Oh, he is one of my very favorite authors! And reading this latest book was especially a treat since the US version won't be out for over a month! I really enjoyed this book! The plot - both more political and more supernatural than many of the preceding books - took my by surprise. I had expected from the end of _The Lovers_ that Sharon Macy and maybe even more about his parents would be the focus of the next book. Instead, The Collector reappeared, and he is one of my favorite enigmatic characters of Connolly's creation, so I was very intrigued. Darker, overall and with little more than a cameo appearance by Louis and Angel, the plot was well-paced and came to an exciting conclusion. And while it was less lushly written than some of his other books, the last page still left me anxiously wanting the next book. It'll be a long year, but I think I may re-read the entire Charlie Parker series soon... I have never done that before and I think it will be interesting to see the layers of Connolly's honeycomb world grow...

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Okay...I couldn't wait. I was going to wait a while to read the next Charlie Parker novel but after a two week hiatus, I decided to check this one out from the library. And as expected, it did not disappoint! This one has Charlie getting involved with a group of veterans from the second Iraqi War who are involved in some sort of smuggling operation. Charlie has his PI license back and is hired by the father of one of the veterans who committed suicide. The father hired him to look out for a young woman who is involved with one of the other veterans who he suspects is no good and who may be abusing the young woman. And along the way, the father hopes that Charlie can find out why his son killed himself. So what are the veterans smuggling? It all relates to the sacking of a museum containing antiquities in Iraq. One of these antiquities is a golden box which somehow affects anyone near it. Meanwhile, others are after the box, but why?

Connolly is really great at coming up with some very interesting and dastardly characters in his books. A lot of his characters have some kind of supernatural aspect or are in contact with supernatural beings. One character from a previous novel, the mysterious Collector, also returns in this one. He is a collector of souls of people who need to be punished and first appeared in The Unquiet. Of course, Charlie's friends and protectors Angel and Louis play a role in this one which always makes it more interesting. Not sure when I will get to the next in the series. I really need to read a lot of books on my shelves before getting more books from the library. We'll see how long I can hold out...

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