A Choir of Ill Children


A Choir of Ill Children Tom Piccirilli Bantam, $5.99, 225 pages, ISBN: 0553587196 reviewed by Barry Hunter In this dark Southern gothic, Piccirilli has written an unusual story of an unusual family that has more skeletons and ghosts in their closets than a lot of cemeteries have. The atmosphere is soaked with decay and decadence and even the town’s name of Kingdom Come conjures up images that show the thought that went into the planning of this novel. Thomas and his triplet brothers, co-joined at the brain are the richest folks in the county and Thomas runs the mill, which is the only industry in the town. Ghosts walk and talk to Thomas, the local witches want him to contribute a very personal item to their cauldron, a young girl is found on a sacrificial rock, and the preachers son runs around naked and speaks in tongues. Piccirilli has taken a very unusual cast, a surreal setting, and turned it into a compelling page turner of a novel that will not let you down easily as the characters answer to the destiny that the way their lives were lived requires. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
reviews

A Choir of Ill Children
Tom Piccirilli
Bantam, $5.99, 225 pages, ISBN: 0553587196
reviewed by Barry Hunter

In this dark Southern gothic, Piccirilli has written an unusual story of an unusual family that has more skeletons and ghosts in their closets than a lot of cemeteries have. The atmosphere is soaked with decay and decadence and even the town’s name of Kingdom Come conjures up images that show the thought that went into the planning of this novel.

Thomas and his triplet brothers, co-joined at the brain are the richest folks in the county and Thomas runs the mill, which is the only industry in the town. Ghosts walk and talk to Thomas, the local witches want him to contribute a very personal item to their cauldron, a young girl is found on a sacrificial rock, and the preachers son runs around naked and speaks in tongues.

Piccirilli has taken a very unusual cast, a surreal setting, and turned it into a compelling page turner of a novel that will not let you down easily as the characters answer to the destiny that the way their lives were lived requires. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

reviews