Pursuit: A Novel
Thomas Perry'sPursuitis a dark tale of two killers, one a cold- blooded hit man and the other, the hero, something much murkier. When 13 people  are mowed down in a restaurant, a police consultant realizes that it's the work  of a professional who's tried to make a contract hit look like a random mass  killing. Enter Roy Prescott, an expert in hunting down criminals using methods  generally frowned on by law enforcement. Prescott uses the national media and  the unknown killer's ego to draw his attention, then plays a game of cat-and- mouse with him in which the stakes quickly grow higher. Perry, best-known for  his fineJane Whitefieldseries, has a precise feel for characters who work for vengeance and justice  outside the law, and Prescott easily gains the reader's sympathy while  maintaining his bad-guy, good-guy mystique.Pursuitmay draw some comparisons with Lawrence Block's wryHit ManandHit List, but while Block is  always excellent, it's Perry's work that'll have you waking up in a cold sweat.--Barrie Trinkle