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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling neo-noir, May 3, 2008
This review is from: The Cold Spot (Mass Market Paperback)
After years of writing in the horror and dark fantasy fields, Tom Piccirilli began to focus on supernatural-suspense crossovers with the emphasis on the suspense. With last year's THE FEVER KILL he dropped all supernatural connections and wrote a blazing crime novel heavy with his usual themes of family loyalty, loss, and suriviving with a heavily haunted past. Now for his latest mass market novel, THE COLD SPOT (and the first in a new crime series) Piccirilli gives us an authentic, funny, dark, and complex story of a young criminal's search for peace and love after being raised by his cruel criminal grandfather.
Raised as a getaway driver and grifter by his grandfather, Jonah, young Chase is at home in the underworld lifestyle of thieves, heisters, crews and "strings" where criminals band together to take down big scores. But when Jonah murders one of his own crew, Chase decides to head off on his own even though he knows that Jonah might well come after him and kill him out of anger.
With speedy chapters that are still very well drawn we pass by several years of Chase's life where he runs small scams and does some driving as a wheelman for various (often stupid) crews. Then while down south he meets Lila, a deputy sheriff, and his life changes forever. After a brief cat-and-mouse game where Lila first wants to arrest him and then falls under his roguish spell, the two fall in love and get married. Chase goes straight, they move back to New York where Lila becomes a cop and Chase an auto shop teacher, and life is relatively blissful except for two main problems: despite their best efforts and seeing plenty of doctors, Lila cannot conceive, and although Chase says out of the bent life, his knowledge of the criminal world always gives him a synical and dark-tinged point of view. When Lila is assualted while making an arrest, Chase calls in favors to get the bad guy knocked around in prison. When Lila and her fellow police officers are stumped on how one particular car thief scam is being worked, Chase can show them exactly how it's done.
Eventually, when tragedy revisits Chase's door, he's forced to return to his brutal grandfather and ask for help. The story then turns as dark and noir as you're likely to find anywhere else, as the two distrusting family members prod and push each other to get what they want.
A major lynchpin in all Tom Piccirilli novels is the idea that there's some kind of unfinished business from the past that will inflict itself upon the present. He writes this with a real honesty, insight, and humanity, all of which are often lacking in today's mysteries and crime fiction.
I said this about THE FEVER KILL but it bears repeating here for THE COLD SPOT: these books are about as good as a neo-noir novels gets. A fast-paced, cynical but satirical, complex, thoughtful, and often extremely funny story that combines with a lean, powerful prose. Piccirilli gives us not only plenty of action but also takes the time to examine the dark side of family, sorrow, loyalty, revenge, and the potential for redemption. Highly recommended.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Neo-Noir I Could Not Put Down, May 31, 2008
This review is from: The Cold Spot (Mass Market Paperback)
I have become a Tom Piccirilli advocate after reading "Fever Kill" and now, "The Cold Spot". His prose is sparse, authentic, and magnetic. His plot's are real, thought provoking, and understandable in the grand scheme of things. He usurps the hardboiled the neo-noir style and makes it his own.
Chase was brought up by his grandfather Jonah after his mother was brutally murdered while eight months pregnant. He is raised in a life of crime by Jonah who is a master thief so hardened that everyone he comes in contact with fears him including Chase. Chase eventually becomes a driver for Jonah's "strings" as they pull off capers and scores across the country.
After Jonah inexplicablly murders one of his own henchmen, Chase breaks loose and goes solo--while fearing Jonah's revenge for his act of betrayal. He esablishes himself as a wunderkind as a getaway driver and high tech mechanic. During an aborted score, he meets Lila, a deputy sheriff, and after a comical courtship, they decide to marry--something he has to fight her sheriff of a father to insure.
After some years of a succssful life together in New York, tragedy strikes Chase's life once again. He initially seeks vengeance alone but badly muddles his attempt. Consequently, he turns to his old nemesis, Jonah, to help him take down the deadly crew he seeks. Jonah is now paired with a young hard case, Angie, but after some posturing, they unite in s scheme of revenge.
The inner doubts and internal conflicts between Chase and Jonah form the lifeblood of the narrative. How deep does blood flow and how dangerous to Chase is Jonah? Can anyone be truly trusted, blood kin or not? The efforts to find the deadly crew and exact Chase's revenge is riveting. As hard as Chase is, he is still more human than his grandfather which precipitates some deep conflicts and mistakes in the hunt for Chase's inner peace.
This is a highly recommended read. It is quick, well paced, and believable with well fleshed characterizations that will make you care. Be forewarned it is violent and brutal at times but all within context. It is the first of an apparent series and I eagerly await the sequel.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Tough Guy Crime Novel, June 14, 2008
This review is from: The Cold Spot (Mass Market Paperback)
Tom Piccirilli's THE COLD SPOT starts with a cold-blooded killing and ends with a hot-blooded one playing out with powerful V-8 engines throbbing in the background. That's a suitable finale because the hero, Chase, is out for revenge and was raised by his career criminal grandfather as a getaway driver.
For the first few years of his writing career, Piccirilli penned horror and supernatural books, and an occasional Western. Then he crept over into the suspense field with supernatural suspense novel like THE MIDNIGHT ROAD before taking a headfirst plunge with THE FEVER KILL. Both books performed well and allowed him to set up THE COLD SPOT. Though horror fans will be loath to see Piccirilli go, or even divide his attentions, suspense fans are welcoming him with open arms.
I grew up on tough-guy novels like Richard Stark's Parker, Dan J. Marlowe's Drake, and some of the other Gold Medal books anti-heroes but I hadn't suspected Piccirilli had until I read this novel. THE COLD SPOT was an unexpected surprise though one of my current noir writers (Duane Swierczynski, THE WHEELMAN, THE BLONDE, and SERVERANCE PACKAGE) heartily recommended the book.
The book starts out with Chase at sixteen years old. He's already an accomplished getaway driver and mechanic. He routinely builds each car the gang uses at each job, lovingly restoring a 1960s or 1970s muscle car, then destroying it shortly thereafter. The message is really cool: Chase can only love for a short length of time; he can't hang onto anything.
The only constant in Chase's life is his grandfather, Jonah, and Chase is never sure that the old man won't see him as a danger and kill him one day. Jonah is in no way a paternal figure, and I entered into a wary relationship with him myself. Jonah reminds me most of those old noir heroes I grew up with, older and colder. He's what those guys would have turned out to be once they hit their sixties. And I have to admit that I was mesmerized every time Jonah was on the page because I was never sure what he would do.
After the killing at the first of the book, Chase separates from the gang. He realizes that his grandfather is a lot harder than he'll ever be able to be. I followed Chase's adventures trying to get in with another "string" at different times, until he meets the female police officer that's going to become the love of his life. I was hooked from the moment Lila was on stage, getting the drop on Chase after a botched robbery, and cheered again when Chase upstages her and gets the drop on her.
The fact that they ended up together was no surprise, but the manner in which they did was a lot of fun and very touching. Piccirilli builds this relationship tenderly and then he punches you in the gut so skillfully that you're hurting before you know it.
When Chase can no longer live with what's been done, he goes looking for Jonah. Chase feels compelled to find the men responsible and kill them. I was right there with him.
However, finding Jonah is problematic too. The old man carries a lot of dangerous baggage with him: a young woman who seems just as deadly as the old man and actually wants to be free of him. Piccirilli's hangs her attempts to seduce Chase so expertly that I just knew he was going to do it because he was hurting so much. But Chase has his own code of honor, which is one of the things I enjoy most about him.
There's simply no way to put this book down in its final moments. Piccirilli and Chase just steamrolled over me as every twist and turn crashed down around me. There are no winners at the end of this novel - only survivors. Thankfully Chase is one of them because another novel is supposed to come out next year. I'm definitely going to pick it up.
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