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Tom Piccirilli

Every Shallow Cut Kindle Edition

by Tom Piccirilli (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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“Lovers of gritty noir will devour this . . . a pulse-pounding account of a writer’s descent into despair and violence.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

With his book sales—never strong to begin with—ebbing and the economy crashing, a writer is on the brink. When his wife leaves him and the bank takes his house, he goes over the edge. Living out of his car with his beloved bulldog, Churchill, he’s set upon by street punks just as he’s about to pawn the only things of value he has left.

He’s lost nearly everything. But he’s gained a gun.

His well-off brother lives in New York—far from Denver, but the only place he might find a reliable roof over his head and any hope of starting over. Along the road he will stop off to see ex-girlfriends, relatives, friends, and business associates. At this point, his primary goal is survival. But with each passing mile, the survival of others grows more uncertain—in this taut, psychologically gripping novel from a two-time International Thriller Award winner and Edgar Award finalist.

Acclaim for Tom Piccirilli

“Boldly original.” —New York Times Book Review on The Last Kind Words

“Noir that mates Flannery O’Connor with Stephen King.” —San Francisco Chronicle on A Choir of Ill Children

“Should make fans of Jim Thompson and Charlie Huston feel right at home.” —Kirkus Reviews on The Fever Kill

Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller
Publication date

November 6, 2022
File size

2901 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Lovers of gritty noir will devour this stand-alone from Piccirilli (Shadow Season), a pulse-pounding account of a writer's descent into despair and violence. The unnamed narrator's wife has left him; he feels guilty about their decision to have an abortion; and his once-promising literary career, which netted him several awards, has petered out. As the story opens, he's a homeless drifter, alone except for his dog, Churchill. When three punks attack him on a Denver street, something snaps and he fights back, seriously injuring his assailants. He pawns his few remaining possessions from his late parents and uses the cash to buy a gun, before traveling across the country to seek out his brother in New York. On his tortured odyssey, he revisits parts of his past in an effort to tease out some sort of meaning. Piccirilli makes his fall from grace utterly convincing and his emotional rage all too understandable. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

Praise for Tom Piccirilli

“[Tom Piccirilli] is easily one of the best writers out there, his output is tremendous and I’ll be damned if he’s disappointed yet. . . . I won’t sugarcoat it: [Every Shallow Cut] is a depressing read. But it’s a damn excellent one, too, and worth the open-mouthed, knee-hugging keening you’ll probably be doing after you’ve finished it.”
―Ed Kurtz’s Best Damn Books of 2011

“Piccirilli is a master of the novella-length noir. Every Shallow Cut coils and tightens like a spring, giving us an image of a man for whom things can only get worse. I’ve been a fan of Piccirilli’s work for a long time, and Every Shallow Cut delivers.”
―Brian Evenson, author of Last Days and Fugue State

--This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BBQT6F3S
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (November 6, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 6, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2901 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe

Best Sellers Rank: #1,225,855 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #487 in Financial Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #1,047 in Financial Thrillers (Books)
- #8,117 in Psychological Thrillers (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
33 ratings

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Tom Piccirilli

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Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty-five novels including A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN, SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, and THE LAST KIND WORDS. He's a four-time winner of the Stoker Award, two-time winner of the International Thriller Award, and has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, and twice for the Edgar Award. Marilyn Stasio of The New York Tims Book Review called THE LAST KIND WORDS, “A caustic thriller...the characters have strong voices and bristle with funny quirks.” New York Times bestselling thriller writer Lee Child said of Tom’s work, “Perfect crime fiction...a convincing world, a cast of compelling characters, and above all a great story” And Publishers Weekly extols, "Piccirilli’s mastery of the hard-boiled idiom is pitch perfect, particularly in the repartee between his characters, while the picture he paints of the criminal corruption conjoining the innocent and guilty in a small Long Island community is as persuasive as it is seamy. Readers who like a bleak streak in their crime fiction will enjoy this well-wrought novel.” Keir Graff of Booklist wrote, “There's more life in Piccirilli's THE LAST KIND WORDS (and more heartache, action, and deliverance) than any other novel I've read in the past couple of years." And Kirkus states, "Consigning most of the violence to the past allows Piccirilli (The Fever Kill, 2007, etc.) to dial down the gore while imparting a soulful, shivery edge to this tale of an unhappy family that’s assuredly unhappy in its own special way.”

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

33 global ratings

5 star		66%
4 star		21%
3 star		9%
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Gary Griffiths

Noir 101

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 15, 2011

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Holy smokes - where did this come from? I mean, Tom Piccarilli is a talented writer, but I've known him for twisted little thrillers with a heavy dose of the supernatural; a touch of Stephen King mixed in with Tom Franklin or William Gay. So who'd have thought that Piccarilli would reappear as the reincarnation of Jim Thompson, Raymond Chandler, or, stylistically, Charles Bukowski? And who'd have though that Piccarilli, based on what he's showing here, could school some of the great crime writers of the day?

So "Every Shallow Cut" is all of that - a Stygian gem of noir that will shake you to your shoe laces - an uncommonly powerful bit of despair richly woven with stark imagery, cynical insight, acidic wit, more than a hint of insanity and an extra helping of rage. In keeping with this bleak imagery, we don't know the protagonist's name, but we know he's a brilliant but commercially unsuccessful writer, and we know his bulldog is named Churchill. He's run out of any luck he's ever had; a wife who's bolted with "Sweetie," a home foreclosed, a few bucks and a paltry royalty check in his wallet, a broken-down car. He salvages his last fiber of respectably when, beaten and bloody, he stiffens his spine and in protecting "Church," rises up to wreck havoc on the trio of tweaker thugs who did him in. And he gets a gun. And starts a short but wild odyssey cross-country to ingratiate himself to his older, officious and judgmental brother.

"Every Shallow Cut" is brief - no more than an ambitious short story, really - knock it off in a the time it takes to watch a B movie. But Piccarilli packs as more life, drama, and angst into his sparse prose than a less accomplished author could bury between the covers of "War and Peace." This is required reading for the fan of American crime noir - and welcome and astonishing turn for a writer much more versatile than I'd ever given credit. Me? I'm back to the browser giving Piccarilli another look. Bravo!

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John L

I purchased some more of Piccirilli's work and have not been disappointed.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

This was my first experience with Mr Piccirilli's work, which I purchased on the advice of a friend who had known Tom. The prose is lean and mean, told from the point of view of the main character, a guy who resembles Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) in some ways, a guy who seems to constantly be moving toward violence. Based on this book, I purchased some more of Piccirilli's work and have not been disappointed.

Helpful

Daniel Vlasaty

Writing From the Marrow

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2012

Verified Purchase

I could not stop reading this book. It was short enough to be read in almost one sitting, but I was sneakily reading it at work, so it took me a little longer than it might have otherwise. This novella is powerful. It is a story of desperation, of a man that has lost everything and just wants to go home again. I can feel that this story is going to stay with me for a while.

The nameless narrator is a failed writer. His books are being sold in thrift shops for quarters, and they're still not selling. His wife has left him for another man. And the bank has taken his house. He has his dog - and only friend - and his car. After selling all of his other possession to a pawn broker he decides to drive across the country to visit his brother. They have not seen each other in a long time.

The narrator of this story could be anyone. Me or you or that guy sitting next to you on the train this morning. It captures our economy perfectly. Everywhere houses are in foreclosure, businesses are at risk of going under. All of it takes a toll on an already weak marriage. The narrator's mantra is "I don't know," and he doesn't. He doesn't know where he is going or what he is doing. He is on the edge of a breakdown and he doesn't even know.

Highly recommended for fans of realistic, gritty stories that may or may not leave you feeling depressed afterward.

One person found this helpful

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Jason Hall

Gritty Noir At Its Best

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 5, 2011

Verified Purchase

Every Shallow Cut is the latest novella from Tom Piccirilli, or as he likes to call them "noirellas." Just like so many other Piccirilli works, this one slams you into the action head first. Written in first-person POV, the unnamed MC, who is a mid-level writer, experiencing a low-point in his career, slowly starts to lose his sanity. He has lost his house to the bank, his wife to another man, and all he has left are a few possessions; his dog, a gun and the slippery slope of madness that has been laid out in front of him as he travels cross-country from Colorado to NY, where his estranged brother lives.

Along his journey he relives the failures of his life. Reading Every Shallow Cut is like watching someone slowly drown themselves in a dark soupy mess of regret, pain and raw emotion. Piccirilli does a great job conveying the pain and despair as it builds up inside the MC. It's obvious the author bled out some of his own demons into this piece, which is what all writers hope for, but only great ones achieve.

As the build up to the final climax is being told, the reader is drawn into the depths of a man's worst nightmares coming true; the loss of everything, including his ability to control his own actions.
Every Shallow Cut is meant to be read in one sitting, and I highly recommend that's how you read it. It's a ride through one man's tortured soul that's best taken in one gritty gulp.

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