Only this time he find more on his road than he bargained before. He meets acquintances from old foes and has to go head to head with some parts in himself. A great tale that has a splendid historical background which is used to his fullest. It does make me want to visit a certain sight that features strongly in this book. But while I really enjoyed this book some of the darkness the previous opponents had in themselves and the crimes involved are somewhat less in this book.
It is a far more straigthforward story about church, faith, church-history and the believes of people. View all 4 comments. At a party celebrating the baby's baptism, the Aunt of Charlie's friend, Louis, arrives telling him his niece, a prostitute and addict, has disappeared. But when Charlie, Louis and his partner, Angel, go looking for her, they find something much bigger, and rooted in history, killing young women.
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Although brutal, there was a balance of lyrical writing, crisp humorous dialogue, an element of mysticism, and a sense of hope at the end. They grabbed me at page one and kept me there until the end. I did not find that with this book. First, had I not read the previous books, I'm not certain I'd have understood who Charlie, Louis and Angel were and relationship between them.
Second, although interesting, for more than half the book there was so much expository history, it slowed the pace to where I'd put the book down and have trouble picking it back up. Third, it was unrelentingly dark with very little of the wonderful dialogue which usually offsets the brutality. Fourth, rather than being left with a sense of hope, I was left with a feeling of despair. Connolly's move from mystery with mysticism to thriller.
However, I do read the occasional thriller. I more regret losing all those elements I felt made Mr. Connolly's books exceptional, as they were not apparent here. May 25, Brandon rated it really liked it Shelves: So, I'm 5 books into the Charlie Parker saga and so far, so good. With this book, Connolly seems to have completely abandoned the realistic approach taken with the earlier books and gone full force into supernatural mode. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, if it's done right anyway and Connolly seems to know just what he's doing.
When I read the initial plot and some spoiler free reviews, I was a little worried that Connolly was going to take Parker somewhere that I wasn't interested in r So, I'm 5 books into the Charlie Parker saga and so far, so good. When I read the initial plot and some spoiler free reviews, I was a little worried that Connolly was going to take Parker somewhere that I wasn't interested in reading.
I mean, I have enough supernatural in my reading life with Stephen King and I really enjoyed the Parker series having its distinct feel - the career of a witty and sarcastic P.
However, Connolly does not go over board. Yes, this novel is supported on the readers ability to grasp the existence of Angels and seemingly immortal individuals but Connolly's back story supports it so well that it honestly does not seem like that much of a stretch. While he spends a good portion of the book developing his characters old and new and their reasons for the acquisition of The Black Angel itself; he spends very little time on action. So little that I think that Connolly is not aware of just how well he writes action.
The Black Angel
The scenes involving intense shoot outs are far and few between - that being said, I can do without Connolly throwing in that stuff for the sake of it - I'm just craving more of it. I'm a big fan of where this book went when the initial plot seemed to be taken care of. Connolly never abandons old plots and important events from previous novels - he blends everything in so very well.
It's clear that he's not doing it to only seem consistent; he appears to have a long and drawn out vision of where this character is going. Which is reassuring considering I have the next 3 sitting on my bookshelf. While the ending of this book isn't exactly the most thrilling of his work to date, the events that unfold could not be better for the longevity of the Charlie Parker character.
I'm still just as interested to read the 6th book as I was to pick up the 2nd. Mar 10, George K. Aug 29, Chris rated it really liked it Shelves: I am really enjoying this series. I think that Connolly bit off a bit too much with this one, however. In The Black Angel, Mr. Connolly provides a history of the source of evil that has permeated the first two books and fills out a mythology of sorts to explain it all. In the first I am really enjoying this series. The supernatural elements were given a lesser stage as mainly it was the unavenged dead that sought him out and plead to him to bring justice to their killers.
Later, once he learns of and starts to travel The White Road creatures less or more? Well, in this installment they find him and he realizes that his mission might be much bigger than he thought. I am not sure what this means for the rest of the series. I have no intention of stopping, that is for sure. The supernatural element was stronger in this book. And it was more adventurous because Parker needs to dig through history to find arcane artifacts.
Just like with Dan Brown's it made me searched the Sedlec Church and the Nazi side story of Himmler because the past is connected according to Connolly.
Louis and Angel is still charming as ever though Louis will disagree and those three are still the deathly combo when they started to act. There were few interesting and funny characters, the dea The supernatural element was stronger in this book. There were few interesting and funny characters, the death of few interesting characters too, and the final decision Charlie must made in order to salvation and protection. Objectively, this is a different book than the previous and things start to develop to a more supernatural kind of way.
Subjectively, I don't know how I feel about this book. Further discussion with self is needed. View all 7 comments. I wrote an entire review, and while writing, it disappeared. I don't get it. This has happened to me several times on Goodreads Well, it's a creepy book and I enjoyed it. I took off one star because one part of a hugely complex plot didn't make sense to me. This book also delves into where Charlie Parker 'came from' and who he may 'really be. At any rate, disappointed I lost m I wrote an entire review, and while writing, it disappeared.
At any rate, disappointed I lost my much longer, more detailed review The Black Angel is as much a story of horror and violence as it is a mystery with some paranormal thrown in. A prostitute, related to Louis, is missing and believed dead. Charlie Parker accompanies his friends, Louis and Angel to New York to find the missing girl and find themselves in the middle of a mystery involving the slaughter at a French Monastery in and the myth of the Black Angel, lots of bones and the Believers. Sep 15, Ben rated it it was amazing.
The best book I've read in the past 3 months. Parker meets Brightwell for the first time and he may be scarier here than anywhere else. I'm excited for the next book in the series. I want to reread them all. It is easy to get drawn into the descriptions of the ossuary and you can feel that you're inside the catacombs. Dec 05, Mike rated it really liked it Shelves: Somewhere between a four and five star rating. This guy Connolly has some dark places he loves to write about, none darker than this book. Read this one in daylight unless you don't mind nightmares, demons, evil and things that go bump in the night.
Just some friendly advice. At least now we know why Parker sees dead people. John Connolly's Charlie Parker series has always been dark and has been seeing progressively more supernatural elements in each book but the fifth book has veered even more sharply to the dark side to the point where it is as much horror as it is mystery. Mar 27, Pablo rated it liked it.
Mar 08, Jennifer rated it really liked it. The Charlie Parker series is one of the best, with heartwrenching, bloody, violent stories that seem to get darker with each book, and poor tortured Charlies' ghosts' never letting up. This one was really interesting because it gave us a bit of a history lesson in archangels, eastern european monasteries, and some darker forms of art collecting. It also gives us a little insight into who or what Charlie may be These are definetly not your typical detective novels. Connolly weaves layers and layers into his books, with interweaving plot lines and as usual an interesting cast of characters, especially Louis and Angel, his partners in crime.
I love that Connolly gives us just a little more background on these two with every novel, slowly rounding out these extremely complicated people, I mean who doesn't love a black, gay, Republican assasin? My only other dissappointment, besides the lack of sleep, is Charlie's girlfriend and now mother of his child, the previously supportive and smart Rachel.
For all of the cases she has helped him with, for all the times she's had to defend herself kill if necessary , watching Charlie struggle with his tortured past, and knowing all the while that he literally has to help people in order to atone for his real or imagined sins, why oh why would she have his baby and think that he was going to change!? But that's on the author, I'm assuming he wanted to tease Charlie, and us with some form of normalcy and then yank away any happiness and optimism that Charlie, or the reader may experience..
Feb 11, martin rated it it was ok. Crime and satanic myth come together in a Charlie Parker thriller. Sadly, I never found it convincing and as I read on it always felt self-indulgent and contrived. I feel a bit guilty saying this as he has moments when he writes beautifully and it is clear a lot of research went into this book, but the plot let it down. That and the fact that two of the potentially most interesting characters in the books, Louis and Angel, continue to be flat and closed to the reader.
Parker Crime and satanic myth come together in a Charlie Parker thriller. Parker is the first person narrator while the 3rd person narrator in the non-Parker parts is able to see inside the heads of several of the bad guys, especially the deliciously repulsive Brightwell, but what about Louis and Angel?
The ending was sadly predictable not a good thing in a detective story and also rather damp. We're dealing possibly with supernatural beings and yet they are removed within 1 or 2 pages. That was disappointing after hundreds of pages of build up. Mar 11, Bandit rated it it was amazing. This is probably exactly how dark supernatural thrillers should be written.
As with each book, it does get progressively darker and sadder and more haunting. Oct 28, Ctgt rated it really liked it. This series just keeps getting darker. Not the type of book to read if you're in the wrong frame of mind. The fat man smelled peculiar. He hadn't noticed any stench from the other one in blue but the tubby guy had an unusual body odor. He smelled earthy and Ruiz involuntarily found himself picturing pale worms breaking through damp clods of dirt and black beetles scurrying for the shelter of stones. Jan 13, Hugh Smith rated it it was amazing.
If you like your detectives bad ass and brooding with lots of baggage then Connolly's Charlie Parker is for you. Connolly's world is dark and has a supernatural twist that differentiates it from your average detective story. Mar 30, Traummachine rated it really liked it. Black Angel was different from the previous Charlie Parker books in a couple ways. First, it incorporates Da Vinci Code -like elements ancient histories and puzzles For one thing, he doesn't just keep throwing exposition at you in the same way over and over.
Connolly incorporates it in educational conversations, like Brown, but he also uses flashbacks by current characters, or chapters written as if the historical scene Black Angel was different from the previous Charlie Parker books in a couple ways. Connolly incorporates it in educational conversations, like Brown, but he also uses flashbacks by current characters, or chapters written as if the historical scene was happening in the present think of prologues sprinkled throughout the novel.
I'm honestly not sure how you could provide a bunch of needed historical data any better than this. The second big difference is that this doesn't just add a few more supernatural elements -- it pours them on. The Black Angels, briefly seen in The White Road , are explained, made central to the plot, and tied in very well with the prior books in the series In a way I think it's a shame that it took four prior books to get to the main plot-point of the series, but I've loved the ride, so it must have been the right choice.
However, I do have a complaint about this book: Seriously, it has several major characters from the prior books, a handful of new supporting characters that play fairly large roles, all the baddies, all of Charlie Parker's posse, plus no less than a half-dozen new characters that serve as informants of varying degrees of importance. I got tired of following who was who. Reusing more of the characters would have been easier on this reader.
Despite this, still a very solid book, one that I'm tempted to give another half-star to. Plus, you know it's a good series when I'm looking forward to book six. Jul 13, Don Sparrow rated it really liked it. You either love his novels or you hate them. I absolutely love them. This is the 5 th in the Charlie "Bird" Parker series. Connolly has marvelous dexterity when it comes to using the English language. His prose can best be described as not only outstanding but actually beautiful.
Connolly's novels occupy a distinctive niche "John Connolly", what can I say? Connolly's novels occupy a distinctive niche along the darkest edge of a a dark genre. An edge where you find the world of the living right up against that of the dead and dying. Many things in the real world cannot be explained and there are often conflicts between what would be Heaven and what would be Hell.
Connolly's books have a supernatural veil that brings these conflicts together. This book is certainly a dark read. However it is not without some humor. I actually found myself laughing out loud at some things that were actually simply not funny unless viewed from the eyes of the novels villains.
It is Connolly's villains who really put the chills in his stories because they challenge the definition of being human. But he does have a rock-solid reputation: So when Rye is asked the fly into a completely fogbound northern Georgia town and deliver a mysterious black box to a Dr Lambert, he doesn't ask questions. As Rye's plane nears the isolated landing strip, worse trouble than bad weather awaits him. He is greeted first by a sabotage attempt that causes him to crash land; and then by Dr Brynn O'Neal, who claims she was sent for the box in Dr Lambert's stead.
Rye finds himself irresistibly drawn to the intrigue surrounding his cargo. Soon Rye and Brynn are in a treacherous forty-eight-house race to deliver the box. With everyone from law enforcement officials to hired thugs hot on their heels, they must learn to trust each other so they can protect their valuable cargo from those who would kill for it.
A family cloaked in secrets. Inspector Bordelli is back to solve one of the most difficult cases of his entire career in the sixth book in this atmospheric crime noir series - perfect for fans of Andrea Camilleri. It is winter, and one year has passed since the historic and devastating flood of the Arno, though the memories of that day still linger with the stains on the city walls. The anniversary of the flood brings with it a new case for Inspector Bordelli. A local wealthy industrialist - fiercely loved and respected by everyone he knew - has been found murdered in his grand villa in the Fiesole hills, and the killer has left no trace.
With no obvious leads to follow, Bordelli is patiently retracing the victim's last days when he encounters an old friend from the war. Inviting the frail man into his home, Bordelli doesn't realise that it is this very friend will lead him ever closer to the secrets at the heart of the mystery. The Number One bestseller.
It is deep winter. The darkness is unending. The private detective named Jaycob Eklund has vanished, and Charlie Parker is dispatched to track him down. Parker's employer, Edgar Ross, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has his own reasons for wanting Eklund found. Eklund is no ordinary investigator. He is obsessively tracking a series of homicides and disappearances, each linked to reports of hauntings. Now Parker will be drawn into Eklund's world, a realm in which the monstrous Mother rules a crumbling criminal empire, in which men strike bargains with angels, and in which the innocent and guilty alike are pawns in a game of ghosts.
As the years turn, people begin to disappear from these murky streets in mysterious circumstances. When a life-threatening accident crosses Hester's path with Calder Brock's, it appears Hester's fortune has changed. Handsome, charming and wealthy, Calder is quick to invite her into his home, introducing Hester to his mysterious sister Rebecca, who takes Hester under her wing. In the opulence of her new home, Hester believes she has now escaped the darkness of the slums for good. But, Hester is about to find out, appearances can hide the ugliest of truths.
When she is lured back onto the streets to investigate the mystery, the clues seem to lead her back far closer to her new friends than she could ever have imagined. John Connolly recreates the golden age of Hollywood for an intensely compassionate study of the tension between commercial demands and artistic integrity and the human frailties behind even the greatest of artists. An extraordinary reimagining of the life of one of the greatest screen comedians the world has ever known: And whose life was ultimately defined by one relationship of such tenderness and devotion that only death could sever it: But he did not really exist.
Stan Laurel was a fiction. With he, John Connolly recreates the golden age of Hollywood for an intensely compassionate study of the tension between commercial demands and artistic integrity, the human frailties behind even the greatest of artists, and one of the most enduring and beloved partnerships in cinema history: A Russian orphan, saved from the death penalty for the brutal revenge she took on her gangster father's killers.
Given a new life. New names, new faces - whichever fits. Her paymasters call themselves The Twelve. But she knows nothing of them. Konstantin is the man who saved her, and the one she answers to. Eve Polastri is the woman who hunts her. MI5, until one error of judgment costs her everything. Then stopping a ruthless assassin becomes more than her job. Originally published as ebook singles: Codename Villanelle, Hollowpoint, Shanghai and Odessa. No Tomorrow is available for pre-order now!
There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route , Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong if time-rusted iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside. At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground.
From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game. One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat Our Books See all Books.
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The Black Angel: A Charlie Parker Thriller: 5,John Connolly- | eBay
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