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    The Last Kind Words: A Novel
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    The Last Kind Words: A Novel
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    The Last Kind Words: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Last Kind Words: A Novel

    Written by Tom Piccirilli

    Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From award-winning author Tom Piccirilli comes what Lee Child calls "perfect crime fiction," a wholly original novel introducing the Rands, a vipers' nest of crooks and cons, one generation stealing from the next. Upon the razor-thin edge between love and violence lives a pair of brothers, their bonds frayed by betrayals and guilt, their loyalty to each other their last salvation.

    Raised to pick a pocket before he could walk, Terry Rand cut free from his family after his older brother, Collie, went on a senseless killing spree that left eight dead. Five years later, only days before his scheduled execution, Collie contacts Terry and asks him to return home. Collie claims he wasn't responsible for one of the murders-and insists that the real killer is still on the loose.

    Dogged by his own demons, Terry is swept back into the schemes and scams of his family: His father, Pinsch, a retired cat burglar, brokenhearted because of his two sons. His card-sharp uncles, Mal and Grey, who've incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Shep, whose mind is failing but whose fingers can still slip out a wallet  from across the room. His teenage sister, Dale, who's flirting dangerously with the lure of the family business. And Kimmie, the woman Terry abandoned, who's now raising a child with Terry's former best friend.

    Terry pieces together the day his brother turned rabid, delving into a blood history that reveals the Rand family tree is rotten to the roots, and the secrets his ancestors buried are now coming furious and vengeful to the surface.

    A meditation on how love can confine a person just as easily as it can free him, juxtaposing shocking violence and sly humor, The Last Kind Words is the brilliantly inventive family saga that only a singular talent like Tom Piccirilli could conjure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 12, 2012
    ISBN9780307989604
    Unavailable
    The Last Kind Words: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Last Kind Words

    3.5/5

    88 ratings25 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I was caught up in the book from the very first chapter. Terrier Rand comes from a family of thieves - burglars, second-story men, con artists and grifters. (All named after breeds of dog, for reasons that are never fully explained.) His brother, Collie, is on death row after a killing spree that included an elderly couple and a nine-year-old girl. Terry hadn't planned to come home for the execution, but his brother has a last request.The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli is the story of that last request and the story of Terry coming to terms with his family. After his brother's conviction, in the midst of his own personal crisis, he left town, ran away from his problems. Coming home, he can't make things right; it's just too late to be there for the one person who really needed him. He has to face the fact that other people suffered for his cowardice. His brother can still push all his buttons -- he knows just what to say to get Terry to do what he wants. It's really not all that difficult: Terry wants to understand what Collie did, wants some sort of explanation. First, though, there's a question of the one murder that Collie swears he did not commit.You can't help but root for Terry and love his family just a little. The names -- Terrier; Collie; their father, Pinscher; their uncles, Malamute and Greyhound; his grandfather, Shepher -- are enough to draw you in. The open and honest way they approach their completely dishonest living is kind of charming and everyone in town knows who and what they are. Terry makes some terrible decisions, but there is enormous pressure on him, with the upcoming execution, concerns about his sister, his ailing grandfather and an uncle in trouble with the mob. He's clearly trying to do the right thing, even without a clear idea of what the right thing might be, but he's torn and fighting his instincts to run, like he did before. This time, he has to see things through to the end.I really enjoyed the novel, over all. I was really engrossed in Terry's family struggles, particularly his dealings with his teenage sister. It's got to be tough growing up in such a notorious family, and a 16 year old does not want her runaway older brother coming home, trying to save the day. The failing health of his grandfather and uncles is disturbing, as it is for all of us who are watching family members grow old. For men like these, what do you do when you can't do the thing you've done all your life? Most of all, Terry's final words to his brother surprised me. It was one of those scenes where you don't know what you were expecting, but this wasn't it. Overall, a very good read.
    • 5/5
      This was fabulous and intense and the whole time I was reading I felt like someone was hitting with an emotional baseball bat. I can't wait to read another of Piccirilli's books.
    • 3/5
      .I liked this story quite a bit and will read more by the author. Generally, the notion of struggling with being a member of a family of criminals and trying to prove that his brother only committed some of the murders he is being put to death for is a unique plot. What codes of honor exist in families and among criminals is an interesting question. Sometimes I thought too many issues were being tackled at once and the story seemed jumbled. Definitely worth reading.
    • 4/5
      The Rand family is a bunch of thieves and con men, but they are not known for violence. Until Collie Rand goes on a rampage and murders several people one night. Five years later, Collie's brother Terry returns to visit Collie on death row, and Collie claims that one of the murders was not his work.I found this book a bit slow in the first half, but it does pick up nicely. I didn't really like the way the mystery was resolved; it seemed to rely more on intuition and barely-founded suspicion than on clues or reasoning. But I loved the writing style, and the very interesting family of characters.
    • 4/5
      This book would make a fantastic movie! Don't let the title fool you as it did me into thinking it would be somewhat of a light romp.... This "canine second story" thieving family is really, really messed up A story of a family of grifters entwined in petty crime until their eldest son commits murder and the devastating effects on all who love him. The oldest son Collie is in prison waiting on the needle for going mad dog and savagely murdering seven people... or was it six and if so who is out there murdering all the other people? The youngest son Terrier who comes home after running away from the sins of the older brother he both loves and hates to say goodbye and to try to put his life back together & maybe win back the girl he loved but left behind... The teenage daughter Airedale on the edge of not knowing if she will follow the men into the grift or start a new and different kind of lifeTheir father Pinscher, who grieves the breakdown of his family and turns to his youngest son for understanding. A mother caught up in the fierce love for the men in her family and the devastating legacy they have left in their wake. This is a really good psychological thriller that leaves you guessing right up to the end. A terrific read! I am anxiously awaiting the next of Tom's books.
    • 4/5
      I received this book as an early reader. I had a hard time getting into the storyline at first as it was not what I was expecting for a thriller. About half way through the book I started getting into it and I really enjoyed it. I did not expect the twist in the story . I would recommended the book and plan to pass it to a friend. I plan on reading other books by Tom Piccirilli as I have heard a lot of positive reviews.
    • 4/5
      Tom Piccirilli's 'The Last Kind Words' is in its way unique. Piccirilli is an Edgar Award nominee and Thriller Award winner, but this is in no way the typical mystery/thriller. It's a nuanced and emotionally complex story set up around a compelling event: Terry (Terrier) Rand has come home for his brother Collie's execution. This family of thieves, petty criminals, and grifters has moved beyond robbery and finally spawned a son capable of wiping out an entire family.But no unhappy family has a simple story and the Rand's lives are complicated. Collie has summoned Terry home with a last minute request. And by coming home Terry, who had hoped to live an almost honest life out West, faces his family and their functioning dysfunctional lives.'The Last Kind Words' was a compelling read; searching out the dark recesses of human interaction is a dark journey and this is in many ways a dark book. But it's a fulfilling one.
    • 4/5
      The Rand family has long been family of thieves, second story men but thieves who do not carry a gun. Until Collie Rand goes "down under" and slaughters innocent people. Terri Rand escaped from all the family anguish until he is called back by his brother, shortly before his brother is to be executed. This book definitely held my attention from beginning to end, it was an interesting concept told amazingly well. Somehow, at least for me, all the family members are extremely likable although some are harboring secrets that soon come to light. The bonds of family, what is owed to family and what one will do for family are at the forefront of this novel. Yet the suspense and the unraveling of this family and their secrets is what kept me reading. I highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      "I'd come five years and two thousand miles to stand in the rain while they prepared my brother for his own murder".And so the story begins. Terry Rand has returned home to speak with his brother Collie a last time before his exacution is carried out. The one request Collie has to prove him not guilty of the one murder he says he did not commit. The Rand family is complicated, generations of grifters, and trying to reconnect after 5 years away Terry is not easy.I found this book fascinating, and will be passed on to all my friends so they can enjoy it as much as I did.
    • 4/5
      Writers often fall into two camps. Those with characters and no story and those with a great story and undeveloped characters. Initially I thought Piccirilli was going to fall into the later. However as the book progressed I discovered there was an excellent story underneath it all. The Last Kind Words, tells the the tale of a family of thieves all named for dogs. The main character Terrier is back in town because his brother Collie, scheduled to be executed for a murderous rampage, has claimed innocence in one of the murders. In investigating Terrier is forced to confront the true nature of his family and how he fits in. The clan will stick with you long after the book is finished,
    • 4/5
      This was a unique and interesting story that kept me turning pages. A family of theives all named after dogs. Terrier, Malamute, Collie, Airedale are a few. Although they are theives, they don't do armed robbery or hurt anyone until Collie loses it one night and goes on a murdering spree. There was no explanation for it and he doesn't make excuses. Collie is on death row when he contacts his brother Terrier (Terry) and asks him to look into the last death. Terry hates his brother for what he's done, but still loves him and becomes intrigued with the last death. What Terry discovers makes for an unexpected ending.
    • 2/5
      Terrier, Collie, Greyhound, Airedale, Shepherd, Malamute...these are the first names of members of the main character's family. My first thought was that if the story needed a gimmick like that, it was already in trouble -- and it was. I had not read Piccirilli before and assumed this to be a debut novel and read it as such, making allowances for the plot holes, repetitiveness etc, telling myself "this guy has potential, he can only get better." Now I have to wonder if my early reader's copy was flawed or so badly edited that it skewed my perception of the story and the writing, because while I didnt hate this book, in fact rather enjoyed parts, it was nothing I would ever hand to a friend. That is my litmus test and this awkward, contrived tale about a gloomy family who live in danger of succumbing to 'the underneath' didnt pass.
    • 5/5
      I have never read a book by Tom Piccirilli and, after reading this one, I now have to go back and read all his others. I loved this book! Written in the first person, the character voice immediately drew me in. Piccirilli's phrasing and writing style is captivating. There are no real good guys here, only varying shades of bad guys (and girls). Despite that, or maybe because of it, I liked them and couldn't help but care about what happened to these people. This story is drenched in sadness, yet didn't make me feel as if I was drowning. I saw the bad coming and still hoped something good would be there waiting. This is a unique and powerful story, and one I highly recommend.
    • 4/5
      Tom Piccirilli creates a cast of characters that is instantly interesting; a family of thieves with a line they won't cross until one of them does. The story is very linear, following Terrier Rand as he struggles with his familial identity on his path to discover the truth behind his brother's brutal killing spree. The linear plot is helped out by a brisk pace, well-placed action, and a story that the reader is never quite sure where it's headed.
    • 4/5
      Perhaps the only thing that could bring Terrier Rand home again was the message that his soon-to-be-executed brother wished to see him. Not that Terrie harbored any brotherly love for his condemned sibling; they had enjoyed a mutual dislike, if not hatred, for each other all their lives, and Collie upcoming date with a lethal injection meant little to Terry.Nor did he have any particular wish to renew his ties with the Rand family, having broken with them, and the family's business - grifting, robbery, burglary - shortly after Collie's homicidal spree that left five dead. In fact, Terrie's not sure why he came back. He doesn't believe his brother's claim that one of the murder victims for which Collie was sentenced to death was actually killed by someone else, not really. But the fact that Collie insists this is so, while never denying the others, is compelling, to say nothing of the possibility that there may be others, and another killer at work.The characters in this book are not likeable, but they are interesting. Criminals all, until Collie's murderous escapade, they had for generations engaged in various forms of fraud, burglary, scams, never even carrying weapons, and thus had established a reputation of sorts, even a left-handed kind of respectability, which was damaged by the eldest son's rampage. On his return Terrie must confront the past - his own as well as the family's - as he begins, reluctantly to look into his brother's claim. What he finds is less and more than he bargains for. Good book.
    • 4/5
      So hard to describe this book, except to say it was quite enjoyable... about a family of criminals -- burglars, pick-pockets, card sharks -- that falls apart when one of them goes on a killing rampage, setting in motion the slow decline of all members of the extended family. But, there's also a murder mystery involved, and the main character, the prodigal son, returns to attempt to solve it.... before he goes down the rabbit hole himself. Engaging -- even a page-turner at points -- but a bit of a mess at times as well... and a little confusing to the reader, as it the ending.
    • 4/5
      A unique perspective - to belong to a family of thieves and trying to go straight. The inevitability of the chain of tragedies lends a sense of hopelessness, which is confirmed by the seemingly endless rain. I had a hard time wanting to be so close to Terrier's thoughts and feelings, because they weren't, for the most part, very positive. But the story grew on me as I read. Not sure I would want to read more, as this called for more emotional dips than is comfortable.
    • 3/5
      This is an intense book reminiscent of James Lee Burke in that you see the world through the dark thoughts of the protagonist kind of bouncing from scene to scene with often only a hint of reason or logic. I found it mostly just dark in the first half, but it did eventually draw me in to where I couldn't put it down.
    • 2/5
      Yeah, I know it's a cliché, but this book did not turn out to be what I expected. Nor was it half as good as I was hoping it might be. There is no mystery driving you from chapter to chapter. There is no suspense except, perhaps, how many more pages are left, and will anything actually happen? There certainly isn't anything thrilling, other than reaching the last chapter, and knowing that you can start another book.

      Yup, it starts out great, the estranged brother is summoned to Death Row, where his older brother awaits execution for a horrific series of seeming senseless murders which he readily admits to committing. All except for one. Is there another killer on the loose? A killer that no one is even looking for? Sounds interesting, yes? Well, it's all downhill from there. Make a sandwich and turn on the TV, cause there's nothing happening here!

      Sorry to be so negative, but I'm getting tired of book jackets that promise you mystery and suspense, but give you some deep, psychological mumbo jumbo that only the author understands.
    • 4/5
      This book would make a fantastic movie! Don't let the title fool you as it did me into thinking it would be somewhat of a light romp.... This "canine second story" thieving family is really, really messed up A story of a family of grifters entwined in petty crime until their eldest son commits murder and the devastating effects on all who love him. The oldest son Collie is in prison waiting on the needle for going mad dog and savagely murdering seven people... or was it six and if so who is out there murdering all the other people? The youngest son Terrier who comes home after running away from the sins of the older brother he both loves and hates to say goodbye and to try to put his life back together & maybe win back the girl he loved but left behind... The teenage daughter Airedale on the edge of not knowing if she will follow the men into the grift or start a new and different kind of lifeTheir father Pinscher, who grieves the breakdown of his family and turns to his youngest son for understanding. A mother caught up in the fierce love for the men in her family and the devastating legacy they have left in their wake. This is a really good psychological thriller that leaves you guessing right up to the end. A terrific read! I am anxiously awaiting the next of Tom's books.
    • 5/5
      Having never read anything by Tom Piccirilli, I had only the dust jacket to go off as I started this book. I thought it would be a thriller, with some family drama…but a basic sort of mystery. Not. Even. Close.It’s hard for me to explain why I was so drawn into this book. There is a mystery – an element of “whodunit” – but it was so much more than that. There’s the layer of the ULTIMATE dysfunctional family, as seen through the eyes of a lost soul. Terry Rand comes from a family of thieves, was a thief, has tried to escape that label…and yet is drawn back into the family fold when his brother faces execution. It sounds like it would read as tarted up drama, but it is absolutely not. These voices, these characters, ring true.“We were a family of thieves who knew one another very well and respected one another’s secrets. It was dysfunction at its worst.”Terry, who provides the reader’s view into this world, is fascinating. He is the ultimate shade of grey as he leaves the honest(ish) life he’s built out West and rejoins his family. He finds himself unable to refuse his brother’s wishes, unable to stay out of his younger sister’s life, unable to keep from helping when he can – even if he uses less than honest means to do so. He seems fearless when he acts – but is also grappling with his past – where one of the biggest decisions of his life was made entirely from fear. He’d abandoned the love of his life, Kimmy, and being in the same town again with her wracks him with emotion. The choice he made then haunts him – yet not enough to deal with the consequences now.“Whenever some image hit me, I pressed it away. There seemed to be no good memories. Everything brought pain. A man should be composed of more than his heartaches, his failures, his missed opportunities and regrets.”The dramatic tension in this book grabs the reader from the very beginning and never lets go. I found myself wondering what would happen to every character I was introduced to, even if it was only a minor one. Piccirilli’s writing style masterfully adds depth to the plot, with no discernable traces of having tried to do so.I suppose what I found most interesting is that the moral dilemmas that Terry wrestled with the most weren’t the ones that seem most obvious when reading about criminals. Breaking in, stealing, violence against others…didn’t cause as much internal debate as those sins that didn’t make the Ten Commandments. Love, loyalty, dedication…those were the issues that were tearing him apart.Having never read another of his books, I fully intend to see if this was a one time stroke of brilliance or if I should add Tom Piccirilli’s name to my “to be read” list.
    • 4/5
      Review of “The Last Kind Words”Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this book with the expectation that I would provide an honest review.“The Last Kind Words” is an engrossing story of a family of thieves dealing with life in the two weeks before the execution of their oldest son for murder. All the members of the family are named after dog breeds—as they have been for generations in the family.The plot itself moves rather slowly, but the characters are vivid and real. In a rare meeting with his convicted murderer brother Collie, Terrier (who goes by Terry) is convinced to investigate one of the murders Collie is sentenced to die for. Collie claims he didn’t kill one of the people he was convicted of murdering.Over the next couple of weeks, Terry investigates the murder and along the way, we get to meet various people in his life and from his past. The characters are vividly described and are unique enough to really seem real—unlike the simple caricatures that often passes for character development these days.The author and Terry succeed in asking a number of profound questions in a way that never feels heavy-handed, yet are compelling for us to ask ourselves: how many of our choices are driven by our family and our upbringing, where is the line of depravity in each of us, why do we decide to do things which we know are wrong and harmful to ourselves?This is one of those books where you find yourself desperate to find out how the story ends, yet simultaneously wishing the story could go on since you’re so engrossed in the lives of the characters.I look forward to reading other Tom Piccirilli books.
    • 5/5
      As other reviewers have said, the Rands are a dysfunctional family, full of secrets and quirks. For generations, they have cultivated their craft of crime – burglaries, scams and gambling. Their custom-made home has plenty of secret caches for the loot that they have collected over generations. Everyone is named after a breed of dog – Collie, who is Terrier’s brother facing execution after a murderous spree; Malamute and Greyhound, who are Terrier’s uncles, both acting oddly, possibly as a result of Alzheimer’s disease; Airedale, Terrier’s teenage sister, at risk for going down the wrong path as she becomes involved with a petty criminal who isn’t adverse to using violence; Pinscher, his father, who has emotional walls that seem impossible to scale; poor Old Shepherd, Terrier’s demented grandfather, barely cognizant of his surroundings but still capable of instinctive pick pocketing… and his mother, whose life revolves around cooking and cleaning, the only family member who seems capable of showing any heartfelt emotions at all. We know that Collie committed a horrible crime, resulting in the deaths of seven people. He will be executed soon. Before he goes for his lethal injection, he asks Terrier to look into the death of the eighth person – the one he claims that he did not kill. Is he trying to manipulate his brother? Terrier, who is almost incapable of expressing emotions, feels the confusion of both hate and love towards his brother. After all, the Rands don’t use violence and this crime is totally unacceptable to the family. Yet he feels obligated to at least consider the possibility that Collie could be innocent of this one murder. And anyone – the slightly bent local cop, the mob or even a member of his family – could be the culprit. I really enjoyed reading this book and found the quality of writing to be superb. I wanted to fit it neatly into a genre – thriller, suspense, romance, serial killer, mystery – but it just didn’t seem to fit well into any one category. I guess I’d have to call it a bit of all these genres, fitting best into simply “literature,” which to me is a step above the other choices. Every now and then, I’d come across a sentence or two that brought such a vivid visualization that I said to myself “Oh wow! I really liked how he said that…”If you like a good story but are tired of reading pulpy airport novels, I’d recommend this book. It’s definitely several steps above the mass-market fiction in both the writing and plot complexity. I give it five stars.
    • 4/5
      This is the first of Piccirilli’s novels that I have read, so I came in with no preconceptions. First, let me say I really enjoyed it while I was reading it. I finished it in 2 evenings and appreciated that the plot moved along smoothly and although there were plenty of characters, the relationships were laid out clearly.The Rand family is, to put it charitably, dysfunctional. For generations…three of which are living together under the same roof…the offspring have been named for various dog breeds (Collie, Terry (Terrier), Dale (Airedale)…) and raised from the cradle to the “bent life” of crime. They have always made a comfortable living from grifting, cons, cheating at cards, breaking-and-entering aka:”creeping”, but have steadfastly drawn the line at violent, confrontational crimes.Which is why it is such a shock when one of the sons, Terry’s brother Collie, apparently commits a heinous act of mass murder, then calmly returns to his favorite bar, confesses and waits to be arrested. On death row for five years, and now only two weeks from his date with the executioner, he summons Terry to the prison, claiming that he is not guilty of one of the murders, begging Terry to investigate and find the real killer.In a family unable to demonstrate their love for one another in any meaningful way, with silence and secrets a daily way of life, Terry is conflicted about whether or not to commit to this investigation. Is Collie guilty? Covering for someone else? Just plain mad-dog crazy? Realizing that Grandpa is suffering from Alzheimer’s, albeit with momentary sparks of unexpected lucidity, and the uncles have recently been seen behaving oddly as well, Terry understands that “crazy” is a definite possibility. He begins to second-guess his sometimes dark thoughts and is haunted by the prospect that he may in fact be witnessing his own future descent into the same madness.“The Last Kind Words” is an enjoyable read. Like most such novels however, it weaves an intricate web that requires some level of suspension of disbelief. Because it’s difficult to tie *all* the loose ends up into a perfectly neat bow at the end, you should probably just go with it and enjoy it for the ride more than the destination.
    • 3/5
      Terry Rand is back from out West after a five year absence--just in time for his brother’s execution for killing 8 (or was it 7?) people in a single night, then calmly returning to a bar, laying down his weapon, and waiting for the police. What caused the killing spree? Terry fears it is “the underneath”, some sort of creeping evil that lives in his family’s veins. Of course, it isn’t your average family. It is a family of thieves, going back several generations. The household Terry returns to includes his Grandfather, deep into Alzheimer’s and watching children’s cartoons most of the time, his father and his father’s two brothers, his mother, and his 15 year old sister Dale. And, of course, the cop who hangs around all the time trying to be part of the family, even more so now that he is separated from his wife and children. And one more thing--all the Rands are named after dogs (except for Terry’s--Terrier’s--mother, who got in by marriage.) His uncles are Malamute and Greyhound, Mal and Grey for short. His father is Pinscher; his condemned brother is Colley; and so on.Piccirilli paints a painful picture of a very dysfunctional family. The Rand house is full of hidey holes of cash, but also tons of bric-a-brac they were unable to fence and have kept around for years. No one communicates very well. The two uncles seem intent on getting themselves killed by a gangster for cheating at cards. The gangster is an old childhood friend of Terry who has now taken over for his deceased father, and appears to be bringing in some outside muscle to help him out. The sister is dating a 21-year old hoodlum and would-be armed robber, though in other ways she seems to have her head together, and is even auditioning for the part of Blanche in her high school’s production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. And of course, with the execution coming up, there is a media circus outside the house, which debonair Uncle Grey has taken advantage of by romancing a pretty TV reporter.And Terry has a few personal problems of his own (not) to deal with, such as his enduring pain over leaving Kimmy, whom he planned to marry, in the aftermath of her miscarriage with their child. Kimmy is now married to another old friend of Terry, who runs a body shop and offers getaway advice as a side business. Terry also discovers he still has a knack for breaking into houses, and these “creeps” as he calls them, are an important part of the book.Terry visits Colley in prison, and Colley claims he didn’t commit one of the eight murders he is about to die for. Terry doesn’t believe him, but is compelled to investigate anyway, which leads him into a number of encounters, some violent, and a deepening sense of fear about his own dark urges. All of this is told in what is a rather slow-moving, though never boring, story. There are lots more characters that I won’t mention. The thing that most of them have in common is their strangeness; most of them seem a little removed from reality.Piccirilli has tossed a lot of balls into the air, including some I haven’t mentioned, but he doesn’t do such a great job of juggling them. I realize that the author is trying to achieve something well beyond what the normal noir or pulp fiction novel strives for, but the end result isn't an intentionally incomplete experience that encourages the reader to fill in the gaps or add his or her own interpretation. Rather, it is a collection of pieces that don't quite add up to a coherent whole. Each time Terry starts contemplating “the underneath” again and how it could have driven his brother to murder, it all seems more than a bit contrived. As does the ultimate “solution” to the murder Colley claimed to have not committed. The story builds slowly to its cataclysm, but there are too many scenes that appear to be attached with Bondo, such as an unlikely one involving a gunman and a frozen turkey. On occasion, Piccirilli seems to even want to inject a bit of humor into the story, but it is a bad fit. In the end, the Rand family and its problems were never brought to life in a believable enough way to make me really care--although I got a kick out of staring at them, as if they were circus freaks.