Rating: 
Summary: Southern Gothic by way of New York!
Review: This one is a real cornerstone to the surreal southern gothic genre that includes horror/fantasy authors like Manly Wade Wellman, Michael Bishop, Elizabeth Massie, etc. But there's quite a difference as Piccirilli adds a New York edge to his tale of a backwater swamp town full of superstition, ghosts, and just plain weird characters. His writing is fluid and accessible, and the story is extremely fun and bizarre in the extreme. Equal parts mystery, dark fantasy, tragi-comedy and southern funk, you'll love to listen to this strange choir sing its song.
Rating:
Summary: Reading, in spasms
Review: Thomas is the descendant of the founders of Kingdom Come, a backwoods and backwater swamp town. He owns and runs the town mill, the major source of the income, thus making him the town's wealthiest inhabitant. But Thomas has other responsibilities as well. Many other responsibilities. One of the simpler of which includes looking out for his brothers, conjoined triplets who share a frontal lobe and speak in the vein of a choir of ill children.
In addition, within these pages one can find a coven of highly superstitious granny witches, a young girl who may not be all that she appears to be, a preacher's son named Drub who speaks in tongues while running naked throughout the town, a private eye with more on his mind than the cases he's been hired for, and a whole plethora of other vibrant though inherently flawed characters that definitely keep the story interesting. Furthermore, the carnival is coming, and with it comes a sense of impending doom.
Throughout the course of this book, Thomas learns that both the town and his family have several dark secrets that are interwoven into a colorful yet mysterious medley. This creepy medley culminates into a well thought-out finale wrought with both mysticism and intrigue as Thomas slowly peels away the layers of his very being to discover his roots.
Tom Piccirilli has created an amazing tale, divulged via excellent prose in true Southern Gothic fashion, that will keep one's curiosity bubbling and brewing while pondering what will come next. This is more than just a mere horror novel. This is outstanding literature. A Choir of Ill Children is the type of book one will want to read again and again, as there is more to be extracted from it's pages with each reading. Pick this one up, you won't regret it!
Rating: 
Summary: Beauty Meanders
Review: Tom Piccirilli is no stranger to fans of the indie horror field. I'm so happy to finally see his work released in the mass market format. This is one author who deserves a wider audience. Comparable to Stewart O'Nan, Piccirilli's writing is always beautiful, always lyrical and very deep. Unfortunately, A Choir of Ill Children, the sad and poetic tale of a young tormented soul, just isn't Piccirilli's best effort yet.The story centers around a young man who has had more than his share of troubles in his life. His father killed himself, his mother disappeared and is still missing, and he is still haunted by horrible dreams and some horrible events of his past. His brothers, conjoined triplets, have powerful minds and thoughts. And everyone in the small town of Kingdom Come is hiding something under the surface. There are just too many dark secrets for this little town. As the dark forces try to avenge the past, Thomas has to deal with his own ghosts, the ones inhabiting his mind. The fact that everyone arounds him seems to be on his case doesn't help matters either. The novel is at its best when Piccirilli brings us into Thomas's past or when he describes some of Thomas's dreams. Those scenes just feel surreal and disturbing, leaving the reader to feel completely uneasy. The story meanders without aim for too long. Although you get to know these characters very well, you never actually feel close to any of them. All of this brings us to the heavy finale, where too many things seem to happen all at once. Everything just explodes and, once again, moves aimlessly towards the finish. That said, A Choir of Ill Children's prose is so powerful, so gripping that you forget about its flaws. Piccirilli has a way of reeling you in and making you want to keep on reading. There is a lot of sadness in these words, the pages are drenched in regret. Superstitions abound, and dark gothic magic comes to play a role in the narrative. I admired the book for the quality of its prose and for the way in which Piccirilli weaves his narrative so seamlessly. But I think, in the end, I just wanted more out of these characters.
Rating:
Summary: Drop everything and read this NOW.
Review: Tom Piccirilli, A Choir of Ill Children (Night Shade, 2003)
Whoa. When I read The Night School a few months back, I knew Tom Piccirilli was a good writer, but it certainly didn't prepare me for this. A Choir of Ill Children was recently the featured horror novel at chapteraday.com. With books that pop up there, I usually read all five days' worth of material before deciding whether I'm going to check the book out of the library, buy it, or whatever. With A Choir of Ill Children, I stopped reading halfway through day one in order to put it on hold at the library; I'd finished it by the time I got the mailing for day five.
A Choir of Ill Children is the best American horror novel since Kathe Koja's Skin a decade previous, and the two novels serve to illustrate in how many different directions American horror has exploded. Koja writes surreal, existential horror novels (even for young adults; her most recent novel, The Blue Mirror, is eerily reminiscent of her tour de force, Strange Angels); Piccirilli, at least in this case, is firmly rooted in the Southern Gothic tradition. While closer to Koja's horror-of-absence than King or Koontz' things-that-go-bump-in-the-night, this difference between the two is like night and day. Well, more like dusk and dawn, but you get the idea.
Thomas is the wealthiest man in Kingdom Come, and the most shunned. His three brothers are conjoined at the frontal lobe, making the older residents scared of him, and the younger residents (who've never seen the boys, who stay in the house at all times) afraid of him the same way normal kids are afraid of a haunted house. Thomas' best friend Drabs, who's kind of a combination between a Pentecostal and an epileptic, tells Thomas the circus is coming to town, filmmakers have shown up to do a documentary on the triplets (one of whom falls in love with the narrator), and all the dogs in town are getting kicked by a vicious, but unseen, criminal. And that's what things look like before they get weird. Believe me, they get weird.
A Choir of Ill Children isn't so much a horror novel, despite what I said above, as it is a tragedy; it's about as close to classical tragedy as American literature can get. That is to say, when the revelations finally come at the end, they're somewhat predictable, but they're supposed to be. This is more Hamlet or Oedipus than it the The Thirty-Nine Steps. Piccirilli has created a true work of genius here, and one that will stay with you long after you've finished this book. A must-read. *****
Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: Welcome to Kingdom Come, a little piece of swampland that has its own triplet Oracle of Delphi and a cast of Gothic misfits to die for. Tom Piccirilli is a wordsmith of the first order, and this is his best yet. By turns dark and eerie, weirdly funny and almost always disturbing, this novel defies categorization. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Dragonflies and kudzu
Review: Wow, what to say about this book? Thomas lives with his 3 brothers, who are conjoined triplets joined at the head and sharing a brain. His best friend is an often naked, prophetic preacher. There are two filmmaking students who are staying with Thomas while making a documentary, and one of them falls in love with one of the triplets while there. Oh, yeah, and there is also the "swamp girl" who lives with them. There are also one-legged child-murderers, their dead victims, swamp witches who cut off bits of themselves to stave off the coming storm, and bizarre canvivals. All of these elements come together wonderfully o tell a very strange tale.
A Choir of Ill Children is simultaneously lovely and disturbing, lyrical and horrific. Piccarilli's prose has a poetry about it, even while it is describing something horrible. Parts of the story reminded me of kudzu (hey, the story is southern gothic, so that leads me to kudzu): green and vibrant, and hiding god only knows what underneath. I loved this book. It was one of my favorite reads of the past year. I highly recommend it.
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