A review of The Coldest Mile by Tom Piccirilli

The Coldest Mile by Tom Piccirilli (the sequel to The Cold Spot) begins where the previous novel left off. Chase needs time to recover from the bullet wounds that he got during his battle with the crew of killers who murdered his wife, Lila. He figures the way to do this and maybe pull down another score is to work for the Langan mob family as a driver for a month or so. The patriarch of the family is on his deathbed, and his lovely, but deadly, daughter is planning to kill her brother once daddy is finally dead. Along with that, the family business is downsizing and moving to Chicago due to the Russian, Jamaican, and Thai mobs trying to muscle in of their territory.

This is the chaotic situation that Chase finds himself in the middle of when he's hired not as a driver or wheelman, but rather as a chauffeur. The last chauffeur had his throat cut right in front of Chase by the family's top hit man so that he wouldn't be able to say no to the offered job. Refusing to wear a chauffeur's hat or a pair of white gloves, Chase knows his days are numbered, especially when the family's daughter, Sherry, offers herself to him and he politely says no to the enticing invitation. No woman likes being rejected by the family chauffeur.

What Chase has to do is make a big enough score, get out of Dodge, and head to Sarasota, Florida to locate his grandfather Jonah before the old man can destroy the life of a two-year-old girl. Chase knows in his heart that either he or Jonah will die in this final confrontation. Still, he has no choice because the ghosts of his wife and mother are telling him to save this little girl...the girl whose mother was shot in the head by Jonah...the girl who happens to be his grandfather's daughter.

Like The Cold Spot, this sequel weaves and turns at neck-breaking speeds, catching the reader off guard as it suddenly heads in a new, unexpected direction, though the ultimate destination is still Jonah and his infant daughter, Kylie. Piccirilli pulls no punches with the violence and meanness and evil of some of the characters, leaving the reader feeling as if he/she has touched something slimy and disgusting.

The main character of Chase certainly has his hands full as he seeks to find that cold spot within himself so that he can do whatever is necessary to save the child, and that means killing fast without hesitation and emotion. The author also knows how to create intriguing characters with just a few short sentences that almost seem to explode outward from the page, and his writing is lean and mean just like Jonah, daring you to put the book down for even a second.

The Coldest Mile is every bit as good as its predecessor, The Cold Spot, and worthy of all the awards given to novels in this genre. This is a new series that you'll want to be continued, and the ending of the second book does leave it open for the third one as Chase learns who killed his mother and why, creating a turmoil and anger inside of him that knows no bounds.

These are two novels that give me goose bumps every time I think about them. Few authors can do that to me with their fiction, but Tom Piccirilli is no ordinary writer. No, sir, this is a man offering to take you on an adventure that will change your life and your prospective about who you are as a human being. You may not like what you discover as your heart beats rapidly inside your chest, but there's no turning back once that first page is read. Highly recommended to all adrenaline junkies who like to live vicariously through the written word.