The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
My rating: 4/5 cats
mmmm… love this book.
a family of thieves, in various states of leaving the lifestyle behind them, living in a custom-made house where generations-worth of ill-gotten loot is squirreled away behind the walls, growing old and soft together; the older generation succumbing to alzheimers, and the younger ones either trying to go straight, or to make the decision to follow the family trade.
one of their own is behind bars after a spree killing, which is completely against the family code: the rands do not use weapons of any kind. they are thieves with honor, you dig? so he is more or less shunned from the family, and no one visits, until the one son who got away and tried to make a “straight” life for himself is called back, visits his brother in prison, and reluctantly agrees to do him one last favor before his brother’s execution.
oh, and they are all named after breeds of dogs. which for some reason does not come across as silly, probably because the contrast of smart and skillful criminals and doggies works well, and it is no different from the nicknames you would find in a novel about the mob, for example, and they are frequently shortened so it doesn’t read like an aesop’s fable. but here you have collie, grey(hound), mal(amute), (aire)dale, pinscher, and terry (terrier).
here are some pictures of dogs:
and it’s just great. a literary crime thriller that has character development, a central mystery, and more heart than you would expect. i loved every one of these characters. i would have liked to have seen more of kimmy, but then, so would terry, so i suppose it is okay that we are both on the same page there.
the climax of this story is pure deliciousness, and i am not even going to come close to ruining it by speaking of it. zipped lips. but – unzip – it was perfect and tragic and surprising and dare i say it?? filmic. -zip.
this one i can strongly recommend to anyone looking for a smart thriller. doooooo it.
twis.
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goodbye, tom piccirilli. i have loved your books so much.
