The Dirty South: Private Investigator Charlie Parker hunts evil in the eighteenth book in the globally bestselling series (Charlie Parker Thriller 18)

My Thoughts:Tried to read this book slowly to savour it. I succeeded, partially… it still went too fast for me.I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since I finished A Book of Bones. I wanted to know if Parker pursued Quayle further… and how Quayle fared after he received the mercy of the old gods… or did he die after all? Unfortunately, this thread in the story wasn’t even mentioned in this book.I didn’t know that Bill Clinton (the 42nd president of the United States) came from Hope, Arkansas… That little tidbit of information is pertinent to me because it showcases the fact that John Connolly is a master spinner of tales where he weaves fact and fiction so seamlessly that his fiction “feels” so real to the readers. His tales connects to the readers. Kudos to the author!!When this book was launched I saw that this book was advertised as the “becoming” of Charlie Parker or something similarly crucial. I didn’t see that anywhere in the book. If Charlie Parker was ever “made”, I think that would be in previous books than this. The Dirty South is a good installment of the Charlie Parker series, but not a pivotal work in the story arc.Empirical Evaluation:Story telling quality = 5Character development = 5Story itself = 5Writing Style = 5Ending = 4.5World building = 5Cover art = 4Pace = (15 hrs & 22 mins)Plot = 4.5Narration = 5Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

It was okay, but certainly one of the lesser Parker novels. I never felt the passion for solving the crime that many of the others in this series have. And like many of the recent books, the reader spends very little time with Parker, sidelining him while what feels like a different main character takes centre stage. I'm not so petty as to count the words where Parker is the main character in a chapter, but I'm betting it's only about 30% of the book dedicated to him, with far more going to the sheriff, who is clearly the real protagonist of this book. If this was the first John Connolly book a reader picked up they'd be wondering why the series isn't subtitled "An Evan Griffin Thriller".I'm not sure if this is intentional, but the previous Parker book spent more time following an investigation via a British police detective while Parker followed different clues and they kind-of merged eventually in the final act. Which is fine, but it was very much a supernatural crime thriller FEATURING Charlie Parker rather than starring him.I'm wishing we could go back to the days when Parker was both the protagonist and the emotional centre of these stories, where we got a journey through his soul, and really felt his struggles to face the dark forces coming to the fore. Instead, I feel like Mr Connolly would rather be telling other stand-alone stories set in this remarkable and fascinating world, and Parker is along for the ride because the publisher insists this is what sells.Frankly, I'd read anything in this story world written by John Connolly. He's a great writer, so if he wants to write books that concentrate on new stand-alone characters (or even a new one to continue parallel to the Parker books), then I'd happily buy those. I enjoyed Bad Men, after all.Ultimately, though, with The Dirty South, like A Book of Bones (#17), I was constantly waiting for Parker's story to kick into gear, and it never really did, while the other main character ran the show.Don't get me wrong - this is a good book by most measures, so my complaints are purely about my expectations, having read this series for so long. Fingers crossed we get back to what I loved about the earlier books, and we can explore this world through Parker a bit more intimately.

Normally I would give John Connolly 5 stars as he is incapable of writing a poor novel even if he wrote it in sand with a stick. However, excellent as this was it was not the book I was hoping for. I wanted far more of the latter stages of Charlie Parker's journey with the strong supernatural thread that has lifted these books from just great detective stories to the sublime. I will keep hoping!

After waiting avidly for this book my heart sank when I saw he had gone back to soon after losing his wife Susan and child. Thinking it would be in his usual gripping genre ,developing his relation with his daughter it was disappointing to find a well written but average story, is there no future for a follow on?

Having read all of this series enjoyed The Dirty South, helps prolong series as a day of reckoning coming soon for Charlie Parker. As a prequel not sure prepares new readers for Every Dead Thing one of the best crime novels ever written, this was quite a light read in comparison to EDT which is very intense.Next book from Connolly is an Angel and Louis novel so may have to wait until 2023 for this day of reckoning.

having never written a review i was disappointed to make this my first, as this writer and charlie himself are always a treat that i wait for avidly!this struck me as almost a publish for publishing's sake novel and, if you didn,t know better, could have been "ghost written" as it lacks the sense and feel, and overall satisfaction that is so anticipated.