Talk us through it
Overweight computer consultant Cryer arrives home to find his daughter gutted and dying, and his wife no better, tied up with a slashed throat in the upstair's bathroom. Cryer is just in time to go man on man with the person responsible and ends up with three inches of knife in his forehead for his troubles. Against all probabilities Cryer survives the attack but wakes with no memory of who he is or any knowledge of his former life. Cryer isn't in fact his real name, but one given to him by a fellow inmate of the hospital he wakes up in. At first the Police believe Cryer to be the responsible for the murders but the forensic evidence doesn't back this up. Where to for the former weight challenged blubber boy, well developing the old body and building immense strength in his hands and forearms for starters, though that's not important now. Cryer decides to find out about himself and track down his assailant, can a man with no memory achieve what a Police investigation can't?
Review"They broke his pinkies and he made no sound." - The Nobody Tom Piccirilli wastes zero time in getting down and dirty with things. Page one of The Nobody, "When Cryer got home that evening he found his twelve-year-old daughter gutted and whimpering, crawling around the living room in agonized circles". The writer further doesn't do himself any favours presenting the protagonist, our narrator for the course of the book, as being overweight, cheating on his diet ("a couple of double cheeseburgers and three extra-large fries"), and despite having nearly quit sneaking in "two slow cigarettes". Even writers such as Brett McBean, Shaun Hutson, or Richard Laymon while going for blood splattered pages are highly unlikely to present a nominal hero as being this deeply flawed on the first page. Piccirilli sets himself up for a healthy kicking but manages to write himself out of what could have been a dead end in convincing fashion, lets check out what he has happening and how he does it. First up I am always mildly amused by Yank sensibilities, for this wild colonial boy they make no sense and leave you wondering if U.S society isn't inherently rooted to begin with. Case in point, how many yank movies have you seen that are quite happy to show violence without flinching, yet go all prim and proper when it comes to sex. What sort of message are they sending here, violence is okay sex isn't? In a similar vein I found Piccirilli had hit one of those weird Yank things with the AA meeting that features late in the book. It's apparently okay for our hero to be a lard arse, to scarf down greasy takeout food, and to hit the coffin nails, but the reader needs to have developed some sympathy for Cryer before we broach the subject of a drinking problem. Normally I would have screamed to the heavens "plot device the Author has backed himself into a corner" at this point, but in the case of The Nobody the AA meeting wasn't necessary, Cryer could just as well been working late at the office with a problem that needed fixing for the next day. Piccirilli clearly wants to add an alcohol problem to the list of character issues Cryer has, but isn't prepared to go down that path early in the novel. To be frank most Down Under and English writers would have just brought it up on the first page, gave it some air, and then written a sympathetic character in the knowledge their readers would still be on board the groove train a hundred pages later. The author has created a believable character in Cryer, a remorseless machine dedicated to one single defining act of retribution. Putting aside U.S quirks, Piccirilli writes a bloody believable character and manages to cover Cryer turning from a lard arse loser into a vehicle for vengeance in far more convincing detail than Zombie manages to do with Michael Myers in the hopelessly inept remake of Halloween. Cryer loses his extra weight and develops strength without thinking in a sort of route learning process. What the Author does marvellously well is take a character with a history, relationships, and clearly problems, and proceeds to turn that character into a blank canvass. With no memory of his previous life and more importantly without the anchor points of previous relationships Cryer is free to do whatever he wants, and remarkably is a character without original sin, almost an innocent cast upon the winds of fate. Cryer starts by simply not reacting to any stimulus, progresses through his physical changes, before becoming proactive once he has a set goal in front of him. In fact Cryer becomes an unstoppable force when he gets the bit between his teeth and the reader can readily believe he will eventually reach his goal. The only question really remaining is how much physical damage will Cryer commit, and how many bodies will he leave in his wake. This isn't to say that The Nobody simply follows the path of a million and one revenge flicks, Piccirilli has some aces up his sleeves and pulls them at regular intervals. What will resound with the reader is just how likable Cryer's former self turns out to be as the Narrator discovers more about himself during his private investigation. Author Piccirilli is definitely trying on the "don't judge a book by it's cover" jacket to see if it will fit, and you have to say it's tailor made. Having presented a lead character that we initially figure we aren't going to like, the Author side swipes us with a good average husband and father who was doing the best he could for his family. In essence the reader ends up liking Cryer's former self far more than the character ever did. In essence The Nobody is about Cryer rediscovering himself, recognising his flaws, and coming to an understanding about his place in the universe. The book sets out to be a revenge novel, of the Charles Bronson variety, but moves beyond this simple scope as writer Piccirilli follows through on his various themes and the overall sub-text permutation of the novella. The ending perhaps see's Cryer coming to terms with things and waiting on whatever fate might throw at him. This isn't to say that the principle purpose of Cryer's quest falls by the wayside, Piccirilli delivers an almost giallo vision of things, something half remembered by the Reader will become of paramount importance by the end of the story, and it's up to the individual to find closure there. The Nobody features an excellent introduction from Norma Partridge, well worth reading in it's own right, and excellent cover artwork from I think Alex McVey. The book is available from Tasmaniac, but in keeping with the publisher's policy is in extremely limited release (180 soft covers and 26 letter hard covers).
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... Excellent example of a revenge story that lifts beyond it's basic scope.
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