The Fever Kill
Tom Piccirilli’s THE FEVER KILL is an attempt to try something different other than the horror books he’s been writing. He’s a talented author and I’ve sung his praises before. There’s not as much suspense in THE FEVER KILL as I would have liked, and I would argue it falls more in the thriller category than mystery.
Crease is an ex-narc, running from a drug dealer whose woman he snaked in what can only be described as very bad judgment – almost as bad as adopting seven kids that aren’t yours with your non-undercover wife. Yeah, Crease makes some poor decisions – and then some, including driving back into the town he was run out of in his youth. Crease’s father was the sheriff of Hangtree, and bungled a child-ransom money drop. The child was killed, Crease’s father disgraced and Crease driven down the road to pick up the pieces of his life.
So what happened during the ransom drop? Who really killed the child? And what happened to the missing money? It’s a compelling noir setting, but the mystery isn’t spun as tight as I would have hoped. Again, Piccirilli is remarkably versatile and prolific writer. I think there was a Western buried in the heart of THE FEVER KILL and it got updated into a noir. (Or maybe all noirs are modern Westerns in the end?)
The hero is a drifter in town to avenge his daddy. The town is Hangtree. The real villains are the hero’s own demons. And we get a showdown – with knives!
Occasionally, the book runs slow, but the writing is observant and sharp enough to keep you wonderfully distracted. The characterizations of the various lowlifes and drifters that populate Crease’s demented upbringing shine with grit. Of Tucco, the murderous drug dealing psychopath who’s tracked Crease, giving him until high noon – or after he solves the mystery – to get it on, Piccirilli writes: “Tucco lied all the time, to everyone about everything. … He had the straight face and dead gaze for everybody, and the lies poured out of him so easily that he often mistook them for sincerity.”
Again, the main problem is the mystery itself. But the good outweighs it. It’s not really starter Piccirilli here, but my guess is hardcore readers will agree THE FEVER KILL delivers. Two really notable points: 1) no car chases, and 2) a funny riff on the suckage that is menthol cigarettes. Buy it and read an author at the top of his game who’s always changing. –Matt Adder
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli
• THE MIDNIGHT ROAD by Tom Piccirilli
Really looking forward to this novel.
And it also doesn’t hurt that Tom is a great guy and that you should check him out at any convention he is at and ask for him to sign your copy of DARK FATHER for you. Well worth the inscription indeed.
Take care and keep this website going, my friend,
Troy
I see your point about there being a lack of mystery, but that’s pretty much set out from the beginning of the book, and is one of the things I actively liked about it. Kind of ballsy, but Piccirilli’s one of those writers who can pull it off. And he does.
Hmm–sounds like an expanded version of his story “Seems Like Old Times” from his LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF NOIR STORIES from Borderlands Press. I picked up a copy at the last Horrorfind convention, and I hate to say, it didn’t knock my socks off.