Finished: "The Midnight Road" by Tom Piccirilli

Finished: The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli, 2007, 9780553384086.

I did not like this book as much as Piccirilli's other novels. But, like all Piccirilli books, I was obsessively reading the novel until I finished.

Flynn works for Child Protective Services out on Long Island. He investigates an anonymous complaint during a blizzard. He finds a guy locked into a cage in a basement. He flees the house with the guy, a seven-year-old girl, and a French Bulldog. The crazy mom chases them in car, Flynn wrecks his car on ice, Flynn is frozen - dead - for 28 minutes, dog and girl die. Flynn is revived. People are killed with some connection to Flynn. Flynn is suicidal and a zombie walking through life - has been for thirty years. Things happen. People die. Twists turn. Flynn hallucinates the French Bulldog talking to him.

Since Piccirilli does the google I'll address him directly:

The problem I had with this, Piccirilli, is that it felt like the two main stories did not quite mesh. 1- There is Flynn, his car, his dead family, his dead brother, and all his angst and guilt. 2 - The murders in front of Flynn, the threats behind the killings, and Flynn's half-assed investigation.

The bulk of the novel seemed about Flynn and his issues with the murders floating in and out of the plot. Maybe that was the point. Flynn was a good character and the unwinding of his past and troubles was well done.

Enough sucking up to Piccirilli.

Comments/Observations:
1. Piccirilli likes characters who like muscle cars.
2. This is another Piccirilli novel with a Long Island setting.
3. Piccirilli seems to like main characters who are troubled guys and either orphans or with long dead relatives.
4. I wonder if Piccirilli got heat from autism people for having the bad guy be autistic.
5. The bad guy was a surprise. I was wondering if the tactless reporter was involved.
6. I still have not gotten around to reading the most recent Piccirilli novel. Which is also set in a snowstorm.