They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but had I not, I might never have come across John Connolly and Charlie Parker.
On one of my frequent visits to the excellent Murder One bookshop on the Charing Cross Road, I came acros Every Dead Thing, the first of a series that has now been successfully running for more than two decades. The cover was hard to ignore with its striking anatomical image, that might be called "distress in death". With it came the strapline, "The most terrifying thriller since Silence Of The Lambs".
That was more than enough for me, and I left Murder One, which sadly closed its doors in 2009, with one more book than I had gone in for, as I always seemed to.
In 1999, I was a couple of years into my obsession with crime fiction and reading everything that James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and countless others were publishing. Connolly offered something different. While the supernatural elements to the Charlie Parker books has become increasingly influential as the series has developed, there was something other-worldly and different about the PI and his stories from the start.
Parker, his life detached from its moorings by the murder of his wife and daughter, inhabits a dark, dangerous and violent world, one where the ghosts of the past haunt the living. That darkness is evident not just in his investigations but in both his adversaries and his allies, and the exploration of the dubious and complex moral trajectories of all are a key feature of the novels.
Complex and detailed characterisation is an important attraction of the series as Connolly takes the time and trouble to develop the stories even of peripheral characters. This contributes to novels that are longer than average - Every Dead Thing comes in 480 pages - but there's never a sense of needless digression. Connolly writes rich and multi-dimensional stories that explore the boundaries between the living and the dead, the thin line that often separates good and evil and the fragility of our lives. The books also have a profound sense of place, particularly in Parker's home state of Maine, where the great forests of the north hide mystery and danger.
Since 1999 he has published 19 more Parker novels (and other work besides) and the series has never lost any of that edge I first encountereed 23 years ago. In 2018, I listened to the entire series again in a matter of a few months, hoping that this would help reveal some of the secrets and threads of the stories that my memory inevitably lost over two decades of annually dipping into Parker's world. I wasn't disappointed. Each book has its own story and structure but taken as a whole, this is an epic and compelling journey with layers and layers to uncover. And as the supernatural has infused the books more and more, they've opened an entirely new dimension and become even more compelling.
My first edition of Every Dead Thing is one of my prized books, and I was grateful that Connolly signed it for me on a visit to Madrid a few years back. He's also been generous with his time, giving me this interview in 2014, in which he explored his influences, his doubts and the fact that he regards the Parker stories as "hopeful", rather than "dark or bleak". Parker and other are on a journey of redemption.
“As a Catholic the word redemption comes with a certain spiritual and supernatural baggage has resonance,” he said. “It seemed appropriate I could explore the implications of redemption through novels and that’s why the supernatural elements become more pronounced. It’s about the possibility and the cost of redemption as redemption costs sacrifice and sacrifice is painful.”
Parker has certainly endured his share of pain. Over the past 23 years I don't think there's a writer I've read more, of and certainly reviewed more, and a selection of those are linked below. It's been a spritual and emotional journey and long may it continue.
A Game of Ghosts 2017
A Time of Torment 2016
A Song of Shadows 2015
The Wolf in Winter 2014
The Whisperers 2010
The Lovers 2009
The Reapers 2008