Tom Piccirilli - Shadow Season

Truly dazzling.

K EN B RUEN , Barry and Shamus awardwinning author of The Guards

Tons of emotion and suspense are packed into this fast-paced crime thriller. The reader makes off with the goods in this read because its a gem.

FreshFiction

Piccirilli (The Midnight Road, etc.) tells the gritty, violent and dark tale in an appealingly noirish narrative style, highly economical yet bracingly intimate.

Publishers Weekly

Before racing to its conclusion, the book has been a savage novel of crime and violence, a surprisingly tender love story, and an insightful examination of what family means. Whichever aspect appeals to you the most, The Cold Spot is a hell of a ride.

Mysterious Galaxy

Truly a great ride for crime fans.

Bookgasm

Great characters, cool dialogue, and all-around excellent storytelling. Every crime fan needs to add the name Tom Piccirilli to his must-read list.

Edgar-and Anthony-nominated author V ICTOR G ISCHLER

If you like action-packed suspense with serious bite, Tom Piccirilli is your man.

J ASON S TARR, author of The Follower

Tugged in by a stark, masterful setup, youll stick around eagerly for the knifelike prose, sharply drawn characters, and driving plotline. Lean, brutal and completely arresting.

M EGAN A BBOTT, author of Queenpin and The Song Is You

[Piccirilli] tells energetic, action-packed stories that cut deeper and probe questions about what it is to be human, to love, to change, and how the things that happen to us in our lives shape the person we ultimately become.

Crimespree

The Cold Spot is a gripping and powerful novel from an author who makes fans out of almost everyone who reads his work. And really, theres no better recommendation than simply: read this book. But be warned: once you hit that last page, youll be dying to read 2009s The Coldest Mile.

Crime Scene (Scotland)

The gritty narration, graphic violence and pulp gravitas should make fans of Jim Thompson and Charlie Huston feel right at home.

Kirkus Reviews

This gripping thriller will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Piccirilli has a knack for creating believable characters in interesting and provocative situations, and his uses of narrative and flashback are top-notch.

Romantic Times

If you want to write a good thriller, master the art of the shock twist. Piccirilli is one of those rare writers who knows his craft and is approaching the top of his game.

Bookgasm

Tom Piccirillis fiction is visceral and unflinching, yet deeply insightful.

F. P AUL W ILSON , bestselling author of the Repairman Jack series

Tom Piccirilli is a powerful, hard-hitting, fiercely original writer of suspense. I highly recommend him.

D AVID M ORRELL , bestselling author of Creepers and Scavenger

Piccirilli is the master of that strange, thrilling turf where horror, suspense, and crime share shadowy borders. Wherever hes headed, count me in.

D UANE S WIERCZYNSKI , author of The Wheelman and TheBlonde

Tom Piccirillis work is full of wit and inventivenesssharp as a sword, tart as apple vinegar.

J OE R. L ANSDALE , Edgar Awardwinning author of TheBottoms

Piccirilli is a master of the hook. Agripping read any suspense/thriller/mystery fan will adore.

New Mystery Reader

A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN
NOVEMBER MOURNS
HEADSTONE CITY
THE DEAD LETTERS
THE MIDNIGHT ROAD
THE COLD SPOT
THE COLDEST MILE

For Michelle
who leads me from the dark

Many thanks to the folks whove helped in both large and small ways to shape this novel: Norm Partridge, Eddie Muller, James Rollins, Allan Guthrie, James Langolf, and my agent, David Hale Smith.

And uber-gratitude goes out to my editor, Caitlin Alexander, who helped to deepen and burnish these shadows.

THERES THE SCENT OF BLOOD. FINN raises the back of his hand to block his nostrils, but its already too late. The smell twines through him almost lovingly, caressing at first and then spiking deep. His head burns a slick, wet red. He says, Ah The next word should be shit, but he cant quite get it out. Memories surge forward into the center of his skull. A nimbus of rising color and movement tightens, clarifies, and takes form.

Its his wife Danielle on the morning of their twelfth anniversary, naked at the stove, glancing back over her freckled shoulder. She asks, Pancakes or French toast? Still moist from his shower he leans in, nuzzling her throat, nipping at the throbbing blue pulse, reaching around her waist to feel the taut smooth belly, and then draws her down to the kitchen floor. He likes the feeling of the cold Italian tile under his back.

The aroma runs down his throat. He coughs and theres another sound there, maybe a chuckle. The experience is strangely pleasant, almost familiar, but it still makes him a little panicky. The surgeons say its impossible. His psychiatrist says its unlikely, trying to give the benefit of the doubt as she worries a tissue between her hands. Shes getting one-fifty an hourfrom his perspective she owes him a fucking doubt or two, even if he does only visit her once every six or eight weeks.

They all admit that the olfactory sense is closely linked to memory, but they tell him that fresh blood has no scent because it hasnt had a chance to oxidize yet. And Finn is always talking about such small amounts. Sometimes only a couple of drops.

He knows its true. Hes been around blood. Hes aware of the many ways its likely to flow, spatter, splash. The way it drifts into cracks, the way it tastes, his own or someone elses. Hes been covered in it, hes lost plenty.

Jesse Ellison has cut herself on a rough corner of the metal windowsill and she grunts demurely while trying to snap the lock shut. Shes sixteen and clumsy, gangly by the sound of her awkward gait. She drags her feet in the halls, often late for class and bursting through the door a minute or two after Finns begun his lesson plan.