Don't you hate it when a new book in a favorite series disappoints you? That's how I felt with the latest Jane Whitefield. While I love Jane's kick-butt style, this one seemed to be a re-hash of earlier stories, from the exposition about fake documents and the visit to her master forger to the realization that the bad guys were after Jane rather than the runner. It wasn't a bad book, it just felt like deja vu all over again.

Thanks to Mysterious Press for access to a digital ARC. ( )

Enjoyed. Includes so many details from Jane’s mundane life to her attention to detail amid threats and chaos. ( )

A young woman comes to Jane Whitfield for help. She cheated on her boyfriend and watched as her boyfriend killed the man the Sara cheated with. Sara tells the police and testifies against Albert her boyfriend, however Albert is released and not charged with the murder. Sara's convinced Albert is now out to kill her. Jane agrees to make Sara disappear. Can Jane get another person out of harms way? This book is an excellent addition to the Jane Whitfield series and is a fast pace page turner. ( )

3.5 The Jane Whitefield series was the one that started me reading Thomas Perry. It has been though, seven years since his last book in this series. Jane, part Seneca, has through the years helped people, vulnerable people, men and women alike, disappear. People such as abused wives, people who testified against someone who now is out to seek revenge and others. In this outing the latter reason applies though Jane's situation is markedly different. Now married she helps very few, her marriage and love for her husband, has her less willing to risk her safety. Though she has been remarkably successful through the years it has not always gone smoothly, and her life has been in question more than once.

Then a friend asks for a favor. Help a young woman who had testified against her boyfriend whom has been found not guilty in a murder and now wants revenge. So once again Jane is off. Soon it becomes apparent that this is not a simple case and her very life may be at risk. I enjoyed her antics on the Appalachian trail where she highlights her very able skill set. That Jane falls into the category of kick-ass heroines is without question and had this ended after that, my rating would have been higher. Sometimes less is more and what comes after is overkill, straining my credibility.

Still, this is an interesting series and one I will continue to read. Fascinating characters and the many reasons people need to disappear are intriguing as is reading about a woman who has such amazing skill sets. ( )

Jane vs. the братва́*
Review of the Highbridge Audio audiobook edition (January 11, 2022) of the original Mysterious Press hardcover (November 16, 2021)

While the religious system of the Iroquois taught the existence of the Great Spirit Ha-wen-ne-yu, it also recognized the personal existence of an Evil Spirit, Ha-ne-go-ate-geh, the Evil-minded. According to the legend of their finite origin, they were brothers, born at the same birth, and destined to an endless existence. - Lewis H. Morgan, "League of the Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee or Iroquois" (1851) (used as the epigraph for The Left-Handed Twin)

The Left-Handed Twin marks the return of Thomas Perry's most unique protagonist, Jane Whitefield, after an absence of 7+ years since A String of Beads (2014). After that length of time, fans would have imagined the character to have been retired, a plot point that actually suited her fictional arc of domesticity with her husband Dr. Carey McKinnon.

Whitefield is a citizen vigilante, but not the sort that seeks vengeance or justice on behalf of innocents. Instead she is in the underground world of assisting those victims or potential victims to hide from their pursuers. This enters the world of false identities and false documentation and often fatal self-defense, which makes Whitefield just as much of a criminal as actual villains in the eyes of the authorities.

"I’ve been taking people away from the messes they’ve made of their lives for a long time. Everybody who has come to me had somebody who wanted to kill him. Most of those killers are still out there looking. What most are looking for right now is the person who took their victim away. So the most dangerous thing you’ve done so far is to come near me. Before anything else happens, take time to think about that. I’m going to put some money on the table. If you decide to leave before I come back tomorrow, keep it. If you’re still here we’ll start making plans." - excerpt from The Left-Handed Twin (Jane Whitefield #9) (2021)

The Left-Handed Twin doesn't miss a beat and there is no sense of the character having aged 7+ years in the interim. She is again called upon to assist a potential victim by someone from her network of past clients. The time-gap in the publishing world does require author Perry to give a greater degree of back story to Jane's previous cases, which would be spoilers if you haven't read them already. The case from Vanishing Act (Jane Whitefield #1) (1995) is described the most.

The new foes are the most dangerous yet, as the pursuer enlists the aid of Russian organized crime in America to hunt down a person who testified against them in court. The Bratva see this as an opportunity for financial gain if they can sell Whitefield's knowledge of all her past clients who are under her own personal "witness protection." The final showdown is the most harrowing of Whitefield's ordeals that I've ever read.

Trivia and Links
* Bratva (Russian for Brotherhood, a nickname for international Russian organized crime)

Favourite Jane Whitefield dialogue:

She shrugged. "I'm not saying you're in the best possible position, but there are worse."
"What's worse than being chased by professional killers?"
She thought for a moment. "I guess the worst is if you've committed some really awful crime and people know about it."
"What would you do for a person like that?"
"Nothing," she said. - excerpt from Shadow Woman (Jane Whitefield #3)

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