When word gets around that two of their friends connected to a paid killing years before have been killed, Louis and Angel, two contract killers, feel the pressure to react to an unknown threat. Louis feels the signature of those two killings leads to Bliss, a feared assassin he almost killed a long time ago and who seems to have become the tool of someone whose son Louis and his dead companions assassinated years before.

At the same time Louis home and one of his businesses is targeted by it seems amateur assassins. Among this is Willie Brew's auto shop. A long time ago Louis bought of Willie's dept and offered him to work for him out of his shop or lose the shop for his divorce settlement. Since then Willie is used now and than for what he's best with: repairing cars.

On the night of their attack on Leehagen, the revenging father, they soon discover they were set up to be killed on his huge property, hunted by no one else but Bliss.
When Willie hears about the set-up he connects to private detective Parker and they both begin their journey to rescue their friends.

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It is hard to imagine liking the main characters Louis And Angel being killers but besides this the author didn't really put much effort into it. Even with short journeys into Louis' past and learning how he developed to a Reaper it quite didn't work for me.

So it stays with Willie, who is a like able character, deep in debt with Louis but still considering him a friend who once help him to not lose what he loves the most: his auto shop.

I wish I would find more positive about the book to say except there were no open ends in the ending which wasn't at all surprising and very predictable.

It was a time filler for me, with an interesting plot but still if I hadn't spent 18 bucks on it when I bought it, I probably would have put it away half way through.

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Those familiar with John Connolly's Charlie Parker series are already acquainted with Louis & Angel; a hitman and burglar respectively, they usually serve as secondary characters to Parker's lead. In The Reapers, Louis and Angel finally take center stage and the result is... mixed.

While I enjoyed the book tremendously, being a big fan of Angel I couldn't help but come away somewhat disappointed at the lack of attention given to his character's history. Louis' youth and path to becoming a hitman, a Reaper, is explored beautifully and extensively, yet we were given nothing more about Angel in this offering than had already been alluded to in previous Parker outings.

Angel is such an interesting character in the way that he often serves as a bridge between Parker and Louis, as well as acts as Louis' conscience on occasion, more about him and his history would have been more than welcomed.

Still, the story, which revolves around an event from Louis' early years as a Reaper coming back to haunt him, is strong (duh, it's Connolly) and the little appetizer tastes of Louis and Angel we normally have to settle for are finally served up here as a satisfying full course meal.

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