While I don't remember what first turned me on to reading Piccirilli, it's super easy to figure out why I keep reading him. His writing is strong, his characters well-defined and his stories engaging. Every book by him I finish cements his position as one of my favorite authors.

The Dead Letters follows Eddie Whitt as he refuses to let go of his daughter's death at the hands of a serial killer named Killjoy. Even when Killjoy changes his m.o. and starts delivering kidnapped babies from abusive homes to the parents of his murdered victims, Whitt won't let go. His life for the five years since his daughter was killed has been a pattern focused on finding and killing Killjoy. Something that makes him irrational enough to hurt himself in the process; his frustrations cause him to do things to calm down that had me cringe.

As readers, we experience that same frustration and desperation. We become involved with the weird cult family that has clues necessary for finding Killjoy. We hurt as Whitt's grief and pain bleeds off the pages. The book is something you will not want to put down. I'm not sure what else to say except go read it. Piccirilli is not someone to miss and this is novel is pure Piccirilli. ( )

Ce roman noir de Tom Piccirilli met en avant un héros original, Eddie Whitt. Ce dernier n'est pas un policier ou agent secret mais simplement un père, détruit psychologiquement par la mort de sa fille à l'âge de cinq ans et par l'internement de sa femme en hôpital psychiatrique à la suite de cet évènement terrible. Eddie n'aura de cesse de traquer le tueur en essayant de survivre à ce cataclysme.
Le personnage d'Eddie, toujours à la limite d'une folie qui l'entoure et qui l'attire parfois, est terriblement bien décrit par l'auteur. Tellement bien que l'intrigue nous semble secondaire et sa conclusion un tantinet décevante. ( )

I didn't really enjoy reading this one, although I did read it all the way through. There were quite a lot of things that made me scratch my head and say, "What??!?" ( )