A Choir of Ill Children » (Reissue)

Tom Piccirilli is the author of twenty novels including The Cold Spot, The Midnight Road, The Dead Letters, Headstone City, November Mourns, and A Choir of Ill Children.  He's a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award and has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the International Thriller Writers Award, and Le Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire. 

A Choir of Ill Children tells the story Kingdom Come - a decaying, lust-filled swampy backwater of a southern town. Piccirilli's lyrical, atmospheric tale of murder and redemption is a startling, breakout novel in the southern gothic tradition pioneered by the likes of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor

Since his mother's mysterious death, and his father's suicide, Thomas has been force to take care of his three brothers, Jonah, Cole, and Sebastian. conjoined triplets who have 3 bodies, but share a single brain. In addition to the care of his three brothers, Thomas has inherited Kingdom Come's only industry and source of jobs, The Mill.

Because of this position of wealth and power, he is at once feared and respected by the backwards, superstitious townsfolk. The walls that have grown up between Thomas and his fellow residents of Kingdom Come are high, and hide many strange, unexpected things.

The town's "Granny witches" cast their spells, and read their auguries, trying to win influence over Thomas, while his childhood sweetheart Maggie must decide what, if any kind of relationship they will have. When Thomas's best friend, Drabs Bibbler (a reverend who suffers from the power of tongues), tries to pass on a warning of impending danger to Thomas, he is overcome by his "gift". All Thomas learns is "The carnival is coming."

With the help of Maggie, The Granny Witches, and pieces of his past that he thought lost, Thomas must face the strange forces that are swirling towards the people and town that he loves.

Publishers Weekly

In this compelling Southern Gothic, Piccirilli (whose 2002 novel The Night Class has grabbed the Stoker for Best Novel) presents a searing portrait of twisted souls trapped in a wasteland. Thomas, the wealthiest inhabitant of the swamp-infested county of Kingdom Come, a bastion of superstition and ignorance where he's simultaneously reviled and revered, lives with his brothers, conjoined triplets sharing a single brain who act as a sort of Delphic oracle. Thomas also shares a platonic relationship with his wife Maggie: the two were married by his best friend Drub, a black preacher with a penchant for nudity and prophecy. Into this jambalaya intrudes a northern film student (who falls in love with one of the triplets), a sexually precocious young girl from the swamps and a "dog kicker" who terrorizes Kingdom Come. When the local granny witches become agitated and accuse Thomas of neglecting his duties to the land, you can just bet there's plenty of trouble ahead. Piccirilli masterfully increases the tension by playing with stereotypes and manipulating the flaws of his subjects' characters, creating a world where what happens on the outside is a pale reflection of what goes on inside. As such, the novel will appeal both to genre fans and to readers of Flannery O'Connor and even of William Faulkner. James Lee Burke and Harry Crews devotees should also take note. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.