Nocturnes

Nocturnes [ by the author of The Book of Lost Things] is the first collection of short stories by Irish author John Connolly. The book consists of 15 stories:The Cancer Cowboy Rides, Mr Pettinger's Daemon, The Erlking, The New Daughter, The Ritual of the Bones, The Furnace Room, The Underbury Witches, The Inkpot Monkey, The Shifting of the Sands, Some Children Wander by Mistake, Deep Dark Green, Miss Froom Vampire, Nocturne, The Wakeford Abyss, & The Reflecting Eye: A Charlie Parker Novella.If you love the English Gothic horror master M.R. James, you'll definitely appreciate the stories here...they are basically supernatural stories, but some have been also given the crime thriller treatment to good effect. Some of my favorites in this collection are "The Uderbury Wiches", in which two Lndon detectives go to a small rural town to investigate a mysterious death, and find links with witch burnings dating back to the 17th century. The last story in the collection ,The Reflecting Eye has Charlie Parker, Pi as its protagonist...he finds himself being hired to investigate an abandoned house that once was the residence of a child murderer. The present owner of the house finds a picture of a young girl in the mailbox, and wants parker to ascertain the identity of the girl, worried that the child is either a victim of the murderer in the past, or a new victim targeted by a would-be copycat killer. Suffice to say, all these stories share an abundance of chills, and are written with great atmosphere, and well-plotted. A must-read for fans of supernatural horror or thrillers.

Picked this collection of short stories and novellas up after reading The Book of Lost Things (a very good read!!). I don't think I've enjoyed being so scared in a very long time. Connolly captures the classic horror and suspense of Stephen King, drawing out the climax of the situation until you can barely stand it. Not for those of very squeamish dispositions as there are some truly gruesome descriptions to keep your mind on edge after lights out. I highly recommend this, and I'm looking foreward to exploring the Charlie "Bird" Parker mysteries.

I am a big fan of Connolly's novels and I wasnt sure what to expect from this collection of short stories. I was pleasantly surprised! These are really great, some in the style of older, british ghost stories, some more in Connolly's typical style - none of them left me bored or dissapointed. This is a must not just for Connolly fans but also for all fans of old-fashioned ghost stories!

I have to take issue with some of the comments above. I really enjoyed this collection of short-stories, and prefer the shorter pieces to the longer ones. I have not read Connolly before, but since then have gotten a copy of his first novel and look forward to reading it. I applaud this author for taking the challenge of moving beyond the mystery/thriller genre and embracing the horror/supernatural genre. This takes courage because some readers are going to be disappointed that you've moved past your genre, but the price of that is to limit an authors scope and ambition. Therefore I applaud Connolly's willingness to push his readers and his own abilities to embrace another genre, and he does so admirably. This is a good collection of traditional horror stories, and work best by creating a sense of disturbing anticipation, a foreknowledge of dreadful circumstances, a sense of a natural world that's not quite right, and of darker purposes around us. Well this does a pretty decent job of it. This is good horror, if not good mystery. You are not going to get a good puzzle, or a really clever character, or even the triumph of good over evil, this isn't it. Good horror works mostly on atmosphere and by appealing to our notions of being disturbed. Readers should not be satisfied with "good triumphs" because good doesn't. Good horror should be disturbing. Supernatural horror should make the magical or supernatural more tangible and believable, and thus disrupting one's sense of order. And good short stories are lessons in economy- they achieve what they aim at without overdoing it. Connolly does well with the structure he's given. My hope is that he does more horror and less mystery, for we need more good horror. This is good Lovercraftian horror, at which many try and so few succeed The two novellas- the Charlie Parker story and the Cancer Cowboy, were two of the weakest stories, though very good. At times Parker seems to be stretching here trapped between the economy of a short story and the ability to expand in a novel but also trying to hard to capture a sense of America. I liked both. The Cancer Cowboy evokes a sense of impending dread and loss and I'd like to read more Charlie Parker, but both stories are a bit too long when they could have been tighter. Perhaps the other weak link is the Underbury Witches, although I like the feminist theme and enjoyed the characters, this story is too predictable though presenting two characters that I would like to see again. Other stories that work. I thought Noctures, Ritual of the Bones, Erlking were great. The New Daughter was quite good. Wakeford Abyss, Deep Dark Green were both very enjoyable. I was tickled with Miss Fromm Vampire, and the Inkpot Monkey. My favorite story was of a small church where the local priest is digging down as something else is digging its way up. What are you willing to do to test your faith? Good stuff here, fine collection of traditional atmospheric hor

This is an interesting anthology that bookends with two novellas and thirteen short stories (nine are actually transcripts written for radio) in between the two longer tales. Regardless of format, all the entries are thrilling, chilling and fulfilling as John Connolly dives deeper into the dark side of the supernatural than he previously has. "The Cancer Cowboy Rides". The drifter spreads the fast-acting cancer by touch. He "accidentally" on purpose makes physical contact with people knowing what a casual bump does to the recipient. He runs amuck spreading deadly illness like a cancerous Typhoid Mary touching and bringing death to the multitude and seems unstoppable as no one knows about his "Midas" touch. "The Reflecting Eye". In Maine, private detective Charlie Parker feels as peaceful as he has in a long time, definitely before the murders of his wife and child. Much of his positive feelings are caused by his upbeat relationship with his pregnant girlfriend Rachel. Reluctantly Parker investigates an abandoned house last occupied by a serial killer whose targets were children. The current owner wants Parker to insure that the good, the bad and the ugly spirits have gone on and are not waiting in mirrors to pounce on mortals. The remaining tales showcase John Connolly's range to use everyday scenes to portray the macabre dark in which the supernatural is the norm and the natural is the otherworldly. Combined with two deep novellas, especially a Parker thriller, readers will become creatures of the night reading Mr. Connolly's eerie anthology. Harriet Klausner