Helpful Score: 4
I purchased and read Connolly's The Book of Lost Things first, and though I had rather high expectations for his debut novel, despite the difference in genre, I was not at all disappointed. While the mystery was not impossible to figure out, the tension and suspense remained throughout the novel, so that I was curious to see how it all played out.
The book (obviously) was vastly different, but still highly enjoyable. The writing was strong, and the book was utterly absorbing, nearly impossible to put down. I can't believe how quickly Connolly has jumped into being one of my favorite authors, and definitely my best discovery of 2008. All in all, I loved reading this book.
The book (obviously) was vastly different, but still highly enjoyable. The writing was strong, and the book was utterly absorbing, nearly impossible to put down. I can't believe how quickly Connolly has jumped into being one of my favorite authors, and definitely my best discovery of 2008. All in all, I loved reading this book.
Helpful Score: 2
This author is not for me, when you get to 100 pages and it is still just getting started and you are bored with all the description, etc. then it is time to move on.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book from the start. It is a bit wordy, but you can really see every thing from the author's point of view. I did not figure out who the killer was till the end, I was very suprised. This story made me want to visit New Orleans.
Helpful Score: 1
Written in a gritty, yet poetic style that grabs you and won't let go!
This is the first book in Connolly's Charlie Parker series. I have read one other book in the series, The Unquiet, which I thought was a very superior thriller. In Every Dead Thing, Parker's wife and daughter are killed in a very brutal manner while Parker was out getting wasted at the local tavern. Parker was a detective in the NYPD when this happened but the murders turn Parker away from the police and he then works on his own as an unlicensed investigator. As such, he gets involved in a series of child killings which are somehow tied indirectly to the mob in New York. To solve this case, he goes to a small town in Virginia to track a missing young woman and gets into the path of some very vile serial killers who have been killing children for years. Parker is able to solve this case but then he moves on to try to find the killer of his wife and daughter who is known as the "Traveling Man." This leads Parker to the bayous of Louisiana and some more very violent and disturbing killings. But who is the killer and why has he targeted Parker?
This novel was very intense and kept me guessing right up to near the end. The novel was actually two stories in one with the earlier child killings and Parker's later pursuit of the Traveling Man. I was pretty much engrossed with the story although I did think it could have been shortened or maybe even done as two separate novels. Anyway, I will be reading more of the series - hopefully in order.
This novel was very intense and kept me guessing right up to near the end. The novel was actually two stories in one with the earlier child killings and Parker's later pursuit of the Traveling Man. I was pretty much engrossed with the story although I did think it could have been shortened or maybe even done as two separate novels. Anyway, I will be reading more of the series - hopefully in order.
I had some trouble getting in to this book. It was ok but I don't think I'll read any more from John Connolly
Christine D. (threesisterssoap) reviewed Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker, Bk 1) on + 28 more book reviews
NYPD detective Charlie Parker, tormented by the brutal, unsolved murders of his wife and young daughter.
An entertaining read that goes a little overboard in the unnecessarily graphic department, but that makes up for it with complex, interesting and unpredictable characters populating a gruesome story well told. Connolly's narrative voice is compelling and entertaining, and in some of his finer moments, he captures an almost lyrical beauty in the heinous nature of both the crimes committed and in Parker's visceral responses to those crimes.
Beyond that, Connolly does a nice tapdance in negotiating the white between hard-nosed cop/crime and mood-based horror. He's just ambiguous enough with his language and descriptions to keep the reader guessing how much of what he experiences is perception and how much is touch-that real, and while that was a bit frustrating for me in "Every Dead Thing," it did drive me to pick up the second book in the series, which reads to the kind of payoff I was hoping to find.
Haunting, emotional, visceral and gritty, "Every Dead Thing" succeeds where very few do, bridging two very different and well-defined genres by being true to each of them in their own right rather than mitigating one in favor of the other. If Stephen King and Robert Parker had a lovechild, I'm pretty sure he'd write a lot like John Connolly, and that's a good thing ... a very, very good thing indeed.
Beyond that, Connolly does a nice tapdance in negotiating the white between hard-nosed cop/crime and mood-based horror. He's just ambiguous enough with his language and descriptions to keep the reader guessing how much of what he experiences is perception and how much is touch-that real, and while that was a bit frustrating for me in "Every Dead Thing," it did drive me to pick up the second book in the series, which reads to the kind of payoff I was hoping to find.
Haunting, emotional, visceral and gritty, "Every Dead Thing" succeeds where very few do, bridging two very different and well-defined genres by being true to each of them in their own right rather than mitigating one in favor of the other. If Stephen King and Robert Parker had a lovechild, I'm pretty sure he'd write a lot like John Connolly, and that's a good thing ... a very, very good thing indeed.
This murder mystery has a former NYPD detective "on the verge of madness" because of the horrific death of his wife and daughter. He helps hgis foirmer partner find a missing girl and unravels a series of terrifying situations to come to grips with his own life. A great read.
One serial killer who tortures children and another who steals victims' faces after mutilating their bodies give readers two grisly plots in one darkly ingenious debut novel. New York Homicide cop Charlie "Bird" Parker left the force when his wife and baby daughter were gruesomely murdered (while he was boozing down the block), but he agrees to trace a missing woman as a favor to his old partner. The trail leads from Brooklyn wise guys to a dying rural Virginia town where the shameful secret (children were tortured and killed by wealthy local eccentrics) is linked to the missing woman. Stepping on toes and muscling past stonewallers, Charlie eludes hired killers to flush several villains into the open with the help of two friendly hitmen. a competently lethal gay couple
Very tense and a really intense bad guy. This is one that for suspense readers you will find yourself staying up all night unable to put it down.
Good first novel. Can be graphic at times.
John Connolly superbly taps into the tortured mind and gritty world of former NYPD dective Charlie "Bird" Parker, tormented by the brutal, unsolved murders of his wife and young daughter. Driven by visions of the dead, Parker tracks a serial killer from New York City to the American South, and finds his buried instincts - for love, survival, and, ultimately, for killing - awakening as he confronts a monster beyond imagining...
Very good mystery.
A scary and exciting story with "shades" of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS! A real adrenaline rush!
Great book! All fans of crime thrillers will love this book.
Scary to the end. Great story.
John Connolly superbly taps into the tortured mind and gritty world of former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker, tormented by the brutal, unsolved murders of his wife and young daughter. Driven by visions of the dead, Parker tracks a serial killer from New York City to the American South, and finds his buried instincts--for love, survival, and, ultimately, for killing--awakening as he confronts a monster beyond imagining...
Pretty gory but well written.
I think this is an excellent book. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series! Highly recommend!
good reading
Creepy, bloody, disturbing but very engrossing and fast-moving. The âheroâ (Charlie âBirdâ Parkerâ) reminded me a bit of Nelson DeMille's John Corey, with his smart-ass remarks and dark humor. I definitely plan to read more in this series. Hard to believe how much the author packed into the book.
enjoyed this book
Great read. can't wait to read more by Connolly.
Thrilling and full of suspense to the end.
I liked the story as a whole, but my big complaint is that there are far too many characters! For instance, names (especially those who turned out to be the 'bad guys') that seem to be mentioned in passing in early chapters take on on a much bigger significance MANY chapters later. So many times in this book I was looking back to earlier chapters to figure out who this seemingly-new name was. (I rarely have to do this with other authors.) If the author had even mentioned the name a few times -- by the time it became important -- it would've made a big difference. I felt as though I was reading the book on the surface and not really getting 'into' these characters. In retrospect, I wished that I had started writing down the names mentioned, and who they were. Would've made for a much more enjoyable read.
Oh, be forewarned: extremely graphic descriptions of the murders. When you're reading, you can't turn your face away.
Oh, be forewarned: extremely graphic descriptions of the murders. When you're reading, you can't turn your face away.
