The Last Kind Words

From award-winning author Tom Piccirilli comes a wholly original crime novel introducing the Rands, a vipersandamp;rsquo; 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 wasnandamp;rsquo;t responsible for one of the murdersandamp;mdash;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, whoandamp;rsquo;ve incurred the anger of the local mob. His grandfather, Shep, whose mind is failing but whose fingers can still slip out a walletandamp;#160; from across the room. His teenage sister, Dale, whoandamp;rsquo;s flirting dangerously with the lure of the family business. And Kimmie, the woman Terry abandoned, whoandamp;rsquo;s now raising a child with Terryandamp;rsquo;s former best friend. andamp;#160; 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.