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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
I have been reading this series from the beginning, so possibly around 20 years of stories involving Charlie, Louis, Angel etc. They are like family, or at the very least dearest friends. I love Louis and Angel very much, I love the acceptance they get from Charlie. But one of the things I love most is Mr Connolly's story telling abilities. I love that so the bad guys have something about them, some sort of physical malady. The evil woman in this story is Pallida Mors, who reeks both internally and externally of some rancid festering death ball. If memory serves correctly, all of his bad guys (and gals) have this, something wrong to outwardly portrait their inner rottenness. As far as story line go this one, I feel was a great one. His pacing and plots are always on point, it will really be a sad day when I hear about this series coming to an end. Until then, bring it on Mr. Connolly.... Bring it on.
This detective/sort of supernatural thriller kept me enthralled. It was a page turner. First time reading this author, will definitely go back and begin at the start of this series.
At this, the 16th novel in the Charlie Parker series, I find myself still blown away by the quality of the writing and the depth of the story. Charlie Parker rocks!
But it's not just him, is it? It's Louis and Angel, a pair of gay henchmen, (but I mean "henchmen" in the best way), whose story has to be counted among the greatest love stories of all time, at least in my humble opinion. Their relationship is complicated and wonderful all at once, as is my love for them both.
It's Charlie's daughters, both alive and dead, and my fears for them and what might happen in the future.
It's Moxie Castin, the lawyer with a heart of gold and a soft spot for the Star of David, which plays such an important role in this story.
I won't rehash the plot, because the synopsis and about 10 million other reviews already do that. I will say that the end of this book left me rattled and somewhat angry.A couple of people still deserve their due and I have no doubt they're going to get it, but it didn't happen here. However, I know that Charlie Parker doesn't fail, (at least he hasn't yet), and I will be there, bright eyed and bushy tailed when it happens. In the meantime? I'll be keeping an eye on those Times of London crossword puzzles.
THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS gets my highest recommendation. Period!
*Thank you to Atria and to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This is it.*
But it's not just him, is it? It's Louis and Angel, a pair of gay henchmen, (but I mean "henchmen" in the best way), whose story has to be counted among the greatest love stories of all time, at least in my humble opinion. Their relationship is complicated and wonderful all at once, as is my love for them both.
It's Charlie's daughters, both alive and dead, and my fears for them and what might happen in the future.
It's Moxie Castin, the lawyer with a heart of gold and a soft spot for the Star of David, which plays such an important role in this story.
I won't rehash the plot, because the synopsis and about 10 million other reviews already do that. I will say that the end of this book left me rattled and somewhat angry.
THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS gets my highest recommendation. Period!
*Thank you to Atria and to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This is it.*
Going to be honest, this was a bit of a slow byrber for me.
Think I was upset about Angel. Louis & Charlie's conversations are still the stuff of gold though.
A bit more sinister with a toy telephone going off in the night.
A boy being watched by someone.
A murdered woman in the woods.
All linking up to the bigger story we know is coming.
Oh Parker what have you done?
Back on track by the end. Next ➡️ A Book of Bones please
Think I was upset about Angel. Louis & Charlie's conversations are still the stuff of gold though.
A bit more sinister with a toy telephone going off in the night.
A boy being watched by someone.
A murdered woman in the woods.
All linking up to the bigger story we know is coming.
Oh Parker what have you done?
Back on track by the end. Next ➡️ A Book of Bones please
Mini-Review:
4.5 Stars
Excellent narration by Jeff Harding.
Topics: Domestic Abuse, Cults, Racism, Grief, Family Ties
The playing field is getting too crowded but the details marking the cases and people are a lot of fun. This story had a nice balance between plot, character spotlights and the connections that make the good & bad thrive.
It's been a while since I've read a series and rated all the books either 4 or 5 stars. Yay for discovering new authors/stories to love!
4.5 Stars
Excellent narration by Jeff Harding.
Topics: Domestic Abuse, Cults, Racism, Grief, Family Ties
The playing field is getting too crowded but the details marking the cases and people are a lot of fun. This story had a nice balance between plot, character spotlights and the connections that make the good & bad thrive.
It's been a while since I've read a series and rated all the books either 4 or 5 stars. Yay for discovering new authors/stories to love!
I love the phrase, a sense of an ending. Endings are always viewed as such negative things. We equate ending with death or loss but putting it this way always makes me think more of falling into a pleasant sleep, finding peace after a very long, very hard road.
I have a sense, finally, that the ending is coming for Charlie Parker. And while that is a tragedy it also fills me with a sense of grave joy. Because if ever a man has deserved a long rest it is Parker.
John Connolly picks up the narrative in this latest (16th if you please) installment of the saga of private detective, righter of wrongs, killer of devils, protector of the weak, and possibly divinely inspired Charlie Parker where he usually does, in a sort of murky haze that Charlie always seems to find himself in when there's no one to rescue or violently murder. Fortunately its not long before the unidentified body of a young woman is discovered in a strange grave in the frozen wilds of Maine and everyone who might know who she was starts dropping like flies. When its revealed that the woman died from complications during childbirth and the baby is no where to be found the stakes get even higher.
Hired to look into matters by lawyer Moxie Castin (I defy you to find me a better name for a lawyer) Charlie hits the road. He's still under contract with the Feds and the mysterious cabal of watchers who are led by the "Principal Backer" are, as ever, watching him and for some strange reason everyone seems to have a very serious interest in this young woman. Using his usual mix of tough guy charm, genuine empathy for the victims, and total lack of fear of literally anything Charlie's on the trail and zeroing in on the truth long before anyone else.
I cannot begin to express how thrilled I was with this book. This seems to be my year for beloved authors I've read for years getting their shit back together after disappointing me over and over and over again.
Does this story inspire the sort of mind numbing fear of [b:Dark Hollow|175243|Dark Hollow (Charlie Parker, #2)|John Connolly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364165262s/175243.jpg|950230]? No but it does something else equally cool. Instead of fear being a thing that jumps out and grabs you this time around Connolly makes it an oozing, festering sore that creeps up on you and refuses to let go.
There's another phrase I love. "The banality of evil." John Connolly has long been a master of violent, heart stopping evil that tortures and murders and works evil, terrifying plans but it turns out he's also master of a subtle evil. Evil that looks perfectly respectable and above board, evil that could just as easily be confused with good.
Evil in this book is a mild mannered, educated, well dressed Englishman named Quayle who enjoys reading medieval poetry and collecting old books. There's one book in particular that he's been searching for. Its a very special book that, if used correctly, could change the world itself.
And the very last owner the book had might just be the mysterious woman in the woods.
Parker has never faced evil quite like this before. I'm not used to sympathizing with Connolly's villains but I almost couldn't help it with Quayle. I don't know what his story is yet but I suspect it is a long and dark one, perhaps almost as dark as Parker's and equally littered with dead loved ones and horrible tragedies. Though he does terrible things he doesn't do them for pleasure, you almost get the feelings he simply has no choice and hasn't had one for a lifetime. Maybe longer.
I feel like I got into the heads of Connolly's characters in a way I haven't for a long time. Charlie's best friends Angel and Louis are ever present but now they are confronting a new reality, Angel's recovery from cancer. Seeing a cold blooded hitman like Louis nearly crippled by uncertainty and terrified at the very thought of life without his partner gave a character who's often relegated to clever dialogue and last minute gun fights some much needed depth. And though they don't appear too much Charlie's daughters (the living and the dead) take on a much clearer role in the story.
Long, long story short I think I am beginning to see the pattern in the chaos. I am getting the sense of an ending. Charlie has always wrestled with his own mortality, with the state of his soul. He's come perilously close to death on more than one occasion but this is the first time I've sensed him, and the other characters who live in his world, confronting the reality of death.
As ever Connolly's writing is devastatingly beautiful and wickedly funny. If there is one thing he does better than any other writer its making the blood and gore and fear utterly magnificent to behold. Whether its the decaying wraith of a dead mother haunting her child or a man staring down the barrel of a gun at his own death or Charlie gently ribbing Louis about his anger issues
it all sounds like poetry.
There was much more to feel and deeper depths to plumb in this book. It was a rich and haunting reading experience and that's not something I've been able to say about Mr. Connolly in a long, long time.
I have a sense, finally, that the ending is coming for Charlie Parker. And while that is a tragedy it also fills me with a sense of grave joy. Because if ever a man has deserved a long rest it is Parker.
John Connolly picks up the narrative in this latest (16th if you please) installment of the saga of private detective, righter of wrongs, killer of devils, protector of the weak, and possibly divinely inspired Charlie Parker where he usually does, in a sort of murky haze that Charlie always seems to find himself in when there's no one to rescue or violently murder. Fortunately its not long before the unidentified body of a young woman is discovered in a strange grave in the frozen wilds of Maine and everyone who might know who she was starts dropping like flies. When its revealed that the woman died from complications during childbirth and the baby is no where to be found the stakes get even higher.
Hired to look into matters by lawyer Moxie Castin (I defy you to find me a better name for a lawyer) Charlie hits the road. He's still under contract with the Feds and the mysterious cabal of watchers who are led by the "Principal Backer" are, as ever, watching him and for some strange reason everyone seems to have a very serious interest in this young woman. Using his usual mix of tough guy charm, genuine empathy for the victims, and total lack of fear of literally anything Charlie's on the trail and zeroing in on the truth long before anyone else.
I cannot begin to express how thrilled I was with this book. This seems to be my year for beloved authors I've read for years getting their shit back together after disappointing me over and over and over again.
Does this story inspire the sort of mind numbing fear of [b:Dark Hollow|175243|Dark Hollow (Charlie Parker, #2)|John Connolly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364165262s/175243.jpg|950230]? No but it does something else equally cool. Instead of fear being a thing that jumps out and grabs you this time around Connolly makes it an oozing, festering sore that creeps up on you and refuses to let go.
There's another phrase I love. "The banality of evil." John Connolly has long been a master of violent, heart stopping evil that tortures and murders and works evil, terrifying plans but it turns out he's also master of a subtle evil. Evil that looks perfectly respectable and above board, evil that could just as easily be confused with good.
Evil in this book is a mild mannered, educated, well dressed Englishman named Quayle who enjoys reading medieval poetry and collecting old books. There's one book in particular that he's been searching for. Its a very special book that, if used correctly, could change the world itself.
And the very last owner the book had might just be the mysterious woman in the woods.
Parker has never faced evil quite like this before. I'm not used to sympathizing with Connolly's villains but I almost couldn't help it with Quayle. I don't know what his story is yet but I suspect it is a long and dark one, perhaps almost as dark as Parker's and equally littered with dead loved ones and horrible tragedies. Though he does terrible things he doesn't do them for pleasure, you almost get the feelings he simply has no choice and hasn't had one for a lifetime. Maybe longer.
I feel like I got into the heads of Connolly's characters in a way I haven't for a long time. Charlie's best friends Angel and Louis are ever present but now they are confronting a new reality, Angel's recovery from cancer. Seeing a cold blooded hitman like Louis nearly crippled by uncertainty and terrified at the very thought of life without his partner gave a character who's often relegated to clever dialogue and last minute gun fights some much needed depth. And though they don't appear too much Charlie's daughters (the living and the dead) take on a much clearer role in the story.
Long, long story short I think I am beginning to see the pattern in the chaos. I am getting the sense of an ending. Charlie has always wrestled with his own mortality, with the state of his soul. He's come perilously close to death on more than one occasion but this is the first time I've sensed him, and the other characters who live in his world, confronting the reality of death.
As ever Connolly's writing is devastatingly beautiful and wickedly funny. If there is one thing he does better than any other writer its making the blood and gore and fear utterly magnificent to behold. Whether its the decaying wraith of a dead mother haunting her child or a man staring down the barrel of a gun at his own death or Charlie gently ribbing Louis about his anger issues
it all sounds like poetry.
There was much more to feel and deeper depths to plumb in this book. It was a rich and haunting reading experience and that's not something I've been able to say about Mr. Connolly in a long, long time.
Another particularly frustrating instalment in the Charlie Parker saga, in that this is yet another ‘holding pattern’ novel, with Connolly treading water while setting up what is to come. Or trying to.
Whether or not he is successful is entirely up to the reader. I for one was not convinced. The essential mystery of ‘the woman in the woods’ turns out to be a non-mystery at the end.
Some interesting tidbits are thrown to the patient reader about the Fractured Atlas and the Buried God … but not enough to rescue this instalment from being rather disappointing.
Louis and Angel are relegated to the shadowy wings of an already too-murky story, which is a great pity. Quayle, Mors, and Bobby Ocean meanwhile are all great characters, and at least we know we’ll bump into them again. Soon.
As for the end game? I honestly have no idea which direction Connolly is headed in now. Increasingly I am reminded of Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy, which started off as a detective-cum-procedural, and then veered left-field into very weird supernatural territory.
Connolly’s take here also reminds me of Clive Barker’s more ambitious mythologies. Nice to see Moxie the World’s Weariest Lawyer take centre stage. And the Tender House women’s shelter, wrapped up in the brimming heart of Candy, is a beautiful touch.
Whether or not he is successful is entirely up to the reader. I for one was not convinced. The essential mystery of ‘the woman in the woods’ turns out to be a non-mystery at the end.
Some interesting tidbits are thrown to the patient reader about the Fractured Atlas and the Buried God … but not enough to rescue this instalment from being rather disappointing.
Louis and Angel are relegated to the shadowy wings of an already too-murky story, which is a great pity. Quayle, Mors, and Bobby Ocean meanwhile are all great characters, and at least we know we’ll bump into them again. Soon.
As for the end game? I honestly have no idea which direction Connolly is headed in now. Increasingly I am reminded of Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy, which started off as a detective-cum-procedural, and then veered left-field into very weird supernatural territory.
Connolly’s take here also reminds me of Clive Barker’s more ambitious mythologies. Nice to see Moxie the World’s Weariest Lawyer take centre stage. And the Tender House women’s shelter, wrapped up in the brimming heart of Candy, is a beautiful touch.
Yup, another fairly standard Parker. Enjoyable, very enjoyable but does leave me remembering the first few books without the supernatural elements and just dark, gothic crime books. I miss those books.
It has been awhile since I read a Charlie Parker book, not because I didn't want to but I just didn't have time to read a series book that I have already recommended on several occasions to customers. However, a friend was really raving about this so I downloaded it from Libro.fm and listened to it. I am so glad I did. I realized I have missed Charlie and Louis and Angel and the Maine woods. I loved the Woman in the Woods and I will definitely not let the next one slip by unread.