The Last Kind Words

Part of a family of small-time thieves and grifters, Terrier (Terry) Rand flees west after his older brother, Collie, goes on a killing spree, abandoning the love of his life Kimmy, who has just miscarried. Days before his brother's scheduled execution, Collie asks Terry to return home to help stop a serial killer, who actually murdered one of his victims. Collie's claim is partially substantiated by the kisses on all but one of the victims. Terry comes back to town and starts investigating, worried sick that the family's craziness is hereditary and that he too will succumb to the "underneath." Taught thriller. Terry's grandfather, Old Shep, who has Alzheimer’s but is still a first-rate pickpocket, is a hoot. ( )

The audiobook is narrated by Mike Chamberlain. ( )

Tom Piccirilli's The Last Kind Words is a crime novel that introduces the reader to the Rand family. The Rand family is a well established family known for generations for its skills of thievery and cons. Oddly, each male is also named after a dog.

The main character in the novel, Terrier Rand, absent and out of touch away from the family for over five years, has been requested to come home at the request of his spree-killer brother, currently on death row.

The Rand family consists of a group of interesting characters, from that of a traditional, care giving matriarch, to a rebelling younger sister and a pair of trouble making uncles, all of which add layers to the story.

Throughout the novel, Pickirilli sprinkles in a wide variety of characters to move the story along.

This is the first Tom Piccirilli novel I have read and the first involving the Rand family, with The Last Whisper in the Dark being a follow up involving Terry Rand.

The Last Kind Words is a solid novel with interesting characters, an interesting plot and side plots. Characters in the novel also did not feel like their roles were created just to the move the story along, but to engage the reader in a way to build concern for the fictional character.

Highly recommended.
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Yeah, I know it's a cliché, but this book did not turn out to be what I expected. Nor was it half as good as I was hoping it might be. There is no mystery driving you from chapter to chapter. There is no suspense except, perhaps, how many more pages are left, and will anything actually happen? There certainly isn't anything thrilling, other than reaching the last chapter, and knowing that you can start another book.

Yup, it starts out great, the estranged brother is summoned to Death Row, where his older brother awaits execution for a horrific series of seeming senseless murders which he readily admits to committing. All except for one. Is there another killer on the loose? A killer that no one is even looking for? Sounds interesting, yes? Well, it's all downhill from there. Make a sandwich and turn on the TV, cause there's nothing happening here!

Sorry to be so negative, but I'm getting tired of book jackets that promise you mystery and suspense, but give you some deep, psychological mumbo jumbo that only the author understands.
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Oddly compelling characters. Good story. ( )