Charlie Parker

Review: A Game of Ghosts (Charlie Parker #15) by John Connolly

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What I love most about Connolly’s Charlie Parker Books is that they are becoming more and more supernatural…or maybe it’s just that Connolly has done such a great job of making these books real that I no longer question the veracity of them. They are just as believable to me as the sun in the sky…and that is also why they are more and more terrifying as the series goes on…Connolly has managed to mesh the very ordinary world of former policeman Charlie Parker with the spectral world where some things just can’t be explained until suddenly they are all one and the same…but he does so in a way that keeps the real world the focus and the paranormal in the shadows. This isn’t some attempt by an author to create an alternative world or universe or future time period. Connolly isn’t asking the reader to suspend what they know…only that you open your mind to the possibilities…and with your own imagination the possibilities are infinite…which explains the vast amount of fear I experience whilst reading them…

Until next time…
Urania xx

ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly

Review: A Time of Torment (Charlie Parker, #14) by John Connolly

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25930352 (1)Another great book by Connolly. Again, the ending of this book left me with chills and excitement of things yet to come. I really really REALLY wish Connolly would stop tormenting us with hints of the daughters and what they are capable of. Ha! I’m sick and anxious over them…and a wee bit scared as well!

For those that haven’t read Connolly before, you don’t HAVE to read his prior books to enjoy his works…however, there is so much story and history in the previous works. You won’t get lost having not read the previous books, but you won’t understand all the good stuff either. The layers and layers of history and characters that Connolly has interwoven. Charlie Parker really inspired those around him. Not all of those inspirations are positive. Some of them are borderline worshiping. And all of them are relevant. Imagine these novels are going to a wonderful city…yes, you can enjoy the city no matter what, but only a true local knows all the ins and outs that the city can offer. Those places not found in the tourist attractions. The very same is true for Charlie Parker. You learn much from Parker himself, but so much can be gained by the people that surround him in life.

Finally, I have to say, these characters are getting so rich and so many that I am thinking about starting a Charlie Parker notebook…So many characters that show up from novel to novel and so much of their stories growing and expanding…even though I’ve read of them in the past, I still feel as if I am missing some stuff because I can’t remember them all in all the details.

Of course that might just be an excuse my mind is using to go back and reread all the books!

Please, go read some Charlie Parker books…you won’t be disappointed…he’s really turning out to be a long time favourite of mine!

Until next time…
Urania

ARC provided by netgalley for an honest review

Buy it now A Time of Torment by John Connolly

Review: Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker #1) by John Connolly

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175242This was a really good book considering it’s was a debut novel. I don’t imagine it was meant to be an ongoing series…I say this because there was just so much going on in this book! It was over 400 pages long and it read more like 600. I’m not saying it was boring. It wasn’t. There was just really too much going on. It easily could have been made for two complete books with two great story lines. With a few twists and a minor changes I dare say it could have made for three. If Connolly had planned on making a series, I do believe he would have broken this up into multiple books….I dare say we would all have been the better if he had….

If you’re wondering what it was all about….in this novel we meet Charlie Parker for the first time. I read the last Charlie Parker, #12 in the series, earlier this year because I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of the novel. It was fantastic (https://randombookmuses.com/2014/10/29/review-the-wolf-in-winter-by-john-connolly/). He’s a police detective. Parker’s family is killed right off in this book and we fast forward to months later. Now Parker has quit the force and is working for himself. He takes a job and in the midst of solving that case he is also solving his family’s murders.

There are a few bits that didn’t make sense with me as far as the time frame went. I’m not sure how Parker got from point A to B at times either. Perhaps I was just too distracted to understand, or perhaps it was just a matter of a debut novel and an author that was coming into his own. At any rate, it was a really good read, and having sampled his current writing style, I can vouch that it will indeed get better. This is a storyline and a cast of characters I truly look forward to getting to know. Parker is very complex. Connolly might be writing detective novels, but don’t let it fool you….he really has a way with words…and some of the depth that he lays out amongst the blood, guts and gunfire really give you a cause to stop and reflect. I’m going to leave this review and let Connolly’s own words convince you that you really need to be reading this series….

For a moment they still lived and I experienced their deaths as a fresh loss with each waking, so that I was unsure whether I was a man waking from a dream of death or a dreamer entering a world of loss, a man dreaming of unhappiness or a man waking to grief.

I believe in evil because I have touched it, and it has touched me.

He sat back in his chair. “But I let it go. In the end, you have to let things go. The things you regret are the things you hold on to.” “So is nothing worth holding on to?” asked Rachel. Angel looked at Louis for a while. “Some things are, yeah, but they ain’t made of gold.

I think I wanted to say more, to try to explain to her what it was like without alcohol, about how I was afraid that, without alcohol, each day would now leave me with nothing to look forward to. Each day would simply be another day without a drink. Sometimes, when I was at my lowest ebb, I wondered if my search for the Traveling Man was just a way to fill my days, a way to keep me from going off the rails.

I don’t believe in the next world, Bird. It’s just a void. This is Hell, Bird, and we are in it. All the pain, all the hurt, all the misery you could ever imagine, you can find it here. It’s a culture of death, the only religion worth following

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

Review: A Song of Shadows by John Connolly

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24565629I *really* like this Charlie Parker guy! Besides Parker, I also really enjoy the other characters in this series as well. In many ways, we get to know and love Charlie simply by watching how others act and respond around him. It’s not something I’ve thought about much before. Usually a character is revealed simply by how they act and respond to situations. By what they say and do. Here, Connolly does a superb job of showing Parker’s character by those that go out of his way to help him. To watch over him. We learn to love Parker by the love they show him.

The father/daughter relationships in this novel….just wow….I can’t give much away, but I will say —- the last line gave me chills and I almost cried aloud that it ended! I’ll be counting the days until I start the next in the series!

This novel starts with Charlie recuperating from an injure he obtained in the last novel. It also has him in the midst of a few murders….and nazis. We revisit some of the crimes from the Holocaust. I have to admit, I have not really gave much thought to those war criminals after the fact. It brings up some important moral issues as well. Can one ever commit a horrendous crime simply because of the circumstances they found themselves in? Furthermore, can you be removed from those circumstances and form that day forth do wonderful things and to help the human race? Should any of that good change how you should be dealt with in regards to the original crimes?

How often are criminals sought after only because of political pressure? Where does moral obligation come into play?

Finally, I encourage you to read this novel. Not just because Charlie Parker is so great. Not because of how much you love his friends. Not because of all of the inter-workings of some really complex and interesting relationships….

But because this book left me with a yearning to learn more about history. I found myself putting down this novel…not because I was bored. But because I wanted to run to the internet and look up more about war criminals and history. Because I wanted to better understand how some of the things discussed in this novel could have happened. I don’t think I found many clear answers. However, I did have discussions about it. And so very many questions! Sometimes in life, it’s really good to just ask the questions….even if you don’t get all the answers you seek….at least you’ve thought enough to ask them….

Confused? Read the book….you’ll understand then….

Until next time…

Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now A Song of Shadows by John Connolly

Review: The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly

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thewolfinwinterOkay….so I should probably start this review by confessing that although this is the twelfth book in the Charlie Parker series, it is actually my very first time reading John Connolly.

However, that doesn’t mean I felt lost….it doesn’t mean that I believe I could have liked this book any more…it was simply put…brilliant. I was torn between wanting to rush on and finish this one or slinging it aside and starting at book one….It’s a new series that I am EXCITED to read more of. This is at a time where I have been in a major book slump and nothing could hold my attention.

Here we have infamous Charlie Parker….a former NYC police officer turned private investigator. As with all great protagonist, Parker has personal tragedies that have shaped him into the man he is today. There are many people that love him….and many that would like to see him dead….but few are brave enough to try it themselves…He has a reputation that proceeds him and many that have battled against him do much to stay clear of him today….

This is borderline paranormal. No….maybe I shouldn’t say borderline. It is paranormal. But it doesn’t read like it. It seems very real. This book isn’t written to provide escapism into another universe….It’s made to have you question those things around you….to look closer at things around you….

What I especial liked about this book is that there is little doubt that there are many ongoing story-lines involved. Yes, I read this as a stand alone. No, I did not feel lost. Yes, the focus was on THIS storyline….however, you were surrounded by several other ongoing story-lines as well…there were hints and glimpses galore..and I am excited to go back and get started on this series and find out what they are all about!

I also loved what Connolly has done with the many characters. Again, it’s obvious that they have played major parts in previous novels. In this novel they might not be very dominant, but they are there to remind you that they exist. There are there to remind you that they will become more involved one day in a future story. They are much like an old friend (or disliked co-worker) that you meet on a crowded street….you’re in a hurry…you only have a moment to say hi….but you promise to meet up soon and really discuss life…..and you mean it!

So often, authors of longer series feel the need to start and end a storyline in every book….maybe dragging it out for a second book to wrap up…..so often they think that each character must play a dominate, visible part in each novel….or somehow just mysteriously be vacant in the novel…..Connolly didn’t do this….and it makes me excited to read the rest of these novels….

He is an author I have always wanted to read….I pictured for some reason a John Saul type of author….I’m not sure who to compare John Connolly to now….no….I take that back….there is no comparison. He is original. He is worthy of all the praise I’ve heard about him. He deserves to be a household name. You deserve to treat yourself to this series….

I’m feeling some serious author love right now….just saying….

Until next time….

Urania xx

ARC provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now The Wolf in Winter by John Connolly