"Hero"

Thomas Perry is the author of 30 novels including the Jane Whitefield series (Vanishing Act, Dance for the Dead, Shadow Woman, The Face Changers, Blood Money, Runner, Poison Flower, A String of Beads, and The Left-Handed Twin), Death Benefits, and Pursuit, the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for best novel. He won the Edgar for The Butcher’s Boy, and Metzger’s Dog was a New York Times Notable Book. The Independent Mystery Bookseller’s Association included Vanishing Act in its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century,” and Nightlife was a New York Times bestseller. Metzger’s Dog was voted one of NPR’s 100 Killer Thrillers–Best Thrillers Ever. Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York in 1947. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1969 and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Rochester in 1974. He has worked as a park maintenance man, factory laborer, commercial fisherman, university administrator and teacher, and a writer and producer of prime time network television shows. He lives in Southern California.

Perry applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Hero, and reported the following:

I think that the Page 69 Test works well for Hero. The page, in spite of the fact that it comes at the end of a chapter, isn't one of those last pages with six lines on it. Page 69 is nearly full-length, and it's got some information, some sincere emotion, and also comes at a moment when the protagonist, Justine Poole, who is the "hero" of the title, is beginning to sense the unfamiliar current of events that is taking her in a frightening direction.

Justine and three of the other bodyguards who work the night shift for Spengler-Nash Security in Los Angeles are being interviewed by police officers at the office because Ben Spengler, their boss and mentor, has just been found murdered in his house. Spengler is a positive figure that all of them are shocked to lose. For Justine it's worse. Two nights ago, Spengler had called her when she was just finished with her first assignment of the shift, and asked her to fill in as his backup because he was seeing indications that the couple he'd been watching over were about to be the victims of a follow-home robbery. Justine arrived at the clients' home first, and had to protect the clients alone. In doing so she was drawn into a gunfight, shot two of the five robbers, and called the police in time to get the others arrested. As Justine explains to the police officers, Ben was probably killed because of her: "He said that the people who were behind the robbery would be looking for me. I think he was right and they went to his house to find me, but found him instead." This is a crucial revelation. Not only does Justine now know a killer is already on his way to get her, but he's already deprived her of her best and strongest ally and advisor. The police had already taken her legal firearm as evidence in their investigation, and things are about to get worse.

Instead of following up on what she's said about the killing, The police officers react to her important statement by asking her in roundabout ways whether she had been sleeping with the boss. When the police officers are called away to help work the scene of the murder, Justine talks to her colleagues: "She turned away and looked at the three men from the night shift. She cleared her throat so her voice would be loud and strong and wouldn't break. 'I'm so sorry,' she said. 'If I'd guessed, I would have been there instead of here.'"

Page 69 gives a fair sense of the way the novel works. It also gives us a taste of what it would be like for a young woman to work in this particular environment. As a reader can tell, Justine is going to get into greater and greater danger, and at the same time, become more and more alone in her efforts to stay alive. Her situation tests her courage, her cunning, and her self-reliance. It will also demonstrate that being hailed as a hero isn't entirely a good thing.

Visit Thomas Perry's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Silence.

The Page 99 Test: Nightlife.

The Page 69/99 Test: Fidelity.

The Page 69/99 Test: Runner.

The Page 69 Test: Strip.

The Page 69 Test: The Informant.

The Page 69 Test: The Boyfriend.

The Page 69 Test: A String of Beads.

The Page 69 Test: Forty Thieves.

The Page 69 Test: The Old Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Bomb Maker.

The Page 69 Test: The Burglar.

The Page 69 Test: A Small Town.

Writers Read: Thomas Perry (December 2019).

Q&A with Thomas Perry.

The Page 69 Test: Eddie's Boy.

The Page 69 Test: The Left-Handed Twin.

The Page 69 Test: Murder Book.

--Marshal Zeringue