You’d Better Watch Out

Tom Piccirilli
You’d Better Watch Out

Crossroad Press e-book, 2011


Father of 11-year old boy is a brutal Brooklyn cop who works for the local mob. When on Christmas the police officer suspects that his wife cheats on him, he bites her tongue. Woman dies, cop goes to jail, and the boy is sent to foster parents. There he falls in love with their daughter and then kills their psychopathic son. The boy starts to do little jobs for mobsters, gradually becoming the most brutal killer in Brooklyn. A young man prepares to avenge for his mother and for myself when his father is out of prison.

This novella is not exactly the best work by Piccirilli. Plot-wise the book intersects with other Piccirilli’s books. Here again there are a cruel cop, working on mob, a complex relationship between father and son, past mistakes again are in the center of the story. «You'd Better Watch Out» is a psychological novella about revenge, which is a dish which is served hot - damn hot. Aggressive and tight, author's style does not match the rickety plot. The middle of the book - all that part, which describes the transformation of the protagonist from a young boy to a tough killer - apparently slacks.

Fast, solid reading, but you’re expecting more from Piccirilli.