Review of The Darkening (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a bit of a hybrid when it comes to a horror novel. It reads more like a tom clancy with supernatural players in it not to mention some Lovecraft.The story centers around a man named Dylan that is plagued by awful dreams that he can't remember and he wake's up in a different part of his house not knowing how he got there.The other central character is Lucy who feel's as if she is missing something but doesn't know what.

The villains in this book are none other than lovecrafts old ones and the cult that worship them. Opposed is a group called rex deus who try to thwart them at every turn. Both groups want to get there hands on lucy and dylan. The old ones are trying to break through and only lucy and dylan can put a stop to them.

This novel is good but lacks genuine scares and relies more on action. Not that that is a bad thing but when i read a horror novel i want to be a little creeped out so that is my main complaint. Also the ending was abit of a let down when you consider where your being led throughout the book. I reccommend to most out there and i look forward to reading some more by this author.

Product Description
IT BEGINS WITH A BLACKOUT.

All electrical power ceases to run. Even the sun seems a little dimmer. Cities come to a halt. And then their inhabitants vanish.

But a small, clandestine group of warriors has been preparing for this moment for centuries. Their hopes rest on two strangers, a thousand miles apart, who hold the keys to the world's salvation: Dylan Barnes, a martial arts instructor who teaches his students the art of inner balance but is plagued by shadows only he can see and voices muttering in a language only he can hear; and Lucy Devereau, a private investigator who earns a living by prying into the lives of others but is haunted by her own birthright-and the mystery of her true parents.

The world around them-our world-is slipping into darkness. Now, as fate and blood push them to the front lines of an extraordinary battle, Lucy and Dylan must stare into the face of something ancient, something impossible, something that has come to blot out the light-forever.

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Review of The Dead Letters (Mass Market Paperback)

Piccirilli writes dark. His novels are full of dread, sadness, and his characters often have little hope. They are all misfits of some kind and all of them have lost something. It could be their limbs, their lifestyle, their freedom, their sanity, normalcy, or a loved one. In this book it's the loss of a child that haunts the protagonist.

The plot concerns a man who has dedicated his life to finding the serial killer who murdered his daughter, and then other children. The killer smothered his daughter in her bed while she slept with her own pillow. After several more killings, a twist comes into the case. The killer starts kidnapping children from abusive homes and then brings them to the families of the children he killed.

This novel has all of the characteristics you come to expect from a Piccirrilli novel. A main character filled with tremendous loss of some kind, guilt, and a need for closure or acceptance. It has some really strange people in it in the form of a wacky cult who's involved with their own serial killings whose members who are as odd and deadly as they come. The story has supernatural elements with both the wacky cult and the main character himself to keep horror readers adequately enthused. And it has an ending that defines a Piccirrilli novel.

I enjoyed this novel much more than Headstone City. Its plot was straightforward without a lot of sub plots or distractions. Its mood was sullen and depressing giving punch to the chills and very thrilling portions of the story. And the story itself was disturbing enough to make me come back to it in my mind after I finished the last page.

When an author writes a book as great as November Mourns, (or even Choir of Ill Children) there is a tendency to compare all other books he writes after it to that masterpiece. This is unfair to the author (look at King's work after "It") and it's tempting to do so. But I'm gonna do it anyway...this book is not as good as the two mentioned above, but it is certainly a great read and I would place it at number 3 of my all time favorite Piccirilli novels. I would recommend this book to Piccirilli fans and to those who have not read the author before.

T.T.Zuma



Product Description
Five years ago, Eddie Whitt's daughter Sarah became the victim of a serial killer known as Killjoy, and Whitt vowed to hunt him down-no matter what the cost. But the police have given up. And Killjoy has stopped killing...and in some bizarre act of repentance has begun kidnapping abused infants and leaving them with the parents of his original victims.

The only clues to Killjoy's identity lie in a trail of taunting letters. And even as they lead Whitt to a deadly cult-and closer to his prey-he begins to suspect that, like his wife, he's losing his grip on reality: Sarah's dollhouse is filled with eerie activity, as if her murder never occurred.As dark forces rise around him, Whitt must choose-between believing that evil can repent...and stepping into a trap set by a killer who may know the only way to save Whitt's soul.

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