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dotorsojak 's review for:
Dark Hollow
by John Connolly
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