Tom Piccirilli (1965–2015)

Having never read anything by Tom Piccirilli, I had only the dust jacket to go off as I started this book. I thought it would be a thriller, with some family drama…but a basic sort of mystery. Not. Even. Close.

It’s hard for me to explain why I was so drawn into this book. There is a mystery – an element of “whodunit” – but it was so much more than that. There’s the layer of the ULTIMATE dysfunctional family, as seen through the eyes of a lost soul. Terry Rand comes from a show more family of thieves, was a thief, has tried to escape that label…and yet is drawn back into the family fold when his brother faces execution. It sounds like it would read as tarted up drama, but it is absolutely not. These voices, these characters, ring true.

“We were a family of thieves who knew one another very well and respected one another’s secrets. It was dysfunction at its worst.”

Terry, who provides the reader’s view into this world, is fascinating. He is the ultimate shade of grey as he leaves the honest(ish) life he’s built out West and rejoins his family. He finds himself unable to refuse his brother’s wishes, unable to stay out of his younger sister’s life, unable to keep from helping when he can – even if he uses less than honest means to do so. He seems fearless when he acts – but is also grappling with his past – where one of the biggest decisions of his life was made entirely from fear. He’d abandoned the love of his life, Kimmy, and being in the same town again with her wracks him with emotion. The choice he made then haunts him – yet not enough to deal with the consequences now.

“Whenever some image hit me, I pressed it away. There seemed to be no good memories. Everything brought pain. A man should be composed of more than his heartaches, his failures, his missed opportunities and regrets.”

The dramatic tension in this book grabs the reader from the very beginning and never lets go. I found myself wondering what would happen to every character I was introduced to, even if it was only a minor one. Piccirilli’s writing style masterfully adds depth to the plot, with no discernable traces of having tried to do so.

I suppose what I found most interesting is that the moral dilemmas that Terry wrestled with the most weren’t the ones that seem most obvious when reading about criminals. Breaking in, stealing, violence against others…didn’t cause as much internal debate as those sins that didn’t make the Ten Commandments. Love, loyalty, dedication…those were the issues that were tearing him apart.

Having never read another of his books, I fully intend to see if this was a one time stroke of brilliance or if I should add Tom Piccirilli’s name to my “to be read” list. show less

First in series, but unfortunately there are only two books in this series due to the untimely demise of the author. This is a hard-hitting noir novel, with unrelenting violence mixed with enough human kindness to make it palatable. I love Terrier Rand, and his family, even though the family was known to be accomplished cat burglars. As an interesting anecdote, all the boys in the family for four generations were named after dog breeds. We meet Shep(herd), the grandfather who is suffering show more from Alzheimers, and his three sons, Malamute, Grey(hound), (Doberman) Pinscher as well as Pinscher's two sons, Collie and Terrier. That was enough to hook me, and then I met the family, Such a conglomeration of scoundrels like you've never seen before Terri has been gone for five years pursuing his dream of escape from the family legacy while working as a cowboy on a western ranch. Collie, his older brother, has asked him to come back. Collie admits to killing seven people in one night on a nonsensical killing spree, but he says to Terri that he did not kill the young teenager. Fighting demons of his own, Terrier tries to get to the root of the problem and finds himself caught in a crime web that he can't fight through. It all hits close to home, and the family legacy is at the root, so Terri must try to unravel the strands with much danger to himself. I couldn't put it down, and the unique storyline held me enthralled throughout. Loved the book and it was like nothing I'd ever read before I want to read the second and last book about Terri Rand ASAP. Perfect crime fiction at it's noir best-you don't know who to root for and who to hate and as you read it doesn't matter. show less

Review of “The Last Kind Words”
Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this book with the expectation that I would provide an honest review.
“The Last Kind Words” is an engrossing story of a family of thieves dealing with life in the two weeks before the execution of their oldest son for murder. All the members of the family are named after dog breeds—as they have been for generations in the family.
The plot itself moves rather slowly, but the characters are vivid and real. In show more a rare meeting with his convicted murderer brother Collie, Terrier (who goes by Terry) is convinced to investigate one of the murders Collie is sentenced to die for. Collie claims he didn’t kill one of the people he was convicted of murdering.
Over the next couple of weeks, Terry investigates the murder and along the way, we get to meet various people in his life and from his past. The characters are vividly described and are unique enough to really seem real—unlike the simple caricatures that often passes for character development these days.
The author and Terry succeed in asking a number of profound questions in a way that never feels heavy-handed, yet are compelling for us to ask ourselves: how many of our choices are driven by our family and our upbringing, where is the line of depravity in each of us, why do we decide to do things which we know are wrong and harmful to ourselves?
This is one of those books where you find yourself desperate to find out how the story ends, yet simultaneously wishing the story could go on since you’re so engrossed in the lives of the characters.

I look forward to reading other Tom Piccirilli books. show less

One of the things that I love about Piccirilli's books is the mood that he creates. The atmosphere and pacing comes across so quickly; you are practically breathing it in. All thanks to Piccirilli's poetic words. It's pulp noir poetry.

In this book, he channels that poetry through an ex-con who heads home to the Appalachian mountains. Shad Jenkins is finishing his two-year sentence in prison when he's visited by the ghost of his sister. After the confirming phone call from his father, Shad show more heads home with the very-clear intention of finding the killer and bringing him to justice. During his stumbling investigation, Shad discovers a new Moon Run Hollow. Not really a new town but one filtered through different eyes and a new perspective.

In my mind, that was the other half of NOVEMBER MOURNS. There is the primary story of Shad coming back to find a killer and avenge his sister. And then there is the "coming home as an adult" portion. After being gone for two years, Shad is seeing Moon Run Hollow differently. His visit stirs up the past, awakening old feelings, discovering things that weren't important previously. All while also realizing that his old life isn't right for him anymore. Unsure of what his new life would be, Shad must still get through the parts of his old life that are haunting him. He must get past the ghost of his sister. For us readers, it's that exploration of the story, the geography of the town and the past, that makes the book so enjoyable. The book was off-center at times but in a good way. Kind of Twilight Zone including a twist ending. I could attempt to summarize it as a loving, violent, tender, painful, haunting book; it wouldn't do the book justice though. Just go read it already and see what I am inadequately explaining. show less