Totally Addicted to Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield Series

I am totally addicted to Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield series of books, having just finished Dance for the Dead (Book 2) and Shadow Woman (Book 3) over the weekend.

Jane Whitefield is a “guide” who helps people who are in trouble and danger ‘disappear’. She often ends up playing a game of ‘cat and mouse’ with the dangerous people who are after the person she is protecting.

Here are some things I love about this series, and why you should definitely check it out:

• the writing is short, sharp and drives the narrative brilliantly
  
• the characters are all well developed and behave like ‘real’ people in all their moral complexity
• Jane’s Native American background adds a fascinating element and depth to these stories, enabling Perry to delve into mythology and history
• the various twist and turns where the roles of hunter and hunted are always changing
  
• the banter between Jane and her love interest, the fabulously named, Dr Carey McKinnon, is clever, sexy and witty
• the exploration of the human psychology of taking on new identity.

Here's the full series, as you can see I'm making my way to the latest release this year:

• Vanishing Act (1995)
• Dance for the Dead (1996)
• Shadow Woman (1997)
• The Face-Changers (1998)
• Blood Money (1999)
• Runner (2009)

As you can see there is a 10 year gap between the last two novels! Here's what Perry wrote in this website about the returning to writing about Jane:

"I've missed Jane, and I've found that going back to write about her after a few years of writing stand-alone books about other characters was a pleasure. I believe it was Ezra Pound who said that great literature is "always news." I think that any book we expect readers to enjoy had better be news too. Runner catches us up with what Jane's been up to and how she's changed, and gives us an inkling of how she's going to be in the future."

Here's Perry talking about the Runner:




I can't wait to get to The Runner!