Every Shallow Cut

"Lovers of gritty noir will devour this stand-alone from Piccirilli (Shadow Season), a pulse-pounding account of a writer's descent into despair and violence. . . . Piccirilli makes his fall from grace utterly convincing and his emotional rage all too understandable."
– Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Every Shallow Cut can easily be read in 90 minutes—and it should be. Doing so makes Piccirilli’s matter-of-fact portrait of utter despair more compelling and drives home its austere beauty. Inspired by current economic hardship and possibly by his own worst nightmares, Piccirilli dedicates the book to readers who share such fears. Ninety minutes spent with Every Shallow Cut will sting for years."
– Thomas Gaughan, Booklist "With an already-impressive body of work behind him, Piccirilli delivers his greatest book yet with Every Shallow Cut. Piccirilli's prose is stripped-down and almost acoustic for this effort. Every word counts. . . and cuts. If this were music, Every Shallow Cut would sit right alongside Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Johnny Cash's American Recordings, and Neil Young's Harvest Moon. Highly recommended."
– Brian Keene, author of The Rising "This powerful little noirella will surely delight—and disturb."
–Paul Goat Allen, Unabashidly Bookish: the BN Community Blog "This is a tightly crafted novella that nicely captures the gloomy paranoia of the 'mancession,' recognizing both the need to stay in contact with what we love and the dead end that all fantasies of revenge represent."
–Alex Good, The Record "I love the writing here. It is stripped down to a kind of Charles Willeford-Charles Williams simplicity that is all the more effective for its bluntness and accessibility. The dialogue is dead-on....Tom Piccirilli has written many fine books and stories but at this point in his career, for me anyway, I would call Every Shallow Cut his masterpiece."
– Ed Gorman, Spur and Bram Stoker Award winning author of – The Poker Club "Just finished Every Shallow Cut by the brilliant Tom Piccirilli. A giant recommendation if you like your books short, dark, and very good."
– Sara Gran, author of Dope and Come Closer ". . . with Every Shallow Cut, [Piccirilli]’s leap frogged both genres and has created a unique, disturbing, and utterly compulsive narrative voice which cannot be defined by genre. Each sentence is a sharply crafted gut punch keeping the reader on edge as Piccirilli’s nowhere man finally lets go of the ghost of his old life and fully embraces insanity."
– Keith Rawson, Bloody Knuckles, Calloused Fingertips "[W]e can see the immensity of what Tom has done here. Anyone can rant about the disparity in lifestyles in this country or the problems of the promises too many of us were sold over our lives. Anyone can scream that there is a problem. But within these pages, we have no choice but to live it, to breathe it in and make it a part of ourselves. It isn't so easy to ignore then."
– Anton Cancre, Shroud Magazine "Every Shallow Cut is bloody brilliant. So many emotional wallops in so few pages."
– Sarah Weinman (Los Angeles Times, Barnes & Noble Review), via – twitter "Piccirilli is a master of the novella-length noir. Every Shallow Cut coils and tightens like a spring, giving us an image of a man for whom things can only get worse. I've been a fan of Piccirilli's work for a long time, and Every Shallow Cut delivers."
– Brian Evenson, author of Last Days and Fugue State "There was one point (I won’t mention specifics, lest I spoil the full effect) that broke me down into full out sobs."
– Anton Cancre, Horrornews.net "Sometimes we write in blood, sometimes in tears, and in Every Shallow Cut Tom Piccirilli has done both. It's a book that is profoundly moving and astonishing, his most vulnerable, shining, stunning hour."
– Ken Bruen, author of The Guards and London Boulevard "Sometimes we write in blood, sometimes in tears, and in Every Shallow Cut Tom Piccirilli has done both. It's a book that is profoundly moving and astonishing, his most vulnerable, shining, stunning hour."
– The Crow's Caw "Just possibly the most powerful piece of work Mr. Piccirilli has ever produced, and that's saying a lot. Dark and desperate, Every Shallow Cut is an amazing story by an amazing writer. Highly recommended."
– James A. Moore, author of Blood Red and Deeper "It's the rare and gifted writer who can convincingly relate abject despair and be funny without diluting the impact."
– Eddie Muller, Founder and President of the Film Noir Foundation "Normally, when people get cut, blood spills from their wounds. When Tom Piccirilli gets cut, sentences pour out. I recommend picking up Every Shallow Cut and getting some of his blood in your hands."
– TT Zuma, Horror World "Every Shallow Cut is a relentless look at a nervous breakdown in progress. . . . By the end of this work, readers will probably be short of breath because of the driving pace and the brutality Piccirilli heaps upon his anti-hero, and which his anti-hero heaps upon everyone else. It’s a slow motion train wreck, and you can’t—don’t want to—look away. If you’ve never read any of Tom Piccirilli’s stuff before, this would be a terrific introduction."
– Bev Vincent, author of The Road to the Black Tower "Every Shallow Cut is not a light book to read. It really makes you think about what life would be if all was lost. It is not fluff or an upbeat book, but a story that needs to be told and certainly needs to be read."
– Sonar4 Landing Dock