The Last Whisper in the Dark: A Novel (Terrier Rand)

“I smiled at her. It wasn’t a charming smile. It was a convict’s smile. I’d never been in prison but I lived the same life, on the same edge. It was my brother’s smile. “Christ,” she said. “What is it? Your eyes practically went black. You tightened up like you stuck your tongue in an outlet.”

Sentences like that, the descriptive and utterly correct phrasing that Tom Piccirilli uses are what fascinate me about his books. When I read “The Last Kind Words”, I was blown away by the characters and atmosphere he is able to create, to so vividly describe for his reader. An especially impressive feat when the story is about a family of criminals, thieves mostly, and when the reader is faced with no whites or blacks but an show more infinite number of shades of grey when it comes to good and evil.

This family, the Rand family, is unlike any other. In the societal sense of the word, they are bad – a family of criminals. But inside their world, the reader experiences not only the nuances of good and evil, but the incredibly delicate family dynamics that create more tension in the book than the crimes themselves.

“My father came to the door. He waved to her and gave a wholly false smile. He backed up a step so he was out of her view. He glanced at me and his lips dropped into a frown and the frown fell in on itself. He gave me a firm nod. I nodded back. Then he made his way through the house and out the back door to the garage, where he would dust and mull over his figurine collection and think about delicate creatures made during terrible times. He would think of what he owned and what he didn’t own. What he could get and what he could never have.”

As a family of thieves, wanting and having and taking are some of the most important actions…and feelings. Terrier Rand, the main character, can break into almost anywhere; can steal, should he choose to, almost anything he wants. But what – who – he wants most – he cannot have.

“I gave Kimmy a longing look and put my hands out and she hefted the kid into them. I held Scooter and pressed my forehead to hers and tried to bend the world to my will.”

In “The Last Whisper in the Dark”, Terry is by all accounts a bad guy. But he is a guy who loves fiercely, protects unreservedly, risks everything for his family and for the woman he loves. He knows he cannot save them, at least not all of them, but the core of who he is forces him to try. And through all of this, he looks to his father. The father he thinks he knows, learns he doesn’t know, and who he views as the future of himself.

“Finally he fell out of his trance. An acknowledgement of anger mixed with confusion and embarrassment. It was hard to get a full read with only the moon to see by. His personality began to fill the empty vessel of himself. I watched it happening, second by second, as my father returned from the underneath to his body.”

This book is so deftly crafted, such an interesting combination of elements that I didn’t want it to end. I may not to live in the world of the Rands, but I certainly hope to visit there again. show less

Terrier Rand and the rest of his family of thieves, all named after dog breeds, are not likeable people. They live in a world where thieving and lying are the norm, and honesty is rare. His father, Pinscher, is a former burglar who may be in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, while his grandfather Shep has succumbed to that disease. A brother named Collie has been executed by the state for multiple murders, and the teenage sister, Airedale, known as Dale, is involved in her own secret activities.
That being said, Tom Piccirilli tells their story with impeccable originality. His characterization brings everyone of these people to life, from the estranged grandfather on the mother's side who plots murder as he lies on his death bed, to show more Dale, who has become involved in making videos with a group of teens who break into houses, steal and perform other acts of vandalism and mayhem.
As Terry (Terrier) follows his family business of crime, which is less a family business and more an inherent family tendency, he struggles with the emotions that he feels for his family, when the closeness of love and hate relationships leads him to places in himself that he has not realized existed. At the same time, Terry struggles to protect the woman he loved and lost, who is now married to his friend Chub. Chub has tried to stick to his legitimate business repairing cars, but gets caught up with a gang of criminals with more violent tendencies than the Rand family who stick to the more benign occupations of cat burglar and con man.
Living in this world of dubious definitions of right and wrong, Terry Rand's most compelling need is love, and the petty crimes that are the undercurrent of his life somehow all lead him back to the love he has for his family, and his love for Kimmy and their daughter Scooter, both of whom he has lost to Chub. Whispers in the Dark is a compelling story with characters who are real, although living a life that is unreal. I look forward to the next in the series. show less

This is only the second book in this series that has drawn me into the lives of Terrier and his very unusual family. All the family members have been names after dogs, they are thieves of one type or another, yet they will go to extremes to defend and take care of each other.

Was wondering after the last book, where the author was going to go with this family, because so many of the original were gone in one way or another, but we now have new family members, on the mothers side,family they have been estranged from for over twenty years. Thieves, shall we say, of a different kind.

What draws me in is the grittiness, the no excuses, the strange kind of family honor and the characters that one should not like, but comes to care for. The show more pace of these novels is quick, the tension always in the background. Readers who love the strange family put together in Andrew Vachss novels, should find this one interesting. show less

In The Last Kind Words, we meet the Rand family -- a group of thieves and grifters, who have a reasonable sense of morality, assuming you can get over that they are criminals. In this sequel, we meet the wealthy in-laws, who appear to be legitimate business people, but who are morally bankrupt. The main plot is Terry trying to help his former friend, Chub, escape execution for his role in supplying a getaway car for a robbery gone bad. The high points of the book are Terry Rand's interactions with the stone cold assassin and the girl he picks up in a local bar.

I read an early release of The Last Kind Words, the first book in this series, and loved everything about it. I couldn't wait for the next one and was thrilled when I had the chance to read an early review copy. That's about where my excitement ended.

First, this book starts exactly where the last one left off. There is no easing into the story, no back story, and very little in the way of helpful hints. The story simply continues on, as if I'd only just turned the last page of the last book. As I said, I read and loved the first book, but that was more than a year ago and I've read a whole lot of books since then. I found myself struggling to remember all the details of the first book. I had to keep piecing the story together from show more fragments of memory. This went on for about the first third of the book, detracting immensely from my enjoyment. If I had this much trouble, I can only imagine what it would be like for someone who had not read the first book. In my opinion, this one would absolutely not work as a stand-alone read.

The other thing that bothered me is Terrier's choices didn't always make sense. He seemed to go through the book reacting to everything in a convenient way to move the story along. Despite his criminal background, I liked his character in the first book. In this second one, I didn't like him nearly as much.

And, last, I don't want to give spoilers so I'll just say I found the request he received from a distant family member, and Terrier's reaction to it, too much of a stretch.

Despite all these issues, I'm still a fan of Piccirilli's writing style. He has a way of getting inside the grittiness of his characters and the world they inhabit that pulls me in. show less

The Last Whisper in the Dark is the follow up Terry Rand novel by Tom Piccirilli.

The novel resumes after the ending of The Last Kind Words. A broad description of the main plot would probably best be described as Terry Rand trying to help out a long time friend while the friend is both refusing his help and claiming not to need any help. Still, with that description, the novel contains much more story than that.

Piccirilli brings back previously introduced villains, characters and family members and introduces others, including a very interesting free lancing hired killer.

When it comes to these crime novels, Piccirilli has done a very well job. His characters are well developed and lack aspects of the unbelievable so commonly used in show more fiction writing.

I would suggest readers that enjoy Adrian McKinty's writing would most likely enjoy these two novels. show less