Customer Reviews

Dead Aim

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thomas Perry has written a number of excellent thriller; his last one, Pursuit, was well-plotted. Unfortunately, Dead Aim features uninteresting characters, a dubious premise, and an unbelievable ending. The main character, Robert Mallon, is a successful builder forced into an early retirement after a bitter divorce results in him having to sell his business. The plot begins with Mallon saving a woman from committing suicide, only to have her later leave him and finish the job. He eventually discovers that she killed a former boyfriend; she was given training in how to do this from a group of people who run a self-defense camp and who will help their trainees kill people for a fee. Since the trainees kill their victims for a motive (this is not a camp attended by serial killers), one would expect that they would be questioned by the police at some point, and that sooner or later one would give away the scheme. However, nothing like this ever happens.

Not helping matters is that Mallon is a very bland character. A female private detective he hires is more interesting but doesn't survive long enough to carry the book. ....

Let's hope that Perry's next book is a return to form.

Thomas Perry is, by far, one of the most original storytellers I have read. This is the author who brought to life such characters as The Butcher's Boy, Jane Whitefield, Chinese Gordon and Dr. Henry Metzger and I believe there are more to come. Perry does not disappoint with the steadfast Robert Mallon, from his latest, Dead Aim. Perry is not only gifted and talented, he has an uncanny sense of timing ---he understands when his characters are in danger of becoming stale, cardboard imitation of what they once were. So what does he do? He creates anew, and we are captivated and enthralled once more.

In his new novel Perry has taken a horrifying evil premise and makes it believable.... once the action starts, the reader is swept away, all the way to the last page.

This story begins with Robert Mallon, a wealthy retired landowner, saving a young woman from attempting suicide. He takes her to his home, where upon she runs away while he is out picking up dinner. Days later he reads in the paper of her suicide and he goes down to the police station to file a report. He soon becomes obsessed and must find out why, after he thought he had saved her, given her a new beginning and perhaps a new beginning with him (or for him a new beginning with her) she would kill herself. Either way he blames himself, feeling he did not say the right words or do the rights things or she wouldn't have followed through with her suicide. Mallon hires a private detective. One he knows but has not seen in 10 years. His attorney also makes an appearance when the police start to question him and his motives. It takes Perry awhile to lay the groundwork for the action but once it starts, Mallon takes on an evil that Perry brings to life in only the way he does.

Whether you are a long time Perry collector or just someone who enjoys a great read, Dead Aim is for you. After all, this is Thomas Perry we are talking about!

Thomas Perry is one of my favorite authors. At his best, there is no one better. His storylines take you places and show you things you have never even imagined.
Unfortunately, the premise for Dead Aim doesn't stretch credibility, it tears it up into little pieces. Here is what we are expected to swallow:
A month-long "self defense" school for rich people that costs over $1000 a day, where students are screened for revenge issues and those students are discreetly told that they can "hunt" their enemies (or some stranger) for $25,000 a head. For this $25K, the customer gets individual training from several people, who also research the target, set up the spot for killing him, and also kill all witnesses (five in one case we see, four in another) who see the customer make the assassination. This goes on for several YEARS.
We are to believe that this school schedules multiple murders involving rank amateur assassins, and no forensic evidence or routine police investigation work (i.e. who had motive and opportunity) ever trips them up, and NO ONE of these amateurs ever says something to someone who says something to someone else who drops a dime. We haven't seen fiction this implausible since Clancy's Rainbow Six.
Finally, there is one *massive* coincidence near the end that is inexcusable and unnecessary. You'll read it and want to throw the book down.

Thomas Perry is a great authors-- his books are fun and suspenseful-- great 'beach' reading for the summer. Those are all true of "Dead Aim" as well. The only problem is that the plot is completely unbelievable.

The protagonist, Robert Mallon finds himself being hunted by an unknown assailant after delving into the life of a woman who he has unsucessfully tried to stop from killing herself. This sounds like a fantastic plot device, but instead of developing the character and flushing out his conflicts, Perry falls short-- the last 300 pages are reminiscent of a video game, with Mallon killing anything that gets in his way. The ending is predictable, though completely unbelievable were this in reality.

If you're a Thomas Perry fan, or if you have a very good suspension of disbelief mechanism, then you should definitely read this book-- it's a fun read.

Thomas Perry's "Dead Aim" is the suspenseful but ultimately far-fetched story of Robert Mallon. Mallon retired at thirty-eight with a hefty bank account, an ex-wife and a great deal of time on his hands. He lives a low-key life among the affluent residents of Santa Barbara, California. Now, at forty-eight, his life has settled into a predictable rhythm.

This rhythm is disrupted when, one day, Mallon pulls a suicidal young woman out of the ocean. The woman refuses to tell Mallon her name, and not long afterwards, she disappears without a trace. Mallon has the time and money to find out the identity of this woman and he decides to hire a former colleague, Lydia Marks, to help him with his investigation. Too late, Mallon discovers that he has placed himself and Marks in grave danger by meddling in this unknown woman's affairs.

Perry's fast-paced narrative and crisp dialogue make "Dead Aim" an exciting and suspenseful thriller. Unfortunately, the truth behind the strange events that Mallon uncovers is absurd. There is one particular coincidence that will make you groan. What a shame. Perry is an extremely talented writer and Mallon is one of those good-hearted and straightforward characters whom you can't help but like. The action sequences are nicely done, but Mallon's ability to take on his enemies make him seem more like James Bond than a retired construction worker. "Dead Aim" is an enjoyable escapist novel of suspense, but you will need to suspend your disbelief over and over again as you read it.

Robert Mallon, in his forties and retired in affluence for ten years, is stolling along a beach near his home in Santa Barbara, California. He sees a young woman enter the water and not return. He proceeds to save her from drowning. In the few subsequent hours, they develope a relationship. However, the next day, Mallon hears of the young woman's death. He wonders what drove her to suicide and looks into her past. He hires a friend, PI Lydia Marks, to look into this stranger's death. They soon find themselves up against a network of assasins run by a paramilitary leader named Parrish. He inexplicably begins to hunt Mallon in a game to the death.
DEAD AIM is one of the weakest novels written by Thomas Perry in years. The plot lacks any real basis in reality. Mallon is a less than inspirational hero which leads to a lack of reader empathy. Stereotypic characters abound in this predictable and silly tale.

"Dead Aim" sets up an interesting situation: A man, Mallon, saves a young woman from committing suicide, which she eventually does anyway. He then gets sucked deeper into her life and its aftermath than he ever intended. The story starts off well, but eventually becomes implausible beyond belief. But even with that, I was willing to along for the ride. My biggest problem with it was the fact that we so often leave the main character behind to focus on those who are after him. A little of this would be fine to enhance the feeling of peril for Mallon. But way too much time is spent on these people and way too little time is spent on Mallon and his attempts to extricate himself from the tangled web in which he finds himself.

Also implausible is the fact that just about everyone that Mallon comes across in the story, including people he's known for years, are tied into the bad guys. That truly stretches our willingness to buy into the story.

And then there's the ending. Instead of satisfying it simply boils down to a standard shootout.

Still, with all these issues, I kept reading to the end. Part of it was that I kept hoping it would get a little better. But part was that I was simply interested to see how Mallon would get out himself out of the mess. And though the end was less than satisfying, I would still be willing to give Thomas Perry at least one other chance.

A calm, almost affectless manner accentuates the jarring discordance of violence in Edgar Award-winner Perry's ("The Butcher's Boy") latest thriller, which begins with the protagonist's rescue of a suicidal young woman from the waves off Santa Barbara. Robert Mallon, a successful builder who struck it very rich in a development deal and then retired after his divorce, has been in a stall for ten years. The girl, who won't even tell him her name, awakens something more than his Samaritan instincts and when she succeeds in killing herself two days later, Mallon determines to find out why.

What's begun on a whim turns deadly as Mallon and his private-eye friend, Lydia, probe, uncovering different, contrasting sides of Catherine Broward, unearthing uglier, sadder secrets as they go. The reader will be well ahead of Mallon in figuring out why Catherine killed herself, but the reader has a fair amount of help, as Perry keeps pace with Mallon from the viewpoint of Parish, a rather stereotypical (but no less scary for that) mercenary hunter.

As always Perry's writing is a pleasure and from Mallon's quiet, dogged awakening emerges a man of determination and thoughtful sympathies with a growing understanding of how little we can know anyone and how easily people dupe themselves. There are, however, some unbelievable plot elements. Take, for instance, the idea that affluent white people - and all witnesses - could be efficiently dispatched without anyone making a fuss. But a less-than-stellar Perry is still head and shoulders above the pack.

I am a big Perry fan. I loved Butcher's Boy, Sleeping Dogs, the Jane Whitefield series, and Pursuit. I was not so crazy about Death Benefits. In fact, I can barely remember the plot.

This one has to be the worst. The plot was too incredible, the hero was too boring, and there was no investigation to speak of by either the police or the hero. The most unbelievable thing was how kick-ass the hero was, even though Perry gave no rationale for why this was so.

This novel seems to be two books. The first half was a bit slow. I kept thinking that this needs to pick up some pace. Not much by way of character or plot development. I toyed with putting it down.

But then I hit a part in the book where things began moving quite nicely. To be honest, I went back a few pages and re-read, fearing that I'd missed some transition - the difference was that apparent.

By the end of the book I was enjoying the characters and twists the author threw in. There were a few gaps in the action (things where you think to yourself...'I'm not really sure it would happen that way'), but all in all this was a decent book. If the first half had been better I would definitely recommend. As it stands now, I'd say read Perry's novel "Pursuit" - it's much better.