A review of John Connolly's The Unquiet

John Connolly is one of the nicest men you could meet. He's small in statue, much like a jockey, but with a large, friendly smile, the Irish sense of humor, and a vast knowledge of authors and books. In fact, he turned me onto the great Texas writer, Joe R. Lansdale. That alone puts me forever into John's debt. Still, after meeting him, you can help but wonder how such a wonderful person could write such nail-biting, gut-wrenching fiction.

Connolly's newest paperback, The Unquiet, continues the "Charlie Parker" series in much the same vain as the previous ones: Every Dead Thing, The Hollow Man, The Killing Kind, The White Road, and The Black Angel. While not outright horror, the series does have supernatural elements in it, not to mention in-your-face terror. Think of the "Hannibal Lector" novels by Thomas Harris and you get an idea of what I'm talking about.

This time around our Maine private investigator (formerly a homicide detective for the NYPD) is hired to protect local realtor, Rebecca Clay, against a cold-blooded contract killer. The killer, Frank Merrick, is seeking information about Clay's father, a child psychiatrist who disappeared years before after a horrible scandal involving the abused children that he was treating. Merrick's own daughter was a patient of the doctor's while he was in prison and then she suddenly vanished just before her doctor did. Now, Merrick wants to know what happened and will do whatever it takes to get to the truth. In attempting to keep Rebecca Clay out of harm's way, Parker finds himself drawn into the tragic events that transpired so many years ago. Like Merrick, he too becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the young girl as well as to Dr. Daniel Clay. This leads Parker into contact with a secret society of child abusers who have no problem in killing those who get too close to their actual identities. Parker, even with the help of his two friends, Louis and Angel, will find himself outmatched in this struggle for retribution and revenge. Even worse, he will once again encounter the Collector, who has made it his purpose to seek his own form of justice against those who dare to harm children. A lot of people will die before the end of the novel is reached and Parker's life will never be the same again once the facts are uncovered.

The Unquiet, like the other "Charlie Parker" books before it, is filled with heart-pounding suspense, vivid characterization, and sharp literary prose that captures the essence of what pure evil truly is. This novel will leave the reader with a strong sense of having come into contact with the darker, unspeakable side of humanity. Read this, and then go back and get the others. You won't be disappointed. John Connolly should be at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List with every single novel he writes. One day he will. Highly recommended!