The Cold Spot Book

[7/10]
The book starts with a BANG!, literally, and remains in the fast lane for the rest of the journey. Chase is 15 in the opening scene, not your typical teenager. Instead of going to school and worrying about girfriends and grades, he has "fallen off the map" after losing both parents and taken to a life of crime under the tutelage of his grandfather Jonah. He's speciality is driving getaway cars, but he picked up other uselful skills along the way, like lockpicking, bare knuckle boxing, fine tuning engines and gun toting. He's "fast" and he's "furious", at the world in general, and at his grandfather in particular, at what he feels a betrayal of trust. The "cold spot" from the title is his attempt to control his impulsive behaviour, to keep his wits under pressure, and to leave sentiments aside when on a job. Part Jedi mind trick, part Zen, it is a necessary survival trait in the company he has been keeping.

Breaking out of the gang as a freelance, he tries to come back "on the map" with the help of Lila, a deputy policewoman he meets in a Southern state. Some of the best chapters in the book deal with their encounter and the life they built together, until Chase is driven back to the underworld and has to get back in touch with his frankly dangerously psycho grandfather.

I really liked the story and the way it is written. Piccirilli knows how to create tension and how to sketch characters in a few well placed phrases. Dialogue flows generally well, convincing and tough when it needs to be, profane and angry in places without going overboard with four letter words.

I did have some issues with the novel, but they are mostly personal. The atypical noir etiquette I've seen mentioned in other reviews apllies for me to the timeframe, extended here from one cae, one "hit" to following chase around for about 20 years. The last half of the novel is more tight and focused, but I was pretty detached from the fate of Chase in the first one. Secondly, I got the feeling I was reading the script of a Hollywood action flick, so much that I actually checked the writing credits for Ryan Gosling "Drive" (it's not Piccirilli, but that was the vibe I got). Translate this as a feeling of contrived plotting and a focus on explosive moments of violence with lots of gory details, plus some clicheed type of characters (policemen, gang members, femme fatalle vs good girl, etc). That the reason I went for a lower rating, but I still say it was damn good entertainment, with a dark (noir) flavor. I will check out the next one featuring Chase.