THE WHISPERERS: A CHARLIE PARKER THRILLER- 9

Using the war in Iraq. Too recent. Let’s face it everybody in the World has some form of PTSD. Does anybody ever recover from the death of a parent or a divorce. Now for the book far too many characters. They all mingle together, due to bad writing, you loose the drift of who is who. I got the feeling that there were about 4 books in one here. Too much padding out. Drug smuggling, PTSD, heard it all before. All the detail about little things. Okay it might be clever to write a book about one drop of water, and get your university degree but this is supposedly a crime fiction novel and should be exciting. This isn’t about water though. The descriptions remind me of Lee Child’s writing, well he was six foot above me, twenty degrees lower than the other man but still had more guns than me , a glosch of twenty mill . A grenade of two hundred gram, a semi of six hundred rounds. See what I mean that’s what’s going on here the descriptions go on and on and on and on. Please don’t read it. Saying that the previous novel by him THE LOVERS was very good, read that. This was my second Charlie Parker, I may try another.

With The Whisperers John Connolly continues the work he started 12 years earlier in Every Dead Thing to blur the boundaries between the crime novel and the horror novel. He has achieved that blend brilliantly in what may well be his most satisfying novel so far.We start in the war-zone of Iraq and in particular, a museum vault, within which a treasure hoard is hidden, including one item more important but also potentially more dangerous than all the rest.Charlie Parker, with his private investigators license recently reinstated after some "trouble" (see previous books in the series) is hired to investigate the death of a soldier. He soon finds out that this death is also linked with the deaths of several other recently returned Iraq veterans. Initially dismissed as a result of post traumatic stress, Parker begins to uncover a much deeper and darker mystery involving that mysterious box.John Connolly's tales are always populated with some marvellous characters but here he excels himself with a huge range of interesting, diverse and downright nasty individuals. All are drawn in the same pen picture style that Stephen King uses so well are all are immediately brought to life through their actions and dialogue. So we meet Mexican drug lords, less than honest policeman, young bloods trying to make their mark and of course the soldiers and their families. Beyond these players, however, are a whole range of much darker characters. Herod, a deeply nasty individual tortured by illness and demons. The Collector, again a character from previous books, but this time given more life as he continues his mission to collect souls. And then there is The Captain, the thing behind the glass, everyone's nightmare realised.These final characters and the underlying premise of the book inject a huge dose of supernatural adrenalin into the story which lifts it way beyond the norm. Those who have read Connolly's work in the past will already know that Parker is a tortured individual on a seemingly one way road to oblivion. His partners, the excellent Louis and Angel are always there to help with the physical side of things but it is in the deeper darker realm that Parker meets his greatest tests and there he is alone.Of course, the book also carries a powerful message, not so much anti-war but very much pro-war veteran. Much of the detail in the book about the horrendous way that returning vets are treated is based on real life and is something we should all be ashamed of.John Connolly continues to travel his fairly unique journey through the boundaries of genre fiction. Every Charlie Parker book builds on the previous to provide a genuinely unsettling mythos. Just real enough to be believable, just unreal enough to be terrifying, it's a journey which seems destined to end in tragedy for Parker but it's all the more compelling for it.If you haven't read his previous Parker books then you may miss some of the subtle nuances on show here but for fans of the series this is fantastic, not merely recommended reading this should be compulsory.

Although I’d argue there’s not a bad John Connelly, it has to be said The Wisperers is the poorest so far. He makes reference to the negative review of his English editor, then suggests he won her over in the end. She was right. Still readable but entangled with the theme of PDSD. So much is hinted, but never developed. We never get to step through the door and go with Parker down that long dark tunnel Connelly describes so well.

I love Charlie Parker and I love this author, but I hate to say, I was disappointed with The Whisperer. I kept waiting for Charlie Parker. Louis and Angel to show up, their time in this book was minimal. I can see why the author's American editor did n't like this book. He had deviated into a different style of book, with varied characters and their back story and our heroes turn up at the end for the brief show down. For me, not what I have come to expect in a Charlie Parker series book.

I really like the Charlie Parker novels by John Connolly and have sped through all 11 of them. He manages to add a supernatural overtone to the novels while still keeping the stories well grounded in something which seems like reality, keeping you always wondering what is actually real.The characters feel worth following and there is a nice progression in their development through the books and the detailed descriptions of the environment and actions of the people paints vivid pictures for you to enjoy.While the books are certainly dark, they still leave your belief in humanity intact and as the star rating indicates this is certainly a series I would recommend.