Rating: 
Summary: A classic series takes shape as a novel
Review: I first read Piccirrilli's "Self" stories back when they appeared in small press magazines in the horror genre. I was always enthralled with how he managed to blend so many elements together and yet still offer up a remarkably smooth story. In A Lower Deep, the author takes three novellas with one overall arcing story line and gives a rip-snorting dark fantasy tale of a modern day warlock driven by a vague morality to try to save the world. The warlock (or "Necromancer", as he's known here) is trapped between a world of black magic, his own demonic "Self's" constant urgings for him to give in to lust and murder, his love for his dead girlfriend, and his struggle with understanding God's greater plan. A wonderfully ambitious, unsettling, and moving book.
Rating:
Summary: Full-throttle horror takes you around the world
Review: I've read plenty of horror novels but none quite like A LOWER DEEP. The author has clearly done his homework where Judeo-Christian dogma and "the black arts" are concerned, as well as historically studying the Holy City of Jerusalem. The last third of the novel takes place in Jerusalem (and the "Hills of Megiddo," better known to us as Armageddon). The novel takes classical elements of horror and dark fantasy and turns them on their ear, giving us a haunted protagonist, a silver-tongued "devil" of a sidekick, and an exotic setting towards the end of the world. A beautiful, daring, original and inventive novel that is as haunting for its themes on religion and redemption as for its horrific elements. Powerful and literate.
Rating:
Summary: Horrific and highly imaginative dark fantasy
Review: Rarely have I read a novel so packed with bizarre characters and situations. The story follows a modern day warlock and his demon sidekick named "Self" (what a trip) as they struggle with their old coven master who has started a series of supernatural events that will culminate in Armageddon. Our hero must battle a new coven, fight a half-angelic mutant being in the bowels of a haunted abbey, and hunt through Jerusalem where the God's power seems to be boiling over. There are also demons, djinn, evil monks, ghosts, and the walking dead along for the ride. Piccirilli uses and comments on faith, history, theology, folklore, prophecy and other so-called "large spiritual matters" but does it in such a way that the story rolls along at a rip-roaring pace. The writing is solid, poetic, and completely gripping. The author's imagination is fiery and wild, but his skills as a writer hold everything in balance. There's humor here, relationships, love, vengeance and heartbreak. One of the best horror novels I've ever read. More Self!
Rating:
Summary: Horrific and highly imaginative dark fantasy
Review: Rarely have I read a novel so packed with bizarre characters and situations. The story follows a modern day warlock and his demon sidekick named "Self" (what a trip) as they struggle with their old coven master who has started a series of supernatural events that will culminate in Armageddon. Our hero must battle a new coven, fight a half-angelic mutant being in the bowels of a haunted abbey, and hunt through Jerusalem where the God's power seems to be boiling over. There are also demons, djinn, evil monks, ghosts, and the walking dead along for the ride. Piccirilli uses and comments on faith, history, theology, folklore, prophecy and other so-called "large spiritual matters" but does it in such a way that the story rolls along at a rip-roaring pace. The writing is solid, poetic, and completely gripping. The author's imagination is fiery and wild, but his skills as a writer hold everything in balance. There's humor here, relationships, love, vengeance and heartbreak. One of the best horror novels I've ever read. More Self!
Rating: 
Summary: "A" for ambition, "B" for execution.
Review: Reminiscent of Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer, Piccirilli's Necromancer wanders along the backroads of civilization, only pausing for occasional skirmishes with the forces of evil that lurk behind the surface of even the most innocent of facades. Accompanied by his wise-cracking familiar, the demonic Self, the Necromancer seeks out danger as a means of distracting himself from the memory of his deceased lover Danielle, who died ten years earlier in a mystic right gone badly wrong.In this, his first novel length adventure (see Piccirilli's excellent collection, Deep Into That Darkness Peering for previous tales), the Necromancer finds himself caught up in the macabre activities of his former coven, led by his nemesis Jebediah DeLancre. DeLancre has an interesting proposition for the troubled mage-if the Necromancer assists the coven in forcing Christ's return to Earth, DeLancre will resurrect Danielle, whole and undamaged. Thus, he's forced to choose between the love of his life and triggering Armageddon. Almost overwhelming in its vision and scope, A Lower Deep is a difficult, often exhausting, read. Bursting with incident, exposition, and myriad characters (living, dead, and living dead), it's a book that sometimes feels as if it was forcibly compressed into too small a package. Whether this was a conscious decision on Piccirilli's part, or whether an editor forced it on him, the book could benefit from a little "seam letting," allowing the author a little more latitude to tell his expansive tale. One senses that Piccirilli was shooting for a literary version of Wagnerian opera. Instead, the novel resembles nothing so much as a James Bond movie. All the elements are there-a flashy opening sequence, the inevitable witty banter with a villain intent on wreaking global chaos (although the villain turns the tables on the Necromancer by telling him "You're insane."), a globe hopping hero, and a final confrontation between enemies with nothing less than the fate of the world at stake-the Necromancer even drives a Jaguar! As is often the case with a Bond film, its parts are more interesting than the whole, a shame because Piccirilli was obviously reaching for something more. Although he creates some unique and disturbing set pieces along the way (the finale is spectacular), their power is diminished by the sheer amount of work readers must do to keep up. In the end, Piccirrilli gets an "A" for effort, but a "B" for execution.
Rating:
Summary: A horror lover's delight
Review: Some people might think this one is more "dark fantasy" than pure outright "horror" do to all the magical and occult elements to the story, but this story is truly a chilling one. A Lower Deep is broken into three sections and each one tells a separate story of how the nameless narrator and his demon companion Self get into big trouble with both the forces of good and evil. Like religion itself, all of the characters in this novel are conflicted over exactly what is right and wrong, and which "evils" might be a part of hell's greater plan or God's. The ending is an outright stunner involving the Archangel Michael, the possible resurrection of Christ, and the prophecies of Revelation (including the Red Dragon). An exceptional novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lower Deep
Review: The is an unknown classic. The characters are as haunting as the rest of novel. The way epic horror twist and turns though the plot keeps the reader on edge and excited Tom Piccirill is underrated author he could be the next Clive Barker or John Carptender not that I'm comparing them but he should be as famos. The book is epic read of pure horror in a new and exciting way.
The plot starts with a man only known as Necromacer and his demonic familiar named Self retun to their homeland where he faces such temptions as bringing back his lost love and his sorrow without her. And he also meets some old friends who have an evil plan. The Necromancer eventually finds himself stuck between the ways of heaven and hell while he is in a hell that he can't even escape.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing else like it
Review: There is nothing else like this book. I've read a lot of horror in my life but this one is something pretty damn fresh. Humorous, inventive, witty but filled with plenty of chills. The author's imagination goes all out to mix-up fantasy and horror based on the bible, witchcraft, and other religions. The last third of the book takes place in Jerusalem, a place I know little baout, but he put me there until I could see the Garden of Gathsemane and Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Christ was presumably crucified. The details are very visual and the images unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: OMG! What a wonderful savage, horrid, bloody, poetic book!
Review: This book is both beautiful and horrible to read. Its kind of like a very long very dark poem. I read a lot of it right before bed and had a lot of horrible nightmares. I didn't really think it was a very scary book, but the detail the author uses is definitly the stuff the worst dreams are made from. I've read a lot of books, but none quite like this. The book invites you into a world of torment and you enter greedily. From start to finish you experiance blood and beauty. Even the parts which confused me facinated me. I'd recomend it to anyone who likes hard core horror.
Rating: 
Summary: incoherent nonsense
Review: This book was a disappointment. I read the premise of the book and thought it would be great. Instead the book is confusing and plotless. I found myself being quite bored reading this piece of fluff. The horror sequences seem to be written for pure shock value instead of serving the story (in those rare times when you can figure out what is going on). Don't waste your time. Read something by Stephen King, Douglas Clegg, Clive Barker, or Robert Mccammon instead. They are worth your time.
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