Rating: 
Summary: Enter Dark Hollow at your own risk!
Review: John Connolly's Dark Hollow is a prime example of bringing two genres together. The thriller and horror genres collide in the second installment of the cases taken on by Charlie "Bird" Parker and his backup Angel and Louis. This time around Parker agrees to help an old classmate Rita and her small son find her abusive ex hushand Billy Purdue. Billy is in over his head with some serious ****. Also thrown into the mix is a case Parker's grandfather could not close over thirty years ago. if you see Caleb Kyle you better run a mile! Something watching in the woods of Dark Hollow, stolen money, an old romance, a body count to numerous too mention, and enough scenes of out and out horror, make this my favorite book so far this year. Note: Read Every Dead Thing from John Connolly, the first Charlie Parker novel! I'm sure you can get it here at Amazon.com
Rating:
Summary: Proves he is worthy
Review: Personally, i thought his debut Every Dead Thing was a little complicated and overlong, but nevertheless still quite a good book. But this this book he doesn't have so many plot strands, and keept it a bit shorter, so he can concentrate much more on what we really care about. Caleb Kyle and Charlie Parker. This second novel, as the title suggests, is a very dark story, with a bleak atmopshere. It's much more involved than the first, and the plot is a lot more intriguing. It kicks off brilliantly, with the mob shoot out, and then the creepy happenings of an old woman going walkabout from a home. And it doesnt let up there. From then on in its creepy and haunting all the way. "Caleb Kyle, Caleb Kyle, when you see him run a mile" goes the old saying assosciated with an old killer who has now been somewhat forgotten, and taken on a myth-like quality. But now he's back. Connolly's writing is superbly lyrical and he brilliantly evokes atmosphere and fear. There is violence and horror, so this might not be the ideal book for some, but intertwined with this violence is a superb plot and a great lead character in the shape of Charlie "Bird" Parker, who, while still being somewhat flawed, is still likeable. (Rather in the style of Ian Rankin's JOhn Rebus.) The plot, as ive said, is a cracker. It should be complicated...but it just isn't. Connolly explains it very well, and its easy to grasp. Not once did i find myself confused, as i did with his previous. This time around Louis and Angel have more action and page space, which is good, because they're very interesting characters. In a way, it would be quite interesting to see what they would do if they had a book to themselves. I doubt it would be quite as good as if Bird was included, but it would still be a good enjoyable read. Now, onto the ending and the final "denouement"... It's superb. there is a great twist in the tail, and everything is explained admirably. The solution is cunning and chilling. This was one of my books of 2000. (when it came out.) Only one thing remains to be said. His next novel, The Killing Kind, is even better. So, if you can't wait for it to be published in the US, buy it from amazon.co.uk. (also, his new book "The White Road" the fourth Parker book, is due out here in march in hardcover.) Do not let yourself pass this author by.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!!
Review: This book was an awesome read. Connolly's first book was a bit complicated and convoluted. This book was far better. It is, as the title would suggest, a dark read. However, it is brilliantly suspenseful and impossible to put down. Charlie "Bird" Parker is a guy out to find justice and if he has to get rid of a few bad guys along the way then so be it. He is making the world a safer place and I like the whole theme this author is using. His work reminds me of a Dennis LeHane novel in many ways. In this story the hunt for the Caleb Kyle monster is very intriguing and scary. I found it to be thrilling and I hated for the story to ever end. It all wraps up neatly in the end and is easy to understand. I like a mystery that leaves no loose ends. Unlike his first novel it does not ramble on about unimportant things and I did not skim through any parts. It is a delicious read with plenty of deep emotion to contemplate on. The author has a great talent for bringing the characters to life. I found myself feeling as if I knew them. I can't wait until his next novel!
Rating:
Summary: A frightening story
Review: This second outing by John Connolly is a compelling story, and an appropriate follow up to his first book, "Every Dead Thing". It is a continuation of the same principle characters, off on another trail of revenge. Bird reminds me of the Andrew Vachss' character, Burke, who wavers from one side of the law to the other. Certainly neither is perfect, nor are they the ideal "hero". Angel and Louis are certainly a unique pair; not very nice, but likeable for their loyalty.
I found this story to be one of the scariest I have read in a while. It is violent, so if shooting and killing bother you, I would not recommend this book. Plots and subplots abound, keeping the reader intrigued and guessing to very end. I especially enjoyed the rural Maine setting. It added to the suspense and overall mood of the book. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy a scary, action packed tale. I hope we see more from Mr. Connolly in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Another great one from Mr. Connolly.
Review: Well, John Connolly has done it again. Slightly less complicated than his initial offering, this book is no by no means less entertaining. It opens, alternating between a shootout in an ocean front parking lot in Maine and an old woman escaping from a home for the elderly. Thus, a chain of events have been kicked off drawing in the Mob, a trouble maker deliquent on his child support, a pair of killer elites and a phantom serial killer who claims the woods of Maine as his home. And who, of course, could better sort everything out than Bird Parker and his infamous partners Angel and Louis. This book was a page turner. Dark and descriptive with some excellent side characters. John Connolly is truly a master story teller and what a story he has to tell here. Hope you all enjoy this book as much as me.
Rating:
Summary: Chills, thrills and great old-fashioned suspense
Review: When John Connolly wrote Every Dead Thing, he created a wild ride that was different from all the other suspense novels out there. I'm more than glad to say that his first novel wasn't a one-time hit. Because with Dark Hollow, Connolly raises the stakes even higher, brings even more suspense to the page and establishes himself as one of the strongest voice in modern suspense ficiton. It's hard to be "Bird" Parker. First, nearly one year ago, he lost his wife and daughter to the sadistic Traveling Man. Now, after a move to Northern Maine, Parker finds himself thrown in the middle of yet another investigation, one that will leave a sky-high number of dead bodies and that will induce a lot of pain for all involved. The case starts when a young woman and her infant child are murdered. The prime suspect is her ex-husband. But Parker thinks different. He knows that the mob is somehow invloved in this. And he can't understand how a sadistic killer called Caleb Kyle - one Bird's grandfather tried to catch five or six decades ago and who's name has now become a legend in Dark Hollow - fits into all of this. But it's only when the daughter of an old friend of Parker's disappears in the Maine countryside that Bird can start putting the pieces of the puzzle back together. Only, time is more than an issue and Parker has very little of it. Connolly is a master at mending two/three storylines together into a coherent whole. What seems to be two separate cases in the beginning become entagled in surprising ways, and the outcome is never predictable. His characters never take the easy way out, nor are they blown out of proportion. Most of them are anti-heroes, people who fall into the role reluctantly, unwillingly. Parker's just a regular guy who keeps finding himself put in awkward situations. Reading DArk Hollow is like being on a roller-coaster ride. Every time you think the suspense can't go any higher, every time you think the stakes can't possibly go higher, every time you think the suspense will finally let up, you're thrown in another loop. This book would make an amazing film! And with this book, Connolly creates an amazing villain, one of mythical proportions. And the way all the different people involved in the story (the mob, cops, assassins) and the way Bird's personal life is portrayed on the page makes this book one of the best suspense novel I've read in a long time. Simply put, Dark Hollow is a masterwork of suspense that you won't soon forget. One of the best novels of the year!
Rating:
Summary: Connolly grows stronger...
Review: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Well, we all know that The Shadow knows - but now he has company.
John Connolly's mystery / horror yarns demonstrate a willingness to plumb the depths to which mankind can descend.
His protagonist, Charlie "Bird" Parker, is a weary innocent, a flawed man of honesty and integrity who is capable of enormous violence. In the first of Mr. Connolly's books, "Every Dead Thing," Parker's wife and daughter are murdered ritualistically and bloodily. Parker, an ex-cop who has up until that moment fought a losing battle with booze, stumbles into an appalling morass of evil. The tale is continued in this volume, and in his subsequent works. (Works which are available in New Zealand. Why they should be published here before an American release one can only wonder at).
Parker's encounters with the foulness others are capable of is reminiscent of Dennis Lehane's stunning novels, with an added "supernatural" content. Mr Connolly's skills are such that talk of ghosts and talking-with-the-dead seems not only believeable, but expected, even to a hardened sceptic such as myself.
If you like a good thriller, you'll read John Connolly. If you like a good horror story, then John Connolly's your man. For a good murder, John Connolly's hard to go past. He even throws in a gentle love story. Dense with plot, sub-plot, and a plenitude of excellent literary devices, this book, its predecessor and following volumes are masterfully crafted, and a delight to read.
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Summary: MENACING CHARACTERS IN SHIVER PRODUCING CLIMES
Review: With an opening line signaling devilish doings, "I dream dark dreams," Irish thrillersmith John Connolly launches his second suspenseful tale featuring New York policeman turned private investigator Charlie Parker. Connolly copped the 2000 Shamus Award for his debut, "Every Dead Thing." "Dark Hollow" assures readers that he deserved it. Unable to set aside the murders of his wife and daughter, a haunted Parker returns to his hometown of Scarborough, Maine. Rather than finding solace in the northeast woods Parker is faced with a series of seemingly unrelated mysteries and a terrifying sociopathic mobster, Tony Celli. Oddly enough the current series of murders are remarkably akin to 40-year-old killings - crimes that Parker's grandfather spent most of his life trying to solve. What is the connection between today's violence and killings almost half a century old? Author Connolly pulls out all the stops with this highly readable, almost surreal tale involving mysterious forces lurking in the wilderness, and a long buried past seemingly rising from the grave. Connolly's an ace at creating menacing characters and shiver producing climes.
Rating:
Summary: dark and disturbing
Review: With this, the second novel in the Charlie Parker series, Connolly comes fully loaded, and he lets the reader have it with both barrels. He says he rewrites his books about forty or fifty times, and the effort shows, as he writes with a precision that gives the scenes cinematic clarity. Parker, a PI who has visions of the dead, must hunt down a man who has stolen a small fortune from a minor mob figure, setting off a chain of events that lead to violent encounters between various mob hitmen, freelance assassins, and an almost mythical serial killer that leaves piles of bodies like multi-car smash-ups at a foggy urban intersection with a broken traffic light. There is hardly a false note in the whole book; most crime writers-- hell, most horror writers-- can only dream of writing stuff this dark and disturbing. In lesser hands, some of Parker's philosophical ruminations would surely win some kind of Bulwer-Lytton award ("It was a dark and stormy night . . ."), but here they give added depth to the pervading sense of evil and chaos. Believe it or not, his third book, THE KILLING KIND, is even more dark and evil, and makes Thomas Harris look like Dr. Seuss. He's already made the short list of my favorite crime writers.
Rating:
Summary: dark and disturbing
Review: With this, the second novel in the Charlie Parker series, Connolly comes fully loaded, and he lets the reader have it with both barrels. He says he rewrites his books about forty or fifty times, and the effort shows, as he writes with a precision that gives the scenes cinematic clarity. Parker, a PI who has visions of the dead, must hunt down a man who has stolen a small fortune from a minor mob figure, setting off a chain of events that lead to violent encounters between various mob hitmen, freelance assassins, and an almost mythical serial killer that leaves piles of bodies like multi-car smash-ups at a foggy urban intersection with a broken traffic light. There is hardly a false note in the whole book; most crime writers-- hell, most horror writers-- can only dream of writing stuff this dark and disturbing. In lesser hands, some of Parker's philosophical ruminations would surely win some kind of Bulwer-Lytton award ("It was a dark and stormy night . . ."), but here they give added depth to the pervading sense of evil and chaos. Believe it or not, his third book, THE KILLING KIND, is even more dark and evil, and makes Thomas Harris look like Dr. Seuss. He's already made the short list of my favorite crime writers.
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