The Last Whisper in the Dark

Thriller Award–winner Piccirilli’s dedication, which begins, “For everyone with a sin that can’t be laid aside,” sets the somber tone for this superior noir set on Long Island, the sequel to 2012’s The Last Kind Words. Terrier “Terry” Rand, who’s trying to stay honest despite being born into a family of crooks, suffers from nightmares. He’s haunted by the ghosts of dead family members, including his older brother, Collie, executed for murders committed in the first book. When his former best friend, Chub Wright, whose wife, Kimmy, was an old flame of Terry’s, gets involved with the wrong bad guys and ends up in their cross hairs, Terry finds himself drawn into yet another morally complex situation. Hard-edged prose (“I’d stuck an icepick through the spleen of the conversation”) sustains the gritty feeling that pervades this novel of attempted redemption for the crimes of others. Agent: David Hale Smith, DHS Literary. (July)