Customer Reviews

Fidelity

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Thomas Perry's "Fidelity" deals with loyalty, not only between husbands and wives but also between business associates. This theme extends even to the relationship between a hit man and his wealthy client. When an unknown assailant guns down Phil Kramer, a California-based PI and the owner of Kramer Investigations, his widow, Emily, learns that her husband of twenty-two years had been hiding some important information from her. He had been raiding the firm's as well as his family's bank accounts. In addition, he would often leave the office for hours at a time without telling anyone where he was going or what he was doing. Had he been cheating on his wife? Could he have been working on a case so sensitive that he did not want to share the details with his employees? Even though the agency is practically bankrupt, a depressed and anxious Emily asks the staff to stay on and help her search the files for some clue as to who might have killed Phil. What Emily does not realize is that meddling in her late husband's affairs will make her a target for someone who prefers his secrets to remain hidden.

Perry is one of the best in the business when it comes to crafting clear and unadorned prose. No words are wasted and the action never flags. He portrays each character's essential nature with deft strokes and his dialogue is smooth and realistic. For the most part, the author avoids clichés and tired formulas. His hit man, Jerry Hobart, isn't your typical killer for hire. He is self-serving and can be cruel, but he has a softer side and is not completely lacking in scruples. Even Phil, who dies on page two, is fleshed out as the novel progresses. Although he was flawed in many ways, Phil had a conscience, and he may have sacrificed his life trying to correct a terrible injustice. Emily is an intelligent, courageous, and sensitive woman who opens up what turns out to be a Pandora's Box; satisfying her curiosity will prove to be extremely costly. Perry's sole misstep is in his over-the-top depiction of the novel's arch villain. The bad guy is a bit too fiendish to be believed and his reckless behavior does not ring completely true. Still, "Fidelity" is a witty, complex, and suspenseful page-turner that will satisfy fans of this prolific and talented author.

It is highly unlikely that an artist like Thomas Perry could write a "bad" novel. But sometimes, even in the best of hands, a novel doesn't turn out the way its creator envisions and I think that is what happened here. "Fidelity", while good, is not up to Perry's usual standard. It is still eminently readable, but lacks the tension that has made so much of Perry's work, like "The Butcher's Boy", so memorable.

Phil Kramer, an old-fashioned private detective who handles undistinguished cases, is shot dead in his car in the middle of the night on a quiet street in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

His widow, Emily is startled to learn that she is virtually penniless because Phil has been consistently withdrawing money from their accounts. The Kramer detective agency has only four people left on the payroll, three detectives and the young, attractive receptionist/secretary.

Poor Emily. Her husband shot dead by person or persons unknown for reasons unkown. Just five years before her teenage son died. But Emily is made of stern stuff: she implores the remaining few people at the agency to stay on and help find Phil Kramer's murderer(s).

Jerry Hobart, the author quickly reveals, is one of the murderers and he is a piece of work. Relentless, merciless, Hobart kills for money nearly all the time and personal reasons some of the time. He is not cheap. But he is surprisingly sentimental, which plays a big part in this story. Shortly after dispatching Phil Kramer, Hobart is given another assignment by his employer: murder Emily Kramer.

Perry weaves a complex tale of love and betrayal, of undiscovered strength and craven weaknesses. Secrets are discovered, other secrets are searched for. The story is so tightly plotted that it would be unfair to give away any of the details, because Perry has a number of suprises tucked away, waiting for the reader.

It is difficult - and it would be unfair - to classify this story in any of the traditional pigeonholes. It is a story of character and characters: Phil and Emily Kramer, the people at the detective agency, Jerry Hobart, the man who employs him to murder and a few other fortunates and unfortunates who stray into the path of these characters.

Perry's storytelling skills are, as usual, excellent. But, alas, these skills cannot overcome a major problem: the inexplicable nature of Jerry Hobart. Hobart is not unlike many other Perry characters: he lives in a world of his own. He isn't crazy: he simply lives by rules entirely his own. It's worked in other Perry novels, but the device falls a bit short here.

It doesn't render the "Fidelity" unreadable or unenjoyable. Far from it. The first-time Perry reader will probably find "Fidelity" excellent. But for those of us who have read Perry's other novels, there is definitely something a bit off in this one. Still enjoyable, but not as taut as his other work.

Jerry

I've read everything Tom Perry has written since the inaugural Butcher's Boy and I keep reading him because of his clever writing style and his careful grasp of the procedural, whether the procedure is hiding people or finding people or just killing them expertly. But the final mystery of Fidelity, once revealed, is so preposterous that I almost stopped reading. We are expected to believe that skilled private eye Kramer was hired by a rich psycho to find and return his runaway "daughter" and that Kramer never bothered to confirm that his client actually had a daughter, never consulted other law enforcement for leads, and when he found the "daughter," failed to discover that she was actually an underage girl his client had been bonking. Perry gives the impression of having lost his way in the plot and going to desperate measures to tie up loose ends.

I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the unabridged audio version. I was so glad there were no police or FBI involved. Practically every suspense novel involves them. This story was original and held my interest. I recommend it.

Great read from Perry. This novel grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn't let go. I don't want to give anything away but there was one surprising twist after another. Highly recommended.

Thomas Perry has a plot device that has worked well in almost every book: he has the characters travel. He has described more highways, byways and out-of-the-way places than any other writer I've read. With his famous character Jane Whitefield, the travel is completely integrated with the plot. But with his stand-alone novels, like Fidelity, it is becoming a shopworn element and could do with a bit of editing.

Fidelity explores a different kind of travel: into the past, and into the minds of others. The physical driving around should have been dispensed with; it distracts from the inner explorations that the characters do. Emily, the woman whose husband is murdered, must find out what her husband was doing for the past year. She must come to terms with his sexual infidelity, and the fact that he has left her penniless. Hobart, the hit man, must find out what his employer is hiding, and how he can benefit from it. He must also come to terms with his own past, and envision a future.

The characters are very interesting, yet oddly cold. Perry takes pains to describe an introspection, even under great stress, that most people don't have. Since the majority of his characters are manipulative, emotions take a backseat. Even the good guys are thinking coolly under life-and-death situations, putting aside their emotions with an ease that is unsettling.

If you haven't read anything by Thomas Perry, I urge you to begin with the Jane Whitefield novels. Fidelity is not the best of his writing, but he is definitely worth reading in general. There is going to be another Jane novel coming out this winter, and I am more than eager to see it!

Seasoned private detective Phil Kramer is gunned down on late at night on a deserted residential street in Southern California. Distraught wife Emily is left with empty bank accounts and, in trying to unravel the mystery of her husbands death, more questions than California has artichokes. But from this straightforward and attention grabbing opener, the talented Thomas Perry spins a convoluted and uneven drama far below the standard of which he is capable.

The title refers to a series of relationships - between Phil and Emily Kramer, a hit man/ex-con and his long time girlfriend, and the marriage and affairs of a wealthy and powerful land Central Valley middle-aged baron. No argument that Perry can tell a story, and he does a yeoman's job here. The author knows his assassins, as proven by cult classics like "The Butcher's Boy" and more recently the refreshing bizarre Turners of "Silence". So it is not surprising that of the characters, paid killer Hobart is the most interesting - maybe even the most likable - but that's faint praise against a weak field. Protagonist Emily never manages to stir much passion or empathy, and is also a contender as gold medalist for the most unobservant, chronically deluded spouse ever to survive twenty years of monogamous marriage. Which leads to the real problem here - the story - make that multiple story threads - are so far removed from credibility that Perry could have solved the mystery by dropping in a fleet of aliens from outer space and finger them for Kramer's murder with as much believably as the absurd premise that ultimately unwinds this hodgepodge.

Perry's style puts him in a tough position. Frankly, he writing is much better than the average pop thrillers that routinely make it to best seller lists - the stuff of cardboard super sleuths and brainy babes that move easily from the sack to automatic weapons, dispensing the bad guys with ease while sipping martinis. But he lacks the grit and hard edge, the lean and mean efficiency of hardboiled prose from masters like Chandler or Thompson - or the more recent noir talents of Swierczynski, Bruen, Stella, Huston, or McKinty - that would nicely complement his characters and themes. But at the end of the day, it would take more than literary fine tuning to resuscitate this one. If you're a Perry fan, this is a good one to pass, and if you've not had the pleasure of some of his early works, go back to the beginning and start there.

years ago thomas perry was an excellent if unnoticed writer of thrilling fiction...unfortunately, he found a gimick involving an indian female who helped people get lost...i bought this book from amazon in the hope that he had gone back to his early style of work...i was wrong and wasted my money on a silly, poorly conceived and insultingly "plotted" bit of pulp

I honestly don't know why I bothered finishing this book. It started to collapse in the very first chapter. Perry seemed caught in a kind of self-destructive frenzy--completely destroying his plot, assassinating the credibility of his characters, and generally giving prose a bad name. According to one reviewer, Perry is a master of the "runaway narrative." I'd say that just about sums it up. Run away from this one as fast as your feet can take you.

This was a really bad book. I would not recommend it to anyone unless someone gives it to you for free.
I skipped over huge portions of it because it was so boring. The characters were underdeveloped, shallow, and there was certainly no suspence.
Worst of all, the reader is suppose to feel sorry for the killer and be happy that he could live happily ever after with just a little remorse for a robbery, but nothing for the murders he cold-bloodly committed. How absurd!