The Lovers
"...an excellent addition to the series. Possibly, one might argue, the best yet!"
Synopsis:
Charlie Parker is working in a bar in Portland, having been deprived of his P.I.'s license. He's being watched by the police and trying to keep out of trouble. But trouble has a habit of tracking Charlie down. He feels drawn back to the house where he grew up and the strange events of his childhood. When he was a boy, his father, a NYPD cop killed a young couple and then shot himself with the same gun. There was no explanation for his actions and events are pushing Charlie into finding out once and for all what drove his father to murder and then suicide.
Running parallel to Charlie's investigations, a fraught young woman is running from an unseen threat, one that already seems to have taken the life of her boyfriend. A journalist-turned-writer named Mickey Wallace is conducting an investigation of his own into Charlie Parker. He is convinced that America needs to know about Charlie's exploits over the years and hopes to write a non-fiction book about his story.
Haunting the shadows, as they have done throughout Parker's life, are two figures: a man and a woman, the lovers of the title, who appear to have only one purpose, and that is to bring an end to Charlie Parker.
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Review:
I've been a fan of John Connolly's books since he burst onto the scene with Every Dead Thing in 1999 and this latest Charlie Parker novel is an excellent addition to the series. Possibly, one might argue, the best yet! There is a fluidity to this man's prose that is at turns functional and poetic; everyday and elegiac and it makes every page a pleasure to read. He also brings a welcome touch of originality to the genre with his supernatural twists. This is a tightly plotted, beautifully constructed novel where John Connolly exhibits his considerable skills. To anyone reading this review who might be new to the series, Charlie Parker is quite literally haunted by the murder of his wife and child. He combats his grief by helping out others whose lives are threatened by personal disaster and hunting the sick and dangerous. He is ably assisted in his travails by a couple of professional assassins going by the name of Angel and Louis. These guys are a “couple” in more ways than one and who else but John Connolly could use a pair of psychopathic killers to provide some lighter moments to counteract the trauma that is Charlie Parker's existence. The Lovers comes with a hearty recommendation. It is well worth your hard earned and will surely provide hours of chills and suspense.