Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
He is our best hope. He is our last hope.
On lonely moor in the northeast of England, the body of a young woman is discovered near the site of a vanished church. In the south, a girl lies buried beneath a Saxon mound. To the southeast, the ruins of a priory hide a human skull.
Each is a sacrifice, a summons. And something in the darkness has heard the call.
But another is coming: Parker the hunter, the avenger. From the forests of Maine to the deserts of the Mexican border, from the canals of Amsterdam to the streets of London, he will track those who would cast this world into darkness.
Parker fears no evil. But evil fears him . . .
Just before the millennium a new voice joined the world of mystery writing, bringing with him an intriguing new character and a distinctive style. Irish author John Connolly made immediate waves with his first tale starring NYPD detective turned Maine private eye Charlie Parker, a haunted man on several fronts. That book, EVERY DEAD THING, earned Connolly a Shamus Award (becoming the first overseas author to ever win one), and over the next two decades he’s built a stunningly vivid world around Parker. A world that goes beyond our one.
The rational traditions of mystery writing and the irrationality of the supernatural and occult could be oil and water in lesser hands, but Connolly has long-proven a storytelling sorcerer, and one of the finest stylists in the crime genre. That blend has intensified as the series has lengthened.
A BOOK OF BONES was the seventeenth Parker novel, a direct sequel to THE WOMAN IN THE WOODS, and in some ways it brought to a head some ongoing arcs that had been building through a sequence of novels in the long-running series (it was the 17th instalment), particularly since 2014's THE WOLF IN WINTER. Parker is still on the hunt for the mysterious lawyer Quayle and his vicious consort Pallida Mors. Parker’s long-time confederate Louis would also like another shot at Mors, literally, after she left him wounded in a shootout - though he also has his cancer-stricken partner Angel to worry about. The deadly trio of Parker, Louis, and Angel – a force for good in a world filled with plenty of evil – have been weakened and wounded, but so have those they chase.
As the trio track their prey to Europe, Quayle and Mors continue to prey on others. Sacrifices are made at ancient holy sites across the UK. How do the grisly murders link to a long-lost book? And just what infernal carnage is Quayle hoping to wreak?
In A BOOK OF BONES Connolly delivers another masterful tale for long-time fans; it is a bit of a tome, weighing in at 700 pages, but moves quickly and captivates throughout.
One note of caution: perhaps it’s not the best entry point for those brand-new to the excellent Charlie Parker series, given its sprawling nature, many new characters, and Parker being off-screen more than usual. It may pay to read a couple of the prior Parker novels to get the full benefit of Connolly’s brilliance, both in terms of the nuanced character of Parker and some of those ongoing narratives.
But for anyone who's read a Parker book or two (or them all), A BOOK OF BONES is a masterful, intricate tale from a truly wonderful writer.
Craig Sisterson is a lapsed Kiwi lawyer who now lives in London and writes for magazines and newspapers in several countries. He’s interviewed hundreds of crime writers and talked about the genre on national radio, top podcasts, and onstage at festivals on three continents. Craig's been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, McIlvanney Prize, is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. His book SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, was published in 2020.
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