A Book of Bones

May 1, 2019

The young woman found dead on an English moor, the girl shoved deep below a Saxon mound, the skull in the priory near the English Channel--all are human sacrifices, and all are crying out for justice. And Charlie Parker answers. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2019
Investigator Charlie Parker's pursuit of his nemesis peaks in this 17th installment of Connolly's series, a seamless, expansive, and chilling blend of police procedural and gothic horror tale. Parker returns to track an elusive murderer, a man named Quayle last seen in The Woman in the Woods (2018). The book begins with a scene in Tempe, Arizona. In a junkyard, Parker examines a female corpse that's been stashed in a freezer. He thinks--and hopes--the body may be that of Pallida Mors, Quayle's companion and a mass murderer Parker has relentlessly pursued. The corpse, alas, is a decoy planted to throw Parker off the scent. The gruesome, straightforward examination that yields this information is the epitome of a police procedural, in great contrast to intervening scenes with Quayle in London. These latter, which Connolly deftly integrates, take on a supernatural, ghostly quality as Connolly suggests Quayle is a force of evil who has lived for centuries. Quayle seeks possession of something called The Fractured Atlas, a "work that would...bring this world to an end." Connolly freshens what could be another too-familiar doomsday tale with a series of distinctively written--and harrowing--gothic set pieces. Men at an archaeological dig in a place called Hexhamshire, in England, for example, observe dark, tuberous roots that make scratching sounds as they slither out of a well and gag one of the explorers to death. Meanwhile, in New York, Parker meets with two longtime cohorts, Louis and Angel, a pair of gay sometime criminals, and Bob Johnston, an antiquarian book dealer from Portland, Maine. In a long evening, Parker learns more about the Fractured Atlas. Realizing he must stop Quayle, Parker and friends embark on a junket that takes them first to Amsterdam and then to the U.K. for a final confrontation with their nemesis. Essentially a series of darkly entertaining yarns perfect for fireside reading late on cold, rainy nights.

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Starred review from August 26, 2019
Connolly’s complex, pulse-pounding 17th supernatural thriller featuring Maine-based investigator Charlie Parker (after 2018’s The Woman in the Woods) finds Parker still on the trail of Quayle, a possibly immortal English lawyer, and Pallida Mors, Quayle’s appropriately named killing machine. In the previous volume, their first round ended in a draw: Quayle was successful in retrieving some missing pages from a book called “the Fractured Atlas,” but Parker managed to retain one page, preventing Quayle from using the volume to end the world. Their duel now continues, as clues about the two villains, who rival Hannibal Lecter in their creepiness, send Parker and his allies to Amsterdam in search of them, even as police in the U.K. probe a series of murders connected with a bizarre religion, the Congregation of Adam Before Eve & Eve Before Adam, whose god demands the spilling of blood. Connolly’s nuanced characterizations and facility at creating spooky atmospherics make it easy to suspend disbelief about the threat of cosmic horror from other dimensions. This underrated author deserves a wider audience. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary (U.K.).

September 1, 2019
Continuing the story left unfinished at the end of The Woman in the Woods (2018), Connolly pits private eye Charlie Parker against two of the most intriguing villains he's created, the serial killer Pallida Mors and the British lawyer Quayle, who is so convinced of his own unwanted immortality that he believes his only hope for eternal peace is to bring the world to an apocalyptic end. This is the seventeenth book in the Parker series, and it's as fresh and surprising as the first, Every Dead Thing (1999). The key to the series' success is the way the author approaches the stories: although these are mysteries with supernatural elements, Connolly writes them as though they were traditional thrillers, with completely believable plots and real-world characters (even the otherworldly ones). Series fans will be thrilled, and, since the author provides a goodly amount of background to the current story, newcomers can jump right in.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)