Title:	Eddie’s Boy
	Author:	Thomas Perry
	Published:	December 1, 2020, Mysterious Press
	No. of Pages:	274
	Cover Price:	$26.00 Hardcover, $12.99 Kindle

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Eddie’s Boy is the fourth installment of the Butcher’s Boy series by Thomas Perry. It is essentially a laundry list of the killing exploits of Michael Schaeffer, who is a retired contract assassin and hasn’t killed in years, or had attempts on his life in years. Schaefer is living in the UK with his wealthy wife and someone tries to kill him. This sets off a series of killings as he kills off everyone – different mafia families – who tries to kill him. Miraculously, he always gets his men, and miraculously, he never gets killed himself.

Although Schaeffer is a well-developed character, the novel has essentially no plot. The only thing that happens in the book is mafia men come after him and follow him around the globe, and he kills them. That’s about it. There is nothing particularly thrilling or suspenseful in the story; there is nothing particularly interesting in the story. Actually, there is nothing particularly appealing in the entire novel. The book sums up the history of Schaeffer as he evolved from a child who was raised by a contract assassin to a retired assassin. There are some interesting parts; readers may be curious as to how a serial killer is made, but as intriguing as those items are, it doesn’t make for a plot or actual thriller novel.

All told, unless readers like to read about killing ad nauseam, this is probably one of those novels that should be skipped. Perry has written dozens of better novels that will let readers feel that they have actually read a good book.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.