Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
fast-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
Very good book. I wish it had gone a little heavier on the noir detective aspects as opposed to the high body count. It killed a bit of the realism to have multiple bodies discovered on the same day. But other than and perhaps in spite of that, the book has a great tone and reads very easily. Easily that is if you have a strong stomach for some grisly scenes but hey, we all knew what we were getting into in that regard.
Had the book maintained its marlowesque beginning I'd for sure have the next in the series on it's way to my door now. The u realistic body count and self one-upmans ship the author seemed to force upon the protagonist however means I'll just be keeping my eyes out for used copies of book 2 whenever I pass through a used book store.
Had the book maintained its marlowesque beginning I'd for sure have the next in the series on it's way to my door now. The u realistic body count and self one-upmans ship the author seemed to force upon the protagonist however means I'll just be keeping my eyes out for used copies of book 2 whenever I pass through a used book store.
Re-read after 9 years. Really enjoyed the characters and pacing, and interested in seeing how the supernatural flavour develops through the series
I’m always looking for noir detective reads. This hefty book came highly recommended to me by the Amazon bots to feed my fetish. Between the covers is a twofer serial killer mystery à la Hannibal Lecter, although, I frankly would have been satisfied with a one and done story line. The story was a mashup of stock PI detective thriller, and horror with a dash of the supernatural. The book sets-up for an interesting, detective series. I liked it, but would have been much happier with a smaller book.
The original copyright on this book is 1999. This is the first in the author’s Charlie Parker series. Connolly was an Irish journo who figured he could make money faster and more easily by churning out gumshoe epics. At this writing (2018) there are currently fifteen (15) books in the series.
Prose is good. The book was also well edited. I found no errors in the writing. Both dialogue and description prose are well done. The protagonist Parker is the sole POV. I thought his internal dialog to be too highbrow given the character's background. I think this may be an affliction of native Irish writers. In particular, those who graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. They have a very literary style. However, his spoken dialog was appropriate. Descriptive prose was artful. I suspect the author was trying for a more intellectual riff on [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg]. There were frequent references to poetry I’ve never read. I would have preferred a more genre-aligned spare style. There were also a lot of famous restaurants and bars mentioned in the many locales visited. The cook's tour of America felt overly done to me. In general, I thought there were too many expository paragraphs (description pr0n) and flashbacks. Note the exposition and flashbacks were well done, it’s just that I would have preferred fewer of them.
The story contains sex, drugs and violence. Sex has a very minor part in the story and is not graphic, although it’s not completely off-the-page. It is all heteronormative. Drug usage was minimal, and plot related. Alcohol is present, but Parker is a recovering alky, so its use is moderated within the story. Violence was moderately graphic, although I didn’t find it disturbing. (I may have a high tolerance.) It includes: edged weapons, physical and firearms usage. Body count is moderately high. Note there are Hannibal Lecter-like serial killers on the loose in this book. Torture, mutilation and violence against children as well as adults are present in the story. This cannot be considered a YA read.
This story contains only a few well developed characters and a host of minor ones. In addition, there are two partially overlapped stories involved. There is a small overlap of characters between the two sub-stories. Many of the minor characters in both stories do not fare well. I was actually surprised at the willingness of the author to spend so much time on characters he killed-off.
The protagonist is ex-NYPD Detective Charlie (“Bird”) Parker. He’s a cop who could have been a contender, but becomes a drunk under the pressure. He loses his wife and daughter to the Traveling Man serial killer while he’s bellied-up to the bar. His raison d'être becomes finding the Traveling Man. In the meantime he works as a PI and sometimes vigilante. The Traveling Man is the main, but not the only antagonist in the book. The nominal love interest is Rachel Wolfe. She’s a beautiful (naturally) criminal psychologist introduced in the first sub-story. She’s more thoroughly developed in the second. Parker is aided by his technical support team of Angel and Louis. They’re an incongruous pair, being a bickering, biracial, gay couple. Louis is a sartorial, black, semi-retired hitman. Angel is a white, lowbrow, practicing Breaking and Entering (B&E) artist. These characters have longevity within the series. The Good Cops are Walter Cole and Woolrich. If Woorich had a first name, I missed it and it appeared only once. Cole is Parker’s old buddy and eventual ex-boss at the NYPD. Woolrich is Parker’s old FBI buddy. Both these characters abet Parker’s investigations. That Parker, Cole and Woolritch were Renaissance Men as well as uber-cops was peculiar.
Minor characters include: red shirt cops, cops, hookers, pimps, hangers-on, con artists, mob bosses, red shirt thugs, thugs, rich men, and rich women. There is certain symmetry between the demimonde in the story’s widely different locales.
As I previously mentioned there are two interleaved stories here. It vaguely reminded me of the two stories arrangement of The Big Sleep (my review) by Raymond Chandler. In the first story, Parker is hired to find the girl for the rich woman which leads to a serial killer tangentially related to the serial killer who killed his wife and child. Action moves from NYC to rural Virginia and back. Antagonists are a serial killer; New York mobsters their relations and their thugs, southern rednecks, local law enforcement (not NYPD) and the FBI. In the second story Woolrich introduces Parker to a bayou witch who has visions of a dead woman killed in a similar fashion to his wife and child. Action moves from NYC to New Orleans and the neighboring environs. Antagonists are The Traveling Man (a moniker coined by the witch), New Orleans mobsters their relations and their thugs, southern rednecks, local law enforcement and the FBI. Both stories are infused with horror, and the supernatural, witch [sic] I liked. I could have passed on the meditations on the nature of evil. However, Parker receiving clues from ghosts was key to my enjoyment. Both stories are heavily interleaved with flashbacks to Parker's youth in Maine and his early marriage. I guessed the Traveling Man reveal early, avoiding the obvious red herring, but I thought it was well cloaked in unlikely horror.
This was story well written writing-wise. Actually, it was over-written. I thought the author had an over intellectual approach to the genre. Also its hard to read a book like this. The first sub-story left me tired, and the second sub-story left me exhausted. The flashbacks providing Parker’s backstory almost amounted to a book in themselves. Parker’s globetrotting verged on the egregious. The book could easily have been split into two; I would have liked it more that way. However, this is certainly better than most modernly written whodunits. It’s a good noir read.
I’m looking forward to reading the next Parker novel [b:Dark Hollow|175243|Dark Hollow (Charlie Parker, #2)|John Connolly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364165262s/175243.jpg|950230], just not right away.
The original copyright on this book is 1999. This is the first in the author’s Charlie Parker series. Connolly was an Irish journo who figured he could make money faster and more easily by churning out gumshoe epics. At this writing (2018) there are currently fifteen (15) books in the series.
Prose is good. The book was also well edited. I found no errors in the writing. Both dialogue and description prose are well done. The protagonist Parker is the sole POV. I thought his internal dialog to be too highbrow given the character's background. I think this may be an affliction of native Irish writers. In particular, those who graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. They have a very literary style. However, his spoken dialog was appropriate. Descriptive prose was artful. I suspect the author was trying for a more intellectual riff on [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg]. There were frequent references to poetry I’ve never read. I would have preferred a more genre-aligned spare style. There were also a lot of famous restaurants and bars mentioned in the many locales visited. The cook's tour of America felt overly done to me. In general, I thought there were too many expository paragraphs (description pr0n) and flashbacks. Note the exposition and flashbacks were well done, it’s just that I would have preferred fewer of them.
The story contains sex, drugs and violence. Sex has a very minor part in the story and is not graphic, although it’s not completely off-the-page. It is all heteronormative. Drug usage was minimal, and plot related. Alcohol is present, but Parker is a recovering alky, so its use is moderated within the story. Violence was moderately graphic, although I didn’t find it disturbing. (I may have a high tolerance.) It includes: edged weapons, physical and firearms usage. Body count is moderately high. Note there are Hannibal Lecter-like serial killers on the loose in this book. Torture, mutilation and violence against children as well as adults are present in the story. This cannot be considered a YA read.
This story contains only a few well developed characters and a host of minor ones. In addition, there are two partially overlapped stories involved. There is a small overlap of characters between the two sub-stories. Many of the minor characters in both stories do not fare well. I was actually surprised at the willingness of the author to spend so much time on characters he killed-off.
The protagonist is ex-NYPD Detective Charlie (“Bird”) Parker. He’s a cop who could have been a contender, but becomes a drunk under the pressure. He loses his wife and daughter to the Traveling Man serial killer while he’s bellied-up to the bar. His raison d'être becomes finding the Traveling Man. In the meantime he works as a PI and sometimes vigilante. The Traveling Man is the main, but not the only antagonist in the book. The nominal love interest is Rachel Wolfe. She’s a beautiful (naturally) criminal psychologist introduced in the first sub-story. She’s more thoroughly developed in the second. Parker is aided by his technical support team of Angel and Louis. They’re an incongruous pair, being a bickering, biracial, gay couple. Louis is a sartorial, black, semi-retired hitman. Angel is a white, lowbrow, practicing Breaking and Entering (B&E) artist. These characters have longevity within the series. The Good Cops are Walter Cole and Woolrich. If Woorich had a first name, I missed it and it appeared only once. Cole is Parker’s old buddy and eventual ex-boss at the NYPD. Woolrich is Parker’s old FBI buddy. Both these characters abet Parker’s investigations. That Parker, Cole and Woolritch were Renaissance Men as well as uber-cops was peculiar.
Minor characters include: red shirt cops, cops, hookers, pimps, hangers-on, con artists, mob bosses, red shirt thugs, thugs, rich men, and rich women. There is certain symmetry between the demimonde in the story’s widely different locales.
As I previously mentioned there are two interleaved stories here. It vaguely reminded me of the two stories arrangement of The Big Sleep (my review) by Raymond Chandler. In the first story, Parker is hired to find the girl for the rich woman which leads to a serial killer tangentially related to the serial killer who killed his wife and child. Action moves from NYC to rural Virginia and back. Antagonists are a serial killer; New York mobsters their relations and their thugs, southern rednecks, local law enforcement (not NYPD) and the FBI. In the second story Woolrich introduces Parker to a bayou witch who has visions of a dead woman killed in a similar fashion to his wife and child. Action moves from NYC to New Orleans and the neighboring environs. Antagonists are The Traveling Man (a moniker coined by the witch), New Orleans mobsters their relations and their thugs, southern rednecks, local law enforcement and the FBI. Both stories are infused with horror, and the supernatural, witch [sic] I liked. I could have passed on the meditations on the nature of evil. However, Parker receiving clues from ghosts was key to my enjoyment. Both stories are heavily interleaved with flashbacks to Parker's youth in Maine and his early marriage. I guessed the Traveling Man reveal early, avoiding the obvious red herring, but I thought it was well cloaked in unlikely horror.
This was story well written writing-wise. Actually, it was over-written. I thought the author had an over intellectual approach to the genre. Also its hard to read a book like this. The first sub-story left me tired, and the second sub-story left me exhausted. The flashbacks providing Parker’s backstory almost amounted to a book in themselves. Parker’s globetrotting verged on the egregious. The book could easily have been split into two; I would have liked it more that way. However, this is certainly better than most modernly written whodunits. It’s a good noir read.
I’m looking forward to reading the next Parker novel [b:Dark Hollow|175243|Dark Hollow (Charlie Parker, #2)|John Connolly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1364165262s/175243.jpg|950230], just not right away.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dark thriller, very well executed - ghosts and dark forces, the past is not so far away
First off, this seemed like it should be 3 novels and not 1. It was long... Normally, length wouldn't bother me, but it seemed weird that there were so many distinct stories.
There was cliché after cliché and I guessed the ending early in the book. (Small spoiler below.) I skimmed quiet a few pages throughout, but then the author was able to re-engage me again, so normally, because of the quality of the writing I would give this book at least a 3, but then I found myself skimming again.
I plan on reading the next in the series because Connelly is such a good writer. I just wasn't impressed with this book.
Why I gave it 2 stars: I have a rule in my rating system. 1 star = I couldn't finish it because I didn't like it. 2 stars = I finished it, but skimmed or skipped to get to the end. (This book.) 3 stars = The book was okay, 4 = good and 5 = great.
Small spoiler: girlfriend + serial killer =
There was cliché after cliché and I guessed the ending early in the book. (Small spoiler below.) I skimmed quiet a few pages throughout, but then the author was able to re-engage me again, so normally, because of the quality of the writing I would give this book at least a 3, but then I found myself skimming again.
I plan on reading the next in the series because Connelly is such a good writer. I just wasn't impressed with this book.
Why I gave it 2 stars: I have a rule in my rating system. 1 star = I couldn't finish it because I didn't like it. 2 stars = I finished it, but skimmed or skipped to get to the end. (This book.) 3 stars = The book was okay, 4 = good and 5 = great.
Small spoiler: girlfriend + serial killer =
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Despite a few flaws inherent to early works such as burdening the books with subplots that nearly but not quite mark it collapse along the way before the main story can hit its stride Connolly delivers a very solid opening chapter to this dark crime/thriller series with an interesting ambiguous protagonist that borders on the anti hero and a dollop of creepy supernatural elements.
I’m looking forward to the next volume.
I’m looking forward to the next volume.