Sleeping Dogs

He came to England to rest.

He calls himself Michael Shaeffer, says he''s a retired American businessman. He goes to the races, dates a kinky aristocrat, and sleeps with dozens of weapons. Ten years ago it was different. Then, he was the Butcher''s Boy, the highly skilled mob hit man who pulled a slaughter job on some double-crossing clients and started a mob war. Ever since, there''s been a price on his head.

Now, after a decade, they''ve found him. The Butcher''s Boy escapes back to the States with more reasons to kill. Until the odds turn terrifyingly against him . . . until the Mafia, the cops, the FBI, and the damn Justice Department want his hide . . . until he''s locked into a cross-country odyssey of fear and death that could tear his world to pieces . . .

"Exciting . . . Suspenseful . . . A thriller''s job is to make you turn the pages until the story''s done and your eyes hurt and the clock says 3 a.m. . . . I wouldn''t try to grab this one away from somebody only half-way through. No telling what might happen."

-- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

From the Paperback edition.