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“With its singular characters, eerie subject matter, and socko style” (The New York Times), this gripping thriller from the internationally bestselling author John Connolly follows Private Investigator Charlie Parker as he is hired to track down the identity of a dead woman—who apparently died in childbirth—and her missing child.
In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.
Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only one searching. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.
And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring and a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman.
With breathless pacing and shivery twists and turns, “this is Connolly’s masterpiece” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby.
Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only one searching. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.
And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring and a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman.
With breathless pacing and shivery twists and turns, “this is Connolly’s masterpiece” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
42 Reviews
4.0
Lyerin
Created 4 months agoShare
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“Charlie investigates a body found in the Maine woods. The body is that of a woman buried after dying in childbirth, with the child missing. It’s clear that Charlie is not the only one seeking the child. Quayle, an otherworldly lawyer accompanied by a creepy female assassin called Pallida Mors (pale death), is also following the dead woman’s trail. Quayle and Mors leave a trail of bodies in their wake. The Backers are “helping” Quayle but don’t actually want his mission to succeed because the item he’s seeking can unmake the world and invite the Not Gods, including the Buried God/God of Wasps back, which would end everything. There are distinct hints as to the identity of the Principal Backer. Angel is recovering from surgery after being diagnosed with Stage 2 colon cancer. Louis without Angel is unmoored and more dangerous than usual.”
Laura Brown
Created 8 months agoShare
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Safiya Nesmith
Created about 1 year agoShare
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Camila Di Bernardo
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“3.5
I am very confused/conflicted about my own feelings toward this book.
I got it randomly from a used bookstore, having no clue it was the sixteenth book in a series. Fortunately, the author made a good job in making this readable as a stand-alone - I realized pretty quickly there was history between the characters and a deeper background, but instead of making me feel like I was missing something, it only made the whole book better - it was like I already knew most characters, even though I've never read about them before.
Another thing I had no clue about going into this was that it had paranormal/supernatural elements, something I usually dislike in thrillers, especially when I'm not prepared for it. Since it was 100% the case here, it took me some time to come to terms with the whole ghosts thing, which took some of my enjoyment.
Now, the book itself. The writing was weird, but also great. The narrative was so dry and ironic I couldn't help liking it. It was also so smart - sometimes unexpectedly smart, making me read through a paragraph twice to make sure I had it right. Sometimes there were some huge tangents that seemed to make no sense with the main plot and I'd feel like skimming (sometimes doing so), but then a couple of chapters later it'd all make sense.
It was a smart, organized, detail-oriented book, with a dry sense of humor, and I enjoyed reading it.
The dialogues here felt so honest - like, I could absolutely imagine these characters speaking just like that - and some of them were hilarious. But the best parts for me were definitely "hidden" in the narrative. The "humorless" humorous, on-point commentary. Seriously, there is some great stuff here.
And the characters? I like every single one of them. Even the ones I hate/strongly dislike felt real and deep enough to make me care, even if I want them to die in pain. So, one more point for the author.
So, I enjoyed reading this book, can't say that I haven't... But it is still only a 3-star read for me.
The reason is simple, which makes everything even worse. It was the way the author planned the book, and it wasn't necessarily bad, just not for me.
The whole plot was constructed in a way that the reader knows what's going on after the first few chapters. After that, it's all just... The characters catching up. And some sort of "race" between POV's to get to a certain object. That's it. No real surprises or twists, just... Waiting for the end.
I get that a bunch of people would love this, but I wasn't one of them. I want to be kept on my toes while reading a thriller. I want to be trying to figure shit out and failing epically. I want to flinch and gasp and "what the actual fuck". I do not want to be waiting for the characters to get to the information I already obtained. It just gave me the feeling of wanting it to be over already and I should absolutely not be feeling that while reading a book - especially a thriller.
Anyways. I like Parker, Louis, and Moxie. I appreciate how the writer didn't try to self-insert in his character, making every single woman around him want to fuck him. And to be honest, there were some great female characters here. Holly, Leila, Mors, Candy, Esther, and Corriveau, amongst others. So, one more point to the author.
Thinking about it now, the author did include a diverse cast and made some pretty cool social commentary along the way. Only for that, I'll give it a 3.5-star rating and round it up.
Ugh, see what I mean?? The writing is great, the tone is great, the characters are great, and even the overall plot is good... But the way it was developed was so boring!
I hate that a book I wanted to highlight so many times left me feeling this frustrated. This book is like an interesting, smart, kind, hot man - It is still a man and will disappoint you in the end.
... You'll have some good memories, though.”
Sarah Kuntsal
Created over 1 year agoShare
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About John Connolly
John Connolly is the author of the #1 internationally bestselling Charlie Parker thrillers series, The Book of Lost Things and its sequel The Land of Lost Things, the Samuel Johnson Trilogy for younger readers, and (with Jennifer Ridyard) the Chronicles of the Invaders series. He lives in Dublin, Ireland. For more information, see his website at JohnConnollyBooks.com, or follow him on Twitter @JConnollyBooks.
Other books by John Connolly
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