This was another very compelling and gripping saga in the Charlie Parker series. In this one, a young woman disappears from the streets of New York. She was a prostitute and a drug addict and also the cousin of Charlie's friend, Louis. The girl's mother confronts her pimp who makes the big mistake of striking her which leaves a very bad taste in Louis's mouth. He and Charlie along with Angel go after the pimp which leads to a bizarre group of people looking for a stolen piece of a map that is purported to lead to a hidden antiquity that they think contains a fallen angel entombed in silver. This relic supposedly originated at the
Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, which is located in a small chapel that is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, whose bones have, in many cases, been artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel.
The novel takes Charlie and his crew on a path strewn with the dead and some beings who believe that they may have the power to live forever. One of these is a very obese being called Brightwell who seems to have existed for centuries and is also capable of sucking the souls out of people as they are about to die. Charlie's girlfriend, Rachel, and his newborn daughter, Sam, are also threatened along the way which may be the end for their relationship.
This one was really an intense ride. The novel touched on a lot of history including the origins of the Sedlec Ossuary which is a very real place. Also, the deaths of hundreds of young women in Juarez, Mexico, is discussed with a possible connection to an Ossuary being restored there. I'll be looking forward to continuing with this series.
