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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Втора книга, която чета на Джон Конъли, и вече се затвърдява като един от по-добрите автори на трилъри. Освен основната криминална нишка, Джон Конъли вплита историята на героите си, както и отделя време в рамките на няколко страници да ни запознае и с историята на по-страничните персонажи.
1 от 4 звезди е за Луис и Ейнджъл, без които приключението на Чарли щяха да са една малко по-трудни, и много по-скучни.
1 от 4 звезди е за Луис и Ейнджъл, без които приключението на Чарли щяха да са една малко по-трудни, и много по-скучни.
Not only is this a page turning thriller, but a beautifully written one. The language is so evocative of a winter in Maine and I enjoy the 'I see dead people' elements that main character, Charlie Parker, enjoys/endures. In this story, Parker is approached by a friend who wants her ex-husband to pay child support. Parker his to see this man , Billy Purdue and soon discovers that he's not the only one looking for him. Charlie's original client and get 2 year old son are murdered and Billy is nowhere to be found. Charlie must try to find Billy before anyone else does, and there is quite the body count along the way. Charlie is joined by his friends Angel and Louis in his quests
This is the remarkable follow-up to EVERY DEAD THING. It's a little hard to write about this book without giving spoilers for the first book (or this one for that matter), but it's the story of Charlie Parker, an ex-policeman who is in a very dark spot following the events of EVERY DEAD THING. After he tries to help out a young mother, he is drawn into a very complicated plot with links to his family's past. By the end, he's discovered some things he'd like to forget, and met some people who want him out of the picture.
This is a very dark book, but it does end with some hopeful elements. (I don't think that's a spoiler . . . .)
Highly recommended.
This is a very dark book, but it does end with some hopeful elements. (I don't think that's a spoiler . . . .)
Highly recommended.
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the first book I’ve read by John Connolly (JC). It’s the second one in the Charlie Parker series, and thus I think it’s fair to say that JC is feeling his way towards his character and tone.
(I am by no means an expert in the hard-boiled detective/noir/mystery genres—that is I’ve never studied the literature systematically—but over many years I have read a fair number of books from all these genres and I have my tastes for sure.)
That said, I was not bowled over by this book. It suffers from having too many villains. We have foreign assassins, Mafiosi, and a decades old serial killer who comes out of retirement just to torment our hero. JC also gives Charlie two convenient side kicks who tell him stuff he needs to know and kill people who need killing whenever that suits the plot. They also disappear when Charlie needs to be on his own.
Charlie is mourning some characters killed in the first book in the series (a book I’ve not read) and he is understandably rather depressed. He is a melancholy, introverted fellow who finds revenge easy to justify, a kind of anti-hero I guess. I found him difficult to like.
There are several shootouts between Charlie and various bad guys. Each one seemed like it ought to be the climax of the book, but no. The best scene is one in which Charlie is being hunted through the snow of the northern Maine woods. He’s wounded and eventually weaponless, and JC’s description of the whole sequence creates a good deal of suspense.
The level of violence here is high. Young women are killed serially. One of the assassins is a master of slow torture and slow killing. We hear about most of the murders second hand, especially the more gruesome ones. Still, the bodies do pile up. Charlie and his friends kill without remorse.
Overall, the pages of this book turned easily and I was involved in the plot. JC has a penchant for poetical writing. Nevertheless, I must give this a mixed review. After this book settles in my brain and I think about it some more, I might try another, maybe more recent, of JC’s books.
(I am by no means an expert in the hard-boiled detective/noir/mystery genres—that is I’ve never studied the literature systematically—but over many years I have read a fair number of books from all these genres and I have my tastes for sure.)
That said, I was not bowled over by this book. It suffers from having too many villains. We have foreign assassins, Mafiosi, and a decades old serial killer who comes out of retirement just to torment our hero. JC also gives Charlie two convenient side kicks who tell him stuff he needs to know and kill people who need killing whenever that suits the plot. They also disappear when Charlie needs to be on his own.
Charlie is mourning some characters killed in the first book in the series (a book I’ve not read) and he is understandably rather depressed. He is a melancholy, introverted fellow who finds revenge easy to justify, a kind of anti-hero I guess. I found him difficult to like.
There are several shootouts between Charlie and various bad guys. Each one seemed like it ought to be the climax of the book, but no. The best scene is one in which Charlie is being hunted through the snow of the northern Maine woods. He’s wounded and eventually weaponless, and JC’s description of the whole sequence creates a good deal of suspense.
The level of violence here is high. Young women are killed serially. One of the assassins is a master of slow torture and slow killing. We hear about most of the murders second hand, especially the more gruesome ones. Still, the bodies do pile up. Charlie and his friends kill without remorse.
Overall, the pages of this book turned easily and I was involved in the plot. JC has a penchant for poetical writing. Nevertheless, I must give this a mixed review. After this book settles in my brain and I think about it some more, I might try another, maybe more recent, of JC’s books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence
Minor: Torture