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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A search for identity in a hardboiled landscape, January 12, 2008
This review is from: The Fever Kill (Perfect Paperback)
Tom Piccirilli's writing is authentic, sharply humorous, and always deals with complex issues of family, a tragic past, and the delicate understanding of identity. For years he's worked to no small acclaim in the horror and suspense fields, but now with The Fever Kill he turns his talents to the neo-noir crime genre and gets first-rate results.
A New York undercover narcotics officer who is bound by red-tape and unable to fulfill his duty of taking down knife-wielding drug lord Tucco, Crease finds himself being drawn further into a world he hates. He's impregnated his mistress--Tucco's wife--has lost contact with his own family, and discovers that he too greatly enjoys living on the edge of blood and violence. In an effort to extricate himself, and to face some unresolved trauma from his past, Crease offers to have a showdown with Tucco as soon as he takes care of some unfinished business he has in Vermont.
In his rural hometown of Hangtree, Crease must deal with his powerful memories of childhood, when he watched his father's fall from grace. As the one-time sheriff, Crease's father may or may not have been involved with the kidnapping, ransom, and intentional murder of a young girl. Driven to becoming the town drunk, Crease's father was often beaten and abused by former comrades in the police department. After the man's death, Crease himself was forced out of town by one particularly brutal deputy.
Now no longer a frightened boy, Crease faces down his enemies, former neighbors, and even an ex-girflriend turned town tramp and small-time grifter as he seeks the truth about his father and himself. But not only does he have to deal with his past, but his present as well, since Tucco and several henchmen have followed him to Hangtree.
The Fever Kill is about as good as a neo-noir novel gets. This is a fast-paced, cynical, complex, often extremely funny story that combines a lean, powerful prose with a pedal to the metal plot. 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.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Neo-noir at its best, January 10, 2008
This review is from: The Fever Kill (Perfect Paperback)
Piccirilli returns to the world of crime with his latest novel THE FEVER KILL, a neo-noir tale that fully embraces its pulp/hardboiled roots while beautifully taking them forward into the modern era.
Crease is a NY undercover cop working to bring down his "boss"--a Latino drug dealer who's not quite big enough for the police commissioner to really crack down on, but big enough to lead the authorities to even bigger fish. For that reason, they've left Crease in place for two years despite him having garnered plenty of evidence against the drug dealer. Driven by guilt, frustration, and a haunted past, Crease decides to admit he's a cop and tells his boss that they'll have a showdown once Crease settles some other accounts first.
Those other accounts are found in Hangtree, Crease's New England hometown. Ten years before he was run out by some dirty cops who had turned their back on the sheriff, Crease's father who died in disgrace after charges were leveled against him for having something to do with the kidnapping & murder of a young girl. Crease returns to Hangtree to find out the truth about what happened to little Mary and decide for himself whether his father was indeed involved.
Although all of these elements are rather familiar, they've never been added together the way Piccirilli does it. With authentic emotion, plenty of honest and plausible action, and some truly innovative touches. The bear on the cover of the novel references little Mary's teddy bear, who Crease imagines was with her at the end of her life. As he tries to put himself in both his father's place and little Mary's as well, Teddy takes on a life of his own and acts as something of a chorus for Crease's guilt and rage.
A first-rate crime novel that's equal parts thriller, suspense, drama, and tragedy (despite there being a great deal of humor). THE FEVER KILL is also one of the most beautifully produced indie press offerings I've ever owned. Creeping Hemlock Press deserves major kudos for the elaborate look of the book, designed to give the feel of a shelf-worn pulp novel from fifty years ago. Utterly gorgeous inside and out.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buckle Up For A Relentless Ride On The Neo-Noir Express, January 28, 2008
This review is from: The Fever Kill (Perfect Paperback)
Tom Piccirilli's novels are crisp, concise, provocative, and usually, psychologically multilayered. "The Fever Kill" is an extraordinary study of a man's search for his identity and the meaning of his life within a neo-noir milieu that includes hardboiled characters, fast-paced plotting, and a return to one's roots...along with healthy doses of cynicism, humor, and tragedy. It is at once, a tale of revenge, a tale of personal discovery, and a tale containing mysteries from the past as well as the present.
Crease is an undercover narcotics officer for the NYPD who is so far under that he has long ago blurred the line between right and wrong, between what is and what should be. He has lost his family, become friends with Tucco, a Mafioso-type crime leader, and, in fact, fallen in love with and impregnated Tucco's mistress.
In the midst of this identity crisis and fleeing from an enraged Tucco, Crease impulsively returns to his hometown, Hangtree, in New England. Crease has unfinished business in Hangtree. His father had been sheriff there until a botched kidnapping, a tragic killing, and missing ransom got him fired and impelled him onward toward his alcohol fueled death. In the process, young Crease had to suffer the abuse of the townspeople who blamed his father for the tragic death and missing money. Ultimately, Crease was run out of town by a sadistic deputy.
Now he has returned seeking the truth of what happened, less to clear his father's name than to, hopefully, find his own way back to right and wrong. He is looking for some means to find his way and refocus his life before meeting up with Tucco and his henchman. Fans of revenge tales where the mistreated hero returns years later to exact his payback will love this story and its plotting. There are so many opportunities for Crease to exact retribution from "townies" who abused him or his father that it is fun to watch his transformation from an agent of vengeance to an agent of redemption.
"The Fever Kill" has astute commentaries on family, loyalty, self identity, and personal growth. The issues of losing focus on what is real vs. what should be real and self introspection leading to potential redemption underlie the entire novel. I truly enjoyed this effort and highly recommend it to fans of the genre. Piccirilli is an author well worth adding to your must read list!
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