The Whisperers: A Charlie Parker Thriller

John Connolly is excellent story teller. The characters are very interesting.

I haven't finished reading it yet, but I can't wait to be sitting quietly on my coach with Charlie, friends and foes. John Connolly, keep on writing please!

John Connolly is one of my favorite authors because he possesses the uncanny ability to combine exciting supernatural elements commonly found in horror fiction with the gritty realism of a good hard boiled detective novel. The Whisperers is no exception. Connolly succeeds in creating an atmosphere ripe with tension from the very first page. While I knew where this was going pretty early on, the myriad of characters he introduces and his haunting style kept me glued to the story just so I could figure out where all these players were going to fit into this puzzle laid out so expertly before me. I have read all the Charlie Parker novels, and I can see where some might not like this one as much as the previous ones. First, this one is not really about Charlie. Some of the previous ones have been so personal to Charlie, this one stands out as being markedly different. Secondly, the supernatural elements of the story are more in the forefront from the very beginning. I for one was glad to see Charlie taking on cases again. It felt like the return of Charlie Parker, private detective instead of Charlie Parker man of vengeance and despair. It was nice to see that Charlie himself might have a future. Charlie is called into action by the father of an Iraqi war veteran anxious to learn more about his son's apparent suicide and his connections to some of the men he served with in Iraq. What follows is a tale that is not all that original, but still very compelling. Antiquities stolen from the Iraq National Museum have found their way back to the United States along with a few entities that nobody expected. The author tells a darkly human story of greed and sacrifice, while also exploring some very ancient evils. All of the information on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was very interesting and served to further connect the reader to all the characters, making their role in the events both more understandable and sad. Louis and Angel are back, but with a somewhat smaller role this time. As always, they lend a delicious amount of tension and drama to any scene they are in. The villains in this tale are both old and new, and while I thought I had this all figured out, by the time the end rolled around I was in for some unexpected surprises. The bottom line: this is a good read for any fan of crime or supernatural fiction. Though not quite as intense as the more recent Charlie Parker novels, still an edge of your seat page turner sure to satisfy. Recommended.

In Baghdad, looters steal the treasures from the Museum of Antiquities. Only a locked box is left behind. American soldiers are among those ransacking the country's valuables bringing them home when their tour ends. In 2009 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, highly decorated soldier Damien Patchett rushes outside his home with his dog Sandy. He struggles with control and forces his loyal canine to flee before pulling the trigger of the gun he holds. His distraught father hires private detective Charlie Parker to learn why his son and two other retuning vets from his unit recently committed suicide. The case turns eerie even for a man who lives partially in the paranormal. Charlie learns of the illegal cargo and of a sinister smuggling operation run between the Great North Woods that straddle Canada and the United States. Knowing he will need help, he enlists his two buddies Louis and Angel to assist him as he deals with a dying Herod, a malevolent shadowy Captain and disenchanted veterans back from the desert. This is a great Charlie Parker thriller; perhaps the best in several years as John Connolly cleverly blends the ancient with the modern. Fast-paced, the exhilarating story line focuses on evil from ancient Sumerian times and the previous Administration's ignoring the needs of returning soldiers many of who suffer with untreated PTSD. The suicide rate of soldiers and marines are very high in spite of some super efforts by the military to prevent this from happening. The Whisperers is Mr. Connolly in top form as he condemns chicken hawks that demand war but refuse to pay for it inside a strong action-packed tale. Harriet Klausner

John Connolly creates a melding of forms of narrative and alludes that what is supernatural is real and that reality is but a dream. While portraying certain vets doing what they do best following a combat tour of duty the author uncovers disillusionment and violence, intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, night terrors, survivor guilt and shame; demons of the gods of war. Anger comes easy when introspection is alien. Suffering symptoms of combat related PTSD requires that the affected ignore the sights and sounds going on inside their heads... all the while pretending to blend in. Most of us do not understand and so we ignore. Suicidal and homicidal ideations or thoughts; drug and alcohol abuse and blind rage and violence; the sum of parts is to the whole of being and part and parcel of a world once engaged and nearly impossible to release. The whole of it functions in tandem with what may or may not be real.

From the first Charlie Parker book John Connolly wrote, you know it was not only different, it was otherworldly. The series continues to let us see peeks of Charlie Parker, and his friends Louis and Angel, and know this is a dual story of good and evil of the highest (or lowest) level. There are angels fighting for either redemption or damnation of Charlie Parker. You see, Charlie Parker is a fallen angel who is still striving for redemption. It is an amazingly complicated situation with beings fighting for Parker's final fate. One of these beings is The Collector. He and Charlie have matched wits before. A number of powerful artifacts have been discovered in Iraq, and soldiers who have come back and somehow been involved in the process have been committing suicide. Parker is hired to see what is happening. Seems many were connected to the artifacts in some way. It all surrounds that mysterious gold box on the cover that has more power the earth should take. The Collector can handle such things and works with Charlie to stop these suicides. It is another tour de force for Connolly. It can be read on the one level of the PI Charlie Parker, never getting over the murder of his first wife and daughter, then the desertion of his second wife and daughter, for fear of the same fate happening to them. Or you can take it as a battle of good and evil - angels literally fighting for souls and Light and Dark. Either way, Connolly's work is brilliant and quite worthy of reading. I would go back and read these books from the start to see the progression of this amazing story. Connolly also writes other books also with paranormal subject matter, but none tops the Parker books. A great read.