Rating: 
Summary: Every Dead Thing
Review: This book literally took over my life. From the first page to the last, I could not put it down. It starts out with Charlie "Bird" Parker and the murder of his wife and his small daughter. He takes off trying to find the person or person's who slaughtered them in their own kitchen. This read is one heck of a ride. The way he describes the people he runs into, his two "side kicks" and best friends, Louis and Angel, who unto themselves are a great read, and the way he describes the people he meets while searching for a man known as "The Traveling Man", who "Bird" believes is responsible for his loved ones deaths. His story takes you way beyond any other book you have ever read. I cannot wait to read his second novel, "Dark Hollow".
Rating:
Summary: I was sorry to finish it !
Review: It's been a long time since I couldn't put a book down! Gory yes, but delivered in an intelligent and tension bulding way. John Conolly never lets you get numb, he teases, pushes and provokes and leads you on a thrilling, scary journey. Charles Parker became so real to me I could smell him!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Suspense
Review: Charlie "Bird" Parker had it all; a great wife and daughter, a nice house and a very promising career in law inforcement. But one day, everything came tumbling down when his family is killed by a sadistic killer. After that, Charlie's life falls apart and he quits his job only to find himself becoming a private investigator.He keeps on searching for his wife's killer, but he also takes on a new case. A murderer is abducting small children and killing them. Does this case tie in to the murders of his wife and daughter? Are the ghosts he is seeing in his mind real, or is he going insane? And what about those strange phone calls he is receiving, from a man who calls himself the 'Traveling Man' and who claims that he is the one who killed his family? A very complicated plot insues, once that will take Bird across America as he searches for two very notorious killers. If I could, I would actually give this book three and a half stars. Although the plot is always intriguing and very intricate, filled with thousands of plot and turns, the book maybe has a few too many supporting characters. So many different people enter and leave Charlie's life that after a while, you lose track of them all. And Connolly, although a very talented writer, tends to give too many details that are unnecessary. This book was marketed as the next Silence Of The Lambs, though it isn't as good or as striking as Harris's classic. And yet, I found myself totally absorbed by the book. This is a very promising debut by a terrific new talent. I cannot wait to read Connolly's sequel to find out what happens next with Charlie Bird. A good, if somewhat slightly flawed, debut.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Holmes in Maine
Review: John Connolly offers to the world a new Sherlock Holmes, the modern P.I. in his Novel Every Dead Thing. Charlie "Birdman" Parker is a trouble Private Eye who has to deal with his own past while trying to hunt down a number of serial killers, one of which turns out to be very close to home. Connolly offers an action packed, but not a solely action type, suspenseful, and beatutifully written novel about a man who has descended into the parts of his own psyche where he is capable of things that the average are not. With a touch of the supernatural lurking in the background connolly explores the mind of Parker and his reactions to the circumstances he finds himself in with extraordinary skill. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys crime fiction, mystery or just enjoys and excellently written novel that rivals some of todays finer works. 5 Stars John, job well done.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as some might claim.
Review: Silence of the Lambs it aint, despite the comparisons. In fact, i had to debate with myself whether to give this three of four stars. I don't know why i chose four, but hey. Anyway, this is a very well written book. His prose is very lyrical and his descriptions are superb. however, this book is just too...complicated? Maybe that isn't the word. Busy. Yes, it's a very very busy book. there is a lot going on, a lot to concentrate on. the multiple plot strands don't really serve a purpose, and just detract from the hunt for the "travelling man". this is a rather average debut, nothing speical. However, he shows great promise. If he only would cut out some of the characters and needless plotlines, this would be a classic. In his next book, Dark Hollow, he did this. And it was a lot better. Dark Hollow is certainly a five star book. As is his third Parker novel, the Killing Kind, to be published in the US some time in 2002 i believe. This book is just the beginning of his talent. He gets better and better. So even if you don't like this one much, you are almost guaranteed to love his others.
Rating:
Summary: Make sure you won't be distracted...
Review: If you plan to read this book you had better make sure you are able to do so without any interruptions. The reasons being, it is very detailed and it is also very involved for the reader. You won't want distractions of any sort as there are many characters and an intricate plot. These are all good things. This is not a light read and in many ways the style of writing reminds me of a Dennis Lehane novel. It is dark and gruesome but worth the effort. Charlie Parker is a meaty character and a bit scary. He is also likeable. His quest to find many different people ends up being connected which makes the storyline much more understandable. At first it is a bit confusing as the reader thinks too many things are going on. The author also switches from present tense to past and so you have to keep up. Each character that is introduced has a lengthy life story and I found myself skimming at times as I did not even care. I just wanted the meat of the story. However, I ended up going back as I missed important details at times, and things have to make sense and come together for me to enjoy a book. This book could have been trimmed down but all in all it was a very suspensful and exciting read. I will read his next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning Debut
Review: Debut novels really do it for me. I love discovering new authors and I feel even more grand once that author proves he's worth the money, time and hope that I had in him. John Connolly provides us with a whallop of a first book that transverses horror, thriller and your everyday mystery. What I'm really surprised about is that this book is not being talked about as a movie project. It's certainly worth the production. My taste in books was very narrow and mostly delved into the horror genre. A friend of mine had talked me into reading the book, River God, which I was not really interested in (I've read it and I take whatever I thought of it at first back). When searching for that particular book I stumbled on a cover that caught my eye instantly. The book has just been shipped to the bookstore and it was put in a column with all its other copies. A special discount price was included on it which kind of encouraged me to check it out, but I have to admit, it was the cover that stole my heart. In the bookstore, I opened to the first chapter and read it. I couldn't stop. If it wasn't for my friend's nagging that it was late and we had to move out, I would not have let "Every Dead Thing" out of my hand. I bought it instead. The 500+ page, Shamus Award winner is huge and carries you on a journey from the mean streets of New York, where Connolly succeeds in making you smell the acrid gasoline-infested air of the city to the dank, damp swaps of New Orleans. Connolly writes like he's a native of these places though he's from Ireland, which goes to show you the amount of research he had put in this piece of work. Though the size might look intimidating to the reader, the book reads fast and light in the first person narration as Connolly introduces us to Charlie "Bird" Parker. You see the world completey in his eyes and the amount of grief and loss the character has lived through become your own as the story moves along. The characters that you are introduced to as the story flows feel real and you know that they can very well exist in this world of worlds. The two striking of those are Bird's sidekicks Angel and Louis. You just feel that Bird's safe when he's around them. After finishing the whole book, I just can't imagine the story being without those two yahoos. Connolly's writing style is never boring and does not drag. He's very descriptive when it comes to describing the murders and the bodies. Even I had nightmares, which I never do when reading other horror books. With the book's close to the end, you just hate to let go. I admit the ending is very very surprising. A downside of the book has to be the engrossing subplots that just pop up from everywhere. I understand that Connolly was acquainting the reader with Bird and he really does a good job at this and even is able to connect everything together in the end, albeit by a very thin line. John Connolly was able to create a gruesome tale of terror, mystery and love lost in this epic of a tale that has spawned three other chapters (the second only is currently in circulation in the US). Connolly establishes Charlie Parker as a detective that will be a part of the fiction mystery hall of fame, along with Patterson's Cross and Vacchs's Burke. That's no easy feat for a new Irish kid on the block writing his debut novel.
Rating:
Summary: Start Of A Great Series!
Review: I bought this book on sight becuase of the cover. After the first chapter, I was up the rest of the night finishing it. And the images from the book stayed with me. It's dark and and creepy at times, but is off set with some humor. The twists kept me guessing and I really learned to love Parker and his cohorts. Angel and Lewis are wonderful sidekicks. And the way he writes about the USA I never would have guessed that he's from Ireland. I've read the first three in this series, and will buy the rest as soon as they come out. I highly recomend this author's work.
Rating: 
Summary: Every Dead Thing Review
Review: This book had to many stories which distracted from the main theme. The buildup to the final conclusion was OK but the conclusion was terrible with no explanation as to why he did it etc. Hope his next book is better!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I thought so highly of this book that I immediately went to ... to see if he had written anything else. He just released a new book and needless to say I ordered it. What an author- kept me up half the night and couldn't wait for the next day to continue. Any true mystery fan will love this book. I know I did.
| 
