THE
DECEASED by Tom Piccirilli
Leisure Books $5.50
355 Pages
ISBN 0-8439-4752-7 |
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Jacob Maelstrom,
the youngest child of a famous novelist and an author in his own right,
is returning to the old haunted family mansion at Stonethrow. Ten years
previous his sister locked him out of harm’s way, then went about
leaving him an orphan and only child by way of an axe. Jacob, as you can
imagine, has issues. And now he’s going back to resolve them.
Conflicting
inner ghosts is a theme Piccirilli often explores, but in THE
DECEASED
he’s foregone exploration in deference to the art of autopsy. Besides
the obvious specter presented by his family’s murder, there is a
deeper family shadow pre-dating the crime. A shadow complex with guilt
and pleasure and things not taught in Criminology 101. Convoluting
the present’s view of the past is a perceptional shift on Jacob’s
part. When it all started he was pre-adolescent; already baffled by his
strange family in their strange house on their strange, inland island.
Now, on the
eve of the bloody anniversary, he has to inspect those childish confusions
through the magnifying glass of adulthood to discover if there's
any sense to be made of it. To Piccirilli's credit, there is no shying
away from the nuances presented by the immature memories of an adult sole
survivor. When Jacob struggles with comprehension, we get to feel it.
While I have
no real complaints with the story, I do wish there'd been more exploration
of the otherworldly influences at Stonesthrow. At times I felt I was rushing
towards the culmination of discovery when I would rather have wandered
a digressing path of background or two. Excuse me for my distinct lack
of clarity, but I'm busting to avoid the spoiler here. Let's
just say that I'm naturally bent towards the supernatural, and I
wanted more there.
If you enjoy
Piccirilli’s characteristic poesy voice, you’ll find THE
DECEASED sweeping
you in and out of wispy narrative dreams punctuated by streaming blood
and sundry body parts. It is horror both traditional and mythical; disturbed
and sublime.
Dig out four
BookWyrms, will ya?
This
review copyright 2000 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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