The hunters and the hunted


Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer

THE LEFT-HANDED TWIN. By Thomas Perry. Mysterious Press. 321 pages. $25.95

She survives. Again. No spoiler alert needed here; Jane Whitefield has withstood every danger Thomas Perry has thrown at her in this successful series. She’s a “loser,” someone who helps people in peril of death disappear.

She has lost only one client in all her years, and that man is her messenger from the spirit world she has access to thanks to her Indian heritage.

And she needs as much help as she can get in her latest task. A young blonde shows up at Jane’s door, hunted by her former boyfriend. He made her watch him kill a man she had an affair with. She testified against him, the jury acquitted him, and now he’s hunting her down.

Jane doesn’t have any trouble avoiding him; Perry’s books are an instructional lesson in how to disappear in American society. However, a Russian gangster pitches in to help the boyfriend, and before long Jane is in trouble. The hood figures out who she is, and decides since she knows where so many people are hidden, she’s worth a lot of money — Jane becomes the target.

That’s when the fun begins. Jane heads for Maine’s Hundred Mile Wilderness to lose the hood’s men. He sends a tough crew of trained hunters after her, only to have her turn the hunters into the hunted. Perry is at his best in sections like this, helping Jane take out a superior force with superior wiliness.

Unfortunately, the gangster’s resources lead him to Jane, precipitating a page-turning finale. Jane’s survival may be a foregone conclusion, but the book’s finale is a complete surprise. Perry never fails to intrigue and entertain as well.


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