Shards

by Tom Piccirilli

Nathaniel Follows, having a bad night, takes his misery to the beach, where he meets Susan. They find a mutual attraction and she invites him to a party, during which they make love. He discovers she has mutilated her body, leaving terrible scars. Upon rejoining the party, she jumps out a window to her death.Nathaniel must find out about her. In his search, he meets a nightclub owner, her parents, their lawyer and Susan's sister, who also carries scars ... except that these are on her soul. Any one could have driven Susan to suicide. The search uncovers greed, embezzlement, an abusive "friend", and a wasted life.

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Fiction

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Thomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.

Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Piccirilli's early novels and it shows a little bit, but only if you are looking for the seams. The plot is pretty basic. A writer breaks up with his girlfriend and goes to the beach to scribble and get right. He meets another girl there. She invites him to a party. He goes. They make (hate)love. She commits suicide by jumping out a window while he watches. He feels compelled to find out why and becomes amateur detective, rubbing everyone the wrong way in the process. He is persistent, however, and we learn the answer to the question.

The dialog is a bit too expository, and there is too much thinking going on during the fights. Overall, though this pretty good with plenty of the energetic prose that Piccirilli's later novels fairly dripped.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second outing is a much better book than Tom's debut, Dark Father. Much better.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pretty much read this book in one sitting having only read chapter one yesterday. The movie pitch could be Murder She Wrote crossed with 8mm, with Nathaniel Follows instead of Jessica Fletcher. I can almost see a younger Nic Cage playing this character.

[Douglas Castagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong prose and solid characters I was glad to lay my hands on this second novel from stunningly talented writer. I actually read paragraphs aloud from this genre novel to my wife that were so lyrical they seemed out of place here. A great read.

[Tuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

a modern noir fever dream of misanthropy. not bad really..