A very good book. Smart and insightful writing.

In Vanishing Act (1994), our hero is Jane Whitefield, a Native American (Seneca) who specializes in helping people disappear.

The book Shaman or Sherlock? says “Perry makes both Whitefields credible—the native woman with a secure role in the tribal hierarchy and a deep-seated commitment to tribal values, and the highly competent modern professional, who skirts the edge of the law to do good in her community.”

The story is excellent.

As a hiker, I appreciated it when the chase got into the woods. On foot. By canoe.

Jane relies on both modern skills and her Native American heritage to guide her clients from their old lives into new, presumably safer, lives.

Jane’s clients are generally in danger, whether from abusive partners, criminals, or the law. Her services include both the practical – documents, transportation, money, and protection – and the philosophical – how to adjust to a new and strange life and how to become a new person.

She teaches her clients to think “like a rabbit, not a dog”. As she explains to a client, “This is like dogs chasing a rabbit. When the rabbit wins, he doesn’t get to kill the dogs and eat them. He just gets to keep being a rabbit.”

Thomas Perry received a 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel for The Butcher’s Boy.