear to have almost superwoman capabilities. Leah, the police lieutenant, "hired" (it's all supposed to be off the books) is given virtually unlimited funds (which she spends wisely, mind you) to murder (there is no other word for it) a bunch of convicts who had engineered a vast prison break and then had savaged the local community. Her motives appear to be focused on revenge for the killing of her married lover (the adultery was OK because his wife was in a wheelchair) during a shootout with the bad guys following the breakout.That she's more than competent at tracking down the scoundrels is never at issue, and her techniques flawless and filled with mounds of luck. It goes without saying she is athletic, tall, blonde and beautiful and probably eats right most of the time.It's a perfect book for a plane ride: distracting enough but not so much that drifting off once in a while would be bothersome to its rather wrinkled flow.My thanks to Net Galley.

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A well-planned prison break costs guards and prison personnel their lives as it frees hundreds of violent prisoners. The twelve masterminds of the break-out head into Weldonville, Colorado where they set about destroying the town as they steal, murder, and rape with unconcerned abandon.Two years later, the twelve have vanished, swallowed up by the places they’ve taken refuge, eluding the police and the FBI, living free.Police Detective Lieutenant Leah Hawkins has promised herself that, if the twelve evaded apprehension for two years, she would take on the task of hunting them down and killing them. Can she find the twelve fugitives by herself and avenge the horror they brought to the unsuspecting town she calls home? Or is revenge destined to claim even more Weldonville lives?While the narrative opens with a detailed account of the prison break, the story itself is not overly graphic or grisly. The constantly-building tension keeps the reader on the edge of the seat as unexpected reveals bring surprises to the telling of the tale. The unfolding story is one filled with horror, heartbreak, violence, and resonance. Is the premise a bit far-fetched? Perhaps, but this is where a reader’s willing suspension of disbelief allows for enjoying the cat-and-mouse thriller as the story plays out over the pages of this novel. Well-told, with a sense of attempting to right a horrific wrong, readers will find themselves cheering Leah on as she seeks a sense of justice for the people of the damaged little town.Recommended.

[brangwinn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book, but it was hard to see Leah as a real person. She seemed like Rambo. Rambo as a small town cop seems a little far-fetched. Everything seemed to fall in place to easily for her. It needed a more realistic plot

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

July 19 in Weldonville, Colorado, all hell breaks loose! A prison break!And it happens in the first 30 pages! Bam!12 men plan it, about 1,200 escape, and the town, and people, of Weldonville pay for it.Two years later, Leah Hawkins goes after the 12... with the full backing of Weldonville!The story of the prison break, and the flashbacks to it are the best parts of this book. The hunt, though I loved the reason behind it, not so much. Too heavy on backstories that didn’t matter much to the plot.

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

I love a good Thomas Perry. This one was good. Not his very best but very good. Interesting plot about a team of prisoners who break out of a private prison located in a small town... and the aftermath.

[alanteder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Implausible Pursuit* x TwelveReview of the Audible Audio audiobook edition (2020)This starts off as being a quite implausible 'Death Wish' type pursuit across America as a small town sheriff goes into vigilante mode to track down the escaped convicts who destroyed her community while they were also able to evade the entire police forces of the country except for her. i.e. we are in superhero territory here, rather than a plausible mystery story.It becomes even more implausible as there is a twist about halfway through where the hunter becomes the hunted and the surviving convicts come gunning for her and the remainder of the community.There are still elements of Thomas Perry's skill at describing investigative methods and writing evade and pursuit thrillers, but if you can't really buy into the premise then it is a bit of a slog to get through it all.The narration by Christina Delaine was outstanding in all voices, particularly the number of criminals that she had to evoke through changes of voice depth, accents and speech patterns. That bumped this to a 3 [Like] from what would otherwise have been a 2 [It was OK].* Pursuit (2006) was an earlier similar themed vigilante chases criminal thriller by Thomas Perry, but with one vs. one characters.