ESC is a "subtle masterpiece"

Thomas Pluck calls Every Shallow Cut "a subtle masterpiece that lays open the story of the man who’s lost everything and goes looking for answers." He gives the book five out of five stars.

Read his review.

Buy Every Shallow Cut here.

Dead End Follies gives you three reasons to read ESC

Ben of Dead End Follies writes:

"THREE REASONS TO READ: EVERY SHALLOW CUT

1) It's a freakin' novella! ... It's short, not intimidating and it doesn't waste any words. It cuts down to the bare essentials of good storytelling.

2) It's a pure noir, but it has only one cop (for a few pages), one gun, no mobsters and very little violence....

3) It's a sad book. ... Sadness is a difficult emotion to trigger through page, but this is done amazingly well and should you embrace that you want to read something sad, this is the perfect book."

Read the book-club review here.

Buy Every Shallow Cut here. 

Another great review of Every Shallow Cut

"This book was the first book in quite some time that I didn’t skim the pages to get to the end to see how it ended. It had such a perfect pacing balance that kept me engaged enough to want to keep reading yet wasn’t so bombastic that I had such a desire to get to the end that I was willing to sacrifice the buildup. Well done, Mr. Piccirilli."
- Bryon Quertermous 

Click to read the review.

Click to learn more about Every Shallow Cut.

ESC "vicious as a kick to the shin"

"EVERY SHALLOW CUT ranks among Tom Piccirilli’s best work. ...As abrupt and vicious as a kick to the shin... A marvelous noir-flavored character study." - Scott Emerson

Read the review.


Order your copy of Every Shallow Cut.

Two more great reviews of Every Shallow Cut!

Dead End Follies raves: "EVERY SHALLOW CUT is as beautiful as it is sad and depressing. ... It will resonate inside you like somebody smacked you upside the head with a baseball bat. I will read EVERY SHALLOW CUT again, many, many times for it's a work that has staying power."

Read it here.

And there's a very in-depth review up at Open Letters Monthly, analyzing the book's plot and characterization in great detail. Craig Dowd writes: "Every Shallow Cut is not so much a broken window into the battered soul of the Everyman, but a broken mirror, lined with age and ignorance, showing each and every one of us what we’re capable of – and, more specifically, so very close to becoming."

Check it out. (spoiler-heavy)

Order Every Shallow Cut.

Huge interview with Tom Piccirilli

"Me: Where do you see yourself going next? Or are you happy where you are, with what you’re writing?

Tom Piccirilli: For the time being I’m happy writing noirish dark crime fiction. One of these days I think I’d like to do a bigger novel that has less concentration on the crime stuff and more on other concerns, whatever they are. Family matters, relationships, and all that other shit that is the focus of so much modern literature. I think I’m finally at that point of my life when I see enough humor and darkness and oddity in the so-called “normal” everyday life that I don’t need the storytelling conventions of genre material. The guns, the double-crosses, the heist gone wrong. Maybe one of these days I’ll get around to writing that book, and then again maybe not. Part of the fun of being a writer is not knowing what’s going to suddenly become of interest to you somewhere down the line. You can’t guess at it, you just have to let it persuade you."

For this and a whole lot more insights, read Lee Thompson's interview with Tom Piccirilli.

Or learn more about Every Shallow Cut.

Every Shallow Cut nominated for a Spinetingler!

Critically-acclaimed novella Every Shallow Cut, by Tom Piccirilli, has been nominated for a Spinetingler Award in the new category of Best Novella. Voting is open to the public and will be open until February 1. Congratulations, Tom!

Vote for Every Shallow Cut!

Learn more about it here.

Shelf Monkey loves Every Shallow Cut

Corey Redekop of Shelf Monkey loved Every Shallow Cut, writing: "Brutal, yes. Violent, sometimes. Unforgiving, oh yes, and spilling over with despair. It may be one of the finest literary recreations of depression I've come across. ... If I'd read it three days sooner, it would have been in my top reads of 2011."

Read the review!

Order Every Shallow Cut!

Every Shallow Cut "heart-stopping"

J. L. Comeau of Count Gore de Vol names Every Shallow Cut as one of his top ten picks of 2011, writing:
"Bleakness and anguish seethe on every page this heart-stopping story crafted in hues of utter desolation."

Click here to read the review.

Click here to purchase Every Shallow Cut.

Every Shallow Cut gets some year-end love

The year may be ending, but the praise for Tom Piccirilli and Every Shallow Cut sure isn't.

Mike Dennis writes: "[T]his is not the first of his books that I’ve read. It is, however, the best. I’ve wondered why he’s not better known, why his books don’t sell in such numbers as to propel him into permanent status on bestseller lists. It might be because the American reading public is not ready for Every Shallow Cut. It’s a masterpiece far ahead of its time."

Read his review here.

And Jedediah Ayres at Barnes and Noble calls Every Shallow Cut "The most startlingly complete and complex character study I read this year".

Read his mini-review.

Visit CZP's page on Every Shallow Cut.

ESC one of the "Best Damn Books of 2011"

Ed Kurtz lists Every Shallow Cut among his "Best Damn Books of 2011". He writes: "I won’t sugarcoat it: this is a depressing read. But it’s a damn excellent one, too, and worth the open-mouthed, knee-hugging keening you’ll probably be doing after you’ve finished it."

Read the review! (scroll to number 7)

Buy Every Shallow Cut!

Short but sweet review of Every Shallow Cut

"Tom Piccirilli writes like a man on fire. His sentences bob and weave like classic pugilists. His characters are desperate in all the right ways. Every Shallow Cut demonstrates a master of gritty poetics at the top of his game." - Cameron Pierce

Read the review here. (scroll down to number 9)

Buy Every Shallow Cut here.

ESC cuts close to the bone

"Every Shallow Cut is a new entry in a classic but too-rare form that cuts close to the bone. As such, it’s unflinchingly successful." - Thomas Roche, Boiled Hard

Read the in-depth review.

Buy Every Shallow Cut.

Yet another great ESC review

"Piccirilli, until this book having reputation of excellent plotter, this time dropped the plot altogether aside, writing an excellent jazzy prose. This is, in general, a poem in prose, stanzas about despair, anger and fall into the abyss. ...This novella cuts like the sharpest knife." - Ray Garraty, Endless Falls Up

Click here to read the review.

Click here to buy Every Shallow Cut.

Another great ESC review

The 'Nerd of Noir' at Spinetingler writes: "...if you’ve got the stones and stomach for it, steel yourself for a shot of some single-malt, black-as-space shit. If the Nerd were a particularly lazy Gene Shalit, he’d review this beast thusly: 'Every Shallow Cut cuts deep.' "

Read the review.

Order Every Shallow Cut.

Jonathan Mayberry likes Every Shallow Cut

"EVERY SHALLOW CUT is that rare kind of psychological thriller that every other writer wishes he'd written. This is suspense at its most excruciating. Wow."
—Jonathan Maberry - NY Times Bestseller

View Mayberry's Amazon profile, where this blurb was posted.

Order Every Shallow Cut.

Amazing review of Every Shallow Cut in Spinetingler!

"I just finished Every Shallow Cut a couple days ago and have got to say: Goddammit, man. After reading that, I think I’m hanging up my spurs. Or Moleskine, as it were. I can’t beat it, or really even come close. . . . Flat out, Tom, Every Shallow Cut is a thing of beauty. I could probably go on about ten other things this book does well. . . but thinking about this has given me the itch to go write something awesome, and that’s about the best comment I could ever give." --Nick Korpon, Spinetingler

Read the rest of his review/letter/rant here!

Buy Every Shallow Cut here!

ChiZine Roundup at Pulp 300!

Pulp 300 has done a set of four reviews in a row for ChiZine books, all of them highly favourable and earning three "guns" out of three.

On The Door to Lost Pages: " We dig these surreal interlinked stories and will certainly put Lalumiere’s first collection, Objects of Worship, on our TBR pile."

On Sarah Court: " Dear gussie, Davidson can write a good sentence. ...this is our favorite read of the year so far."

On Every Shallow Cut: "He’s on our esteemed 'Put Whatever Tripe You’re Reading Immediately Down and Pick This Up' list. ...Piccirilli is cooler than a New Guinea penis sheath."

And on The Thief of Broken Toys: "...the novella is the ideal literary length. Maybe we’ll wax eloquently at a future date as to why. For now let us simply bask in the glow of Lebbon’s latest."

You can see all of the reviews here.

ESC on Bookgasm

Bruce Grossman at Bookgasm recommends Every Shallow Cut: "There are some truly great lines that resonate in the mind. As short as this book is, it packs more energy than all but a few writers of today can muster."

Click to read the review.

Your copy of ESC is waiting!

Another pair of great ESC reviews!

It seems Tom Piccirilli just can't stop getting good press!
The Hipster Book Club writes, "While he may not become a tween girl favorite, Piccirilli’s ability to relate the maddening but human experiences of unfulfilled hope or fear of failure through an evocative and exhilarating story makes Every Shallow Cut a standout. The story will resonate long after the short time it takes to read."

Read the review here.

And the Milwaukee Public Library's blog posts, "If you are looking for light, summer beach reading, skip this book and find something else. If you are looking for 175 pages of a brilliant character study of a man being stripped of everything he loves, except his dog (thank goodness!), then I strongly recommend this downer of a book."

Read the review.

And buy a copy of Every Shallow Cut here.