Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Pocket Books (2009), Edition: Reprint, 496 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Tortured and brilliant private detective Charlie Parker stars in this thriller by New York Times bestselling author John Connolly. Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family??a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing. Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man. In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realiz… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member markatread
This is John Connolly's first novel and like many first novels there are some obvious flaws. But one thing you can't accuse Connolly of, is lack of ambition. He begins his first novel with a serial killer killing and cutting the faces off the main protagonist, Charllie "Bird" Parker's, wife and 3
The solving of the first set of murders is relatively straight forward and is more satisfying as a mystery than the second part of the book. But it is the second part of the book that is personally important to Parker and so the first serial killer is in some ways distracting to the overall flow of the book. The interjection of the supernatural/ horror elements in the second part of the book slow down the plot and the metaphysical angle of why the serial killer is killing everyone is a little far fetched. But the second part of the book , even with its flaws, develops an energy and tension that is dark and compelling. Connolly has a lot of good things in his first novel, the problem in some ways is that he has just too many things in the novel (including numerous discriptions of what everyone is wearing).
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year old child in their kitchen while the Parker is out getting drunk at a bar down the road. But Connolly does not just settle for one serial killer, Parker has to track down and solve an old murder case involving the Mafia and a second serial killer that escaped the police several years earlier. This takes the first half of the book and then somewhat clumsily leads to Parker getting information from a voodoo woman in Louisiana about the man that killed his wife and child. Connolly brings in several characters to help Parker and he confronts competing drug lords in lower Louisiana as well as possible ghosts and a metaphysical angle where the killer is trying to teach everyone, but especially Parker, the nature of death by using old, obscure anatomy text books from the 18th century to dissect the bodies of the people he is killing. Some of these elements John Connolly does better than others but it is the sheer number of elements that he has put in his first novel that is noteworthy. The solving of the first set of murders is relatively straight forward and is more satisfying as a mystery than the second part of the book. But it is the second part of the book that is personally important to Parker and so the first serial killer is in some ways distracting to the overall flow of the book. The interjection of the supernatural/ horror elements in the second part of the book slow down the plot and the metaphysical angle of why the serial killer is killing everyone is a little far fetched. But the second part of the book , even with its flaws, develops an energy and tension that is dark and compelling. Connolly has a lot of good things in his first novel, the problem in some ways is that he has just too many things in the novel (including numerous discriptions of what everyone is wearing).
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LibraryThing member ctmsrole
Every Dead Thing is a very boring book to me. It might be that it could be above me.
At the beginning of the book it was good at explaining, the murders and who the murdered are. Also how the first chapter started because of the the prologue. It started in that way like when your watching a a movie
Around page 25 it started to get really really boring. When it mentioned the part of the murder in the prologue it repeated it in the first chapter and it got boring.
This book got so boring i wanted to put it down really bad so i did. I wouldn't recomend this book unless you like hard reads or this book won't be boring to you.
At the beginning of the book it was good at explaining, the murders and who the murdered are. Also how the first chapter started because of the the prologue. It started in that way like when your watching a a movie
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it says 10 hours earlier, that kind of way.Around page 25 it started to get really really boring. When it mentioned the part of the murder in the prologue it repeated it in the first chapter and it got boring.
This book got so boring i wanted to put it down really bad so i did. I wouldn't recomend this book unless you like hard reads or this book won't be boring to you.
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LibraryThing member tl1437
i really enjoyed this book, it was definately a bright beginning as a first novel and i love series' so im excited that the charlie parker saga continues and so far its all just as good if not better.
Alot of this reminds of the P.I. books on Kenzi and Gennaro (probably why i like it so much)
Alot of this reminds of the P.I. books on Kenzi and Gennaro (probably why i like it so much)
LibraryThing member mandolin82
The writing was good (although I had trouble keeping track of the characters). However it was over-the-top gory for no good reason. The writing was good enough that I wanted to read through to the end, but then I was sorry I spent the time putting such yuk in my brain. I really liked his Book of
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Lost Things, which is why I tried this. Show Less
LibraryThing member amf0001
I was recommended this, but the inital crime was too gruesome for me, and I couldn't get past the horror of it. I started it 2 or 3 seperate times but just never got into the flow it.
LibraryThing member Darrol
A lot of themes. Almost 2 separate serial killer novels. Artistic dissection on drugged but conscious bodies.
LibraryThing member extrajoker
first line (of the prologue): "It is cold in the car, cold as the grave. I prefer to leave the a/c on full, to let the falling temperature keep me alert."
first line (of the first chapter): "The waitress was in her fifties, dressed in a tight black miniskirt, white blouse, and black high heels.
The mystery/crime/suspense genre isn't my normal cup of tea. Still, I really enjoyed the other Connolly books I've read -- The Book of Lost Things and especially Nocturnes -- so I thought I'd give his Charlie Parker series a go.
It's very dark, though if I couldn't have guessed as much from the title, then I deserved the many moments of squick. Unlike some genre fiction, the writing in Connolly's books is (with the exception of that "cold as the grave" bit) really strong, so I may continue with the series...now and again...when I want to feel horrified.
first line (of the first chapter): "The waitress was in her fifties, dressed in a tight black miniskirt, white blouse, and black high heels.
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Parts of her spilled out of every item of clothing she wore, making her look like she had swollen mysteriously sometime between dressing and arriving for work."The mystery/crime/suspense genre isn't my normal cup of tea. Still, I really enjoyed the other Connolly books I've read -- The Book of Lost Things and especially Nocturnes -- so I thought I'd give his Charlie Parker series a go.
It's very dark, though if I couldn't have guessed as much from the title, then I deserved the many moments of squick. Unlike some genre fiction, the writing in Connolly's books is (with the exception of that "cold as the grave" bit) really strong, so I may continue with the series...now and again...when I want to feel horrified.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
This story opens with Charlie Parker standing over the bodies of his wife and child, cruely murdered. Charlie has to watch as the police take over the investigation. But he cannot stand by idly, he can get involved, and he does. He chases down the psychopath who killed them, with a variety of
I did find it facinating, it was almost two stories that intertwined and made sense in the end. I look forward to more in this series.
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twists and turns.I did find it facinating, it was almost two stories that intertwined and made sense in the end. I look forward to more in this series.
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LibraryThing member mazda502001
What a real page-turner of a novel. Disturbing, deep, gripping with a stunning climax - I was rooted to the book until I finished it.
Back Cover Blurb:
Former New York detective Charlie Parker is the father of a murdered daughter and husband to a murdered wife.
The Travelling Man is an artist of
Now another girl is missing....
Dogged by terror and driven by rage, through the swamps of America's darkest underbelly, Parker pursues his man and his revenge.
And sometimes, nothing is more shocking than the truth.
Back Cover Blurb:
Former New York detective Charlie Parker is the father of a murdered daughter and husband to a murdered wife.
The Travelling Man is an artist of
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death, making human bodies his canvas and taking faces as his prize.Now another girl is missing....
Dogged by terror and driven by rage, through the swamps of America's darkest underbelly, Parker pursues his man and his revenge.
And sometimes, nothing is more shocking than the truth.
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LibraryThing member Clifford.Terry
I finally read where it all started and it didn't disappoint.
LibraryThing member PirateJenny
Recommended by a coworker, who was damn right. Charlie Parker (no relation) is a former detective whose wife and daughter are brutally tortured and murdered by a deviant Parker comes to call the Traveling Man. After some time away, he's come back to NY (now as a PI) on a case and is drawn into a
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missing person case that leads him to horrible crimes of years ago in the south. But the Traveling Man has not stopped during this interlude. In fact, it seems as if he's escalating. So Parker heads down to New Orleans on a lead. And the Traveling Man knows. Show Less
LibraryThing member RDHawk6886
This book is a long rambling mess. It would be better delivered as two separate books, however, even then I don't think it would make narrative sense. Despite these major failings, and the fact I am typically not a fan of serial killer Silence of the Lamb influenced books, there is a lurking charm.
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The is an Angel Heart darkness surrounding the main character that is intriguing. The writing is intelligent and assumes its audience is too. Less than 100 pages in, I took a leap of faith and bought 4 more from this guy, with less than 100 pages to go I was questioning that decision. There is enough here to merit continuation with suspicion. Show Less
LibraryThing member Neverwithoutabook
I picked this book up because it mentioned New Orleans in the blurb on the back. I was disappointed that it seemed to take place primarily in New York. I understood why in the end and how all that tied in to the pursuit and extremely climactic ending! Believe me....this is a sleeper that ends with
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a bang! I'm glad I read it. Show Less
LibraryThing member clark.hallman
In “Every Good Thing,” by John Connolly, former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker tries to solve the brutal murders of his wife and young daughter, as well as some other murders along the way. This book is an amazing experience for the reader in many ways. The amazingly multifaceted plot is
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very complex, but it glues the reader to the story. Likewise, the amazingly violent, gory, disgusting, depressing, sickening, and frightening crimes depicted in this story repel the reader, but they also provide a fascination that attracts the reader like a fly buzzing toward a Venus Flytrap. The wide-ranging exotic and sinister locations and characters are threatening, yet enticing for the reader. In addition, this is not just another violent action-packed read with little intellectual activity provided by the author or expected by the reader. Instead, Mr. Connolly reveals that he did quite a bit of research through his complex plot and the inclusion of much intellectual content into the serial killer’s murder patterns as well as the investigative procedures and regional cultures that are portrayed. Also, the reader cannot help but exercise their intellect in an attempt to determine the killer and to understand the killer’s motivations. Finally, perhaps the most amazing thing for the reader to experience in this book is the remarkable quality of Mr. Connolly’s writing, which (for some reason) seems astounding for such a gruesome story. It is also amazing that Every Dead Thing was John Connolly’s first novel, which won the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. Novel in 2000. It is the first volume in Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, which now includes twelve books. I highly recommend it for those readers who can endure the gruesome and seemingly hopeless nature of story. Show Less
LibraryThing member jan.fleming
I tend to avoid crime series like the plague unless they are exceptional such as the Jo Nesbo 'Harry Hole' and Kate Atkinson's 'Jackson Brody' series, they have to be intelligent literary fiction for me to want to revisit a character again.
So for this reason I sniffed at John Connolly's Charlie
Think it was cloud tags that changed my mind...'Gothic...Maine...Thriller...Occult...Louisiana...Crime Noir...Fallen Angels... what is there not to like!
Anyway 'Every Dead Thing' is the first in the Charlie Parker series, alcoholic NYPD cop Charlie returns from a late night drinking session to find his wife and daughter murdered, in the most dreadful way imaginable (not for the squeamish) and the die is set for the rest of the series. They were by murdered by the elusive serial killer called 'The Travelling Man'.
Shocked into sobriety this first book traces Parker's hunt for the his family's killer. The action moves from New York to New Orleans where the novel becomes southern Gothic with a delicious hint of the supernatural. The detail the author goes into may irritate some readers (such as nearly 2 pages on the difference between a male and female skeleton) but I lapped it up.
This book introduces the supporting cast for the rest of the series such as Louis and Angel, the gay but lethal, assassin and'expert home enterer' respectively, continually bickering and bitching bringing a lighter tone to the overwhelming dark.
'Fey' is how I would describe Parker ...the definition is 'marked by an otherworldly air or attitude' Connolly is Irish and raised as a Catholic and it is all there in Parker's character...guilt, redemption, atoning for your sins.
Darkly beautiful and exceptionally well written, elegant and bitter prose.
So for this reason I sniffed at John Connolly's Charlie
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Parker series under the misapprehension that they were the usual police procedural/serial killer pulp fiction.Think it was cloud tags that changed my mind...'Gothic...Maine...Thriller...Occult...Louisiana...Crime Noir...Fallen Angels... what is there not to like!
Anyway 'Every Dead Thing' is the first in the Charlie Parker series, alcoholic NYPD cop Charlie returns from a late night drinking session to find his wife and daughter murdered, in the most dreadful way imaginable (not for the squeamish) and the die is set for the rest of the series. They were by murdered by the elusive serial killer called 'The Travelling Man'.
Shocked into sobriety this first book traces Parker's hunt for the his family's killer. The action moves from New York to New Orleans where the novel becomes southern Gothic with a delicious hint of the supernatural. The detail the author goes into may irritate some readers (such as nearly 2 pages on the difference between a male and female skeleton) but I lapped it up.
This book introduces the supporting cast for the rest of the series such as Louis and Angel, the gay but lethal, assassin and'expert home enterer' respectively, continually bickering and bitching bringing a lighter tone to the overwhelming dark.
'Fey' is how I would describe Parker ...the definition is 'marked by an otherworldly air or attitude' Connolly is Irish and raised as a Catholic and it is all there in Parker's character...guilt, redemption, atoning for your sins.
Darkly beautiful and exceptionally well written, elegant and bitter prose.
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LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
Charlie “Bird” Parker is an ex-cop who left the NYPD in the wake of the double homicide of his wife and daughter. The crime created a cloud of doubt, guilt and suspicion over Parker, who is haunted by ghostly images and memories. Now doing scut detective work for bail bondsman and the like, a
Every Dead Thing is a character study of a grief stricken man who struggles to get his life back on track even as he is unsure of the ground upon which he stands. The action of the novel is carried by two cases which are related by the type of criminals ultimately pursued, serial killers. Some of the victims are children and on the whole the carnage is graphic and gruesome. Acknowledging that the antagonists are the foils against which the protagonists are defined and developed, and that Connolly makes feints at speculating at the natures of the killers, the homicides still have the effect of polarizing the readers into viewing the killers as irredeemably evil and thus rendering the antagonists as as one-dimensional. Richly descriptive detail and with a touch of mysticism, Every Dead Thing is a Southern Gothic tale that evokes some visceral responses and is not for the faint of heart. If you liked the movie, Seven Deadly Sins (starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gweneth Paltrow) and/or R.J. Ellory’s, A Quiet Belief in Angels, it is likely you will like Every Dead Thing as well.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Does a well developed antagonist (e.g. back story, motive understood…) make the antagonist more sympathetic to a reader? Does having a well developed antagonist steal focus from the protagonist, or make for a more balanced (more interesting?) narrative?
OTHER: I purchased a mass market paperback edition of Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker series, Book #1 by John Connolly) form AMZN on February 9, 2013.
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former colleague asks him to discreetly look into a probable missing person case which has mob implications, and which takes Parker from New York to Virginia and eventually to pre-Katrina New Orleans.Every Dead Thing is a character study of a grief stricken man who struggles to get his life back on track even as he is unsure of the ground upon which he stands. The action of the novel is carried by two cases which are related by the type of criminals ultimately pursued, serial killers. Some of the victims are children and on the whole the carnage is graphic and gruesome. Acknowledging that the antagonists are the foils against which the protagonists are defined and developed, and that Connolly makes feints at speculating at the natures of the killers, the homicides still have the effect of polarizing the readers into viewing the killers as irredeemably evil and thus rendering the antagonists as as one-dimensional. Richly descriptive detail and with a touch of mysticism, Every Dead Thing is a Southern Gothic tale that evokes some visceral responses and is not for the faint of heart. If you liked the movie, Seven Deadly Sins (starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gweneth Paltrow) and/or R.J. Ellory’s, A Quiet Belief in Angels, it is likely you will like Every Dead Thing as well.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Does a well developed antagonist (e.g. back story, motive understood…) make the antagonist more sympathetic to a reader? Does having a well developed antagonist steal focus from the protagonist, or make for a more balanced (more interesting?) narrative?
OTHER: I purchased a mass market paperback edition of Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker series, Book #1 by John Connolly) form AMZN on February 9, 2013.
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LibraryThing member Unkletom
I have long wanted to read John Connolly’s Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker series so I joined several Good Reads readers in a group read of this first book in the series of 12 (so far) thrillers featuring a former NYPD detective tortured by the brutal murder of his wife and daughter.
What struck me
The plot itself is engaging although it does tend to wander on occasion and there are so many side characters that more than once I found myself wondering where that character came from. Connolly does do a good job of tying things up in the end and I confess that, even though I knew that there was still another shoe left to drop, I was blindsided by the conclusion.
Bottom line: Every Dead Thing is a darker story than I usually read and it took me deeper into the abyss than I would like. Even so, I am fascinated by Bird Parker’s character and look forward to finding out what happens to him in his next book.
What struck me
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first about Every Dead Thing is the writing. Connolly writes with a deep and lyrical style that is not only engaging but forges a bond between the reader and the characters. Not only are we told about the loss Bird has suffered. We feel it along with him. Connolly also does a great job of developing his characters, not just Bird but the large cast of ancillary characters instead. Chief among the secondary characters are Parker’s sidekicks Louis and Angel, a shady pair of killers who deserve a series of their own. They are like The Odd Couple if Felix and Oscar were gay career criminals who entertained themselves by serving as guardian angels to an ex-cop with a taste for pissing off killers. The plot itself is engaging although it does tend to wander on occasion and there are so many side characters that more than once I found myself wondering where that character came from. Connolly does do a good job of tying things up in the end and I confess that, even though I knew that there was still another shoe left to drop, I was blindsided by the conclusion.
Bottom line: Every Dead Thing is a darker story than I usually read and it took me deeper into the abyss than I would like. Even so, I am fascinated by Bird Parker’s character and look forward to finding out what happens to him in his next book.
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LibraryThing member runner56
The first in the series and we meet Charlie "bird" Parker. The writing of John Connolly is highly intelligent and informative creating a crime story out of ancient texts and mythology which is both horrific and spellbinding in it's telling. Charlie's wife Susan and his daughter Jennifer have both
"In killing his victims in this way, he was making them aware of their own mortality, exposing to them their own interiors, introducing them to the meaning of true pain; but they also served as a reminder to others of their own mortality and the final, dreadful pain that would some day find them." And that was what the Travelling Man wanted: to provide, in the deaths of others, a reminder of the deaths of us all and the worthlessness of love and loyalty,of parenthood and friendship, of sex and need and joy, in the face of the emptiness to come.
By including elements of crime and horror Connolly has created both a character and a novel of sublime depth and intelligence and a wonderful introduction to an amazing series.....
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been murdered, their bodies butchered, dissected and displayed in a macabre demonstration of ancient belief and ritual. There is a link to the present atrocities being committed by the Travelling Man and the pain and suffering that must be borne by Charlie Parker, as he attempts to solve these senseless killings and bring the perpetrator to justice."In killing his victims in this way, he was making them aware of their own mortality, exposing to them their own interiors, introducing them to the meaning of true pain; but they also served as a reminder to others of their own mortality and the final, dreadful pain that would some day find them." And that was what the Travelling Man wanted: to provide, in the deaths of others, a reminder of the deaths of us all and the worthlessness of love and loyalty,of parenthood and friendship, of sex and need and joy, in the face of the emptiness to come.
By including elements of crime and horror Connolly has created both a character and a novel of sublime depth and intelligence and a wonderful introduction to an amazing series.....
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LibraryThing member crazybatcow
Finally, a character to replace Jack Reacher. Charlie kicks butt, does what needs doing and saves the day (well, sorta). Just what I was looking for.
Would I have preferred less metaphysical/spiritual gibberish? sure... but I'll take it like it is because finally there's a protagonist who isn't a
The drawback to this book is that it has two complete stories in it so you think you're just at the middle of the book but the story you've been following is suddenly resolved - then a whole new story starts up. Seriously, it's literally two complete stories in one book. Of course, the plot of the second story is begun at the start of the book, but... a lot of series books do that and just continue the protagonist's journey in the next book. It seems as though Connolly didn't realize when he wrote this that there would be a series in which he could resolve Charlie's issues. I guess this isn't a big drawback but... I like my stories to wrap up so I can get on to the next book, not restart in the middle.
Would I have preferred less metaphysical/spiritual gibberish? sure... but I'll take it like it is because finally there's a protagonist who isn't a
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wimp, an active drunkard moaning about his drunken past, or a war vet scarred for life by having had to blow up someone at war. Sure, bad stuff has happened to Charlie but instead of having segments of the story devoted to him "overcoming" it a la Oprah style, he just gets on with it and does what needs to be done. If that involves pounding the stuffing outa some junkyard dropping, so be it.The drawback to this book is that it has two complete stories in it so you think you're just at the middle of the book but the story you've been following is suddenly resolved - then a whole new story starts up. Seriously, it's literally two complete stories in one book. Of course, the plot of the second story is begun at the start of the book, but... a lot of series books do that and just continue the protagonist's journey in the next book. It seems as though Connolly didn't realize when he wrote this that there would be a series in which he could resolve Charlie's issues. I guess this isn't a big drawback but... I like my stories to wrap up so I can get on to the next book, not restart in the middle.
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LibraryThing member TheCrow2
A dark american crime story written in 'film noir' style with organised crime, alcoholic ex-cop and gruesome murders. Basically there's nothing original in it but still a very well written highly entertaining book. I'm looking forward to read the other Charlie Parker books.
LibraryThing member JustAGirl
The first in the excellent, and excellently creepy, Charlie Parker series, that blends hard-nosed modern violent crime with earie supernatural for a page turning read that will stay with you for a long while.
LibraryThing member Carol420
Driven by visions of the dead, Parker tracks a serial killer from New York City to the deep south, and finds his buried instincts for love, survival and ultimately for killing awakening as he confronts a monster beyond imagining.
LibraryThing member Carol420
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
Charlie Parker series Book #1
4 stars
What's It About?
Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his
Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.
What Did I Think?
Go figure. I managed to read every other book in this series and somehow missed this one...the first . I really liked "Every Dead Thing" but it lacked that certain "zing" that the ones after it had...which is often true of first books.
There is an extremely large cast of unusual and interesting characters that Connolly brings to life, Some will follow along through the next 12 books in the series. Two characters that frequent the stories and we meet for the first time in "Every Dead Thing" are Angel And Louis who have remained a personal favorite of mine. They are the bad guys that you just have to root for. There is a paranormal overtone throughout all the books as well as just enough of a dose of mystery to make the series well worth the reading time. Believe me when I tell you that these books just keep getting better and better.
Charlie Parker series Book #1
4 stars
What's It About?
Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his
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former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.
What Did I Think?
Go figure. I managed to read every other book in this series and somehow missed this one...the first . I really liked "Every Dead Thing" but it lacked that certain "zing" that the ones after it had...which is often true of first books.
There is an extremely large cast of unusual and interesting characters that Connolly brings to life, Some will follow along through the next 12 books in the series. Two characters that frequent the stories and we meet for the first time in "Every Dead Thing" are Angel And Louis who have remained a personal favorite of mine. They are the bad guys that you just have to root for. There is a paranormal overtone throughout all the books as well as just enough of a dose of mystery to make the series well worth the reading time. Believe me when I tell you that these books just keep getting better and better.
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LibraryThing member TracyCampbell
I can't believe I've never read John Connolly before! I will be devouring more as soon as possible!
LibraryThing member JohnWCuluris
This book in paperback form looked and felt big for a detective novel; 467 pages as it turned out. Well, I thought, I’d probably read as many successful books of this size as not, and the fans that like this series really like it. Why not? Turns out Every Dead Thing is actually two novels. Not
We first meet New York City Police detective Charlie Parker as he stumbles home after another night of drinking, which in turn was preceded by another fight with his wife. Through a drunken haze he discovers her body, and that of his 7-year-old daughter, both brutally murdered and mutilated. About a half a year later, after absolutely no progress in finding the killer, Parker has left the Department and now chases bail jumpers for a lowlife bondsman, mostly to keep active since he had stopped drinking out of guilt. A shootout on the street sets the book on several journeys.
Not just the obvious journey: the first case, where incidental involvement leads Parker to being asked to find a missing woman. We also learn, through some of the failed attempts at tracking down his family’s killer, how he’d fallen so far. And how he’d gotten to the point where we initially met him, both good times and bad. And, of course, the second half of the book with the actual tracking of the killer once some solid leads surface in New Orleans. But the overreaching journey is Charlie Parker’s climb from the depths of despair. It starts with growing concern for the missing woman’s safety and concludes with literally facing his demon.
Two consecutive cases, two separate conclusions; one over-arching journey. It’s a journey well worth following. However . . .
[Warning: There are some graphically disturbing images in this book. They are not described in gruesome detail but they are gruesome nonetheless.]
Upon finishing Every Dead Thing, it felt like a 4-and-a-half Star book to me. The problem is, I can’t say why. It’s just a feeling. And yet I couldn’t stop reading. By definition that’s a 5-Star book, right? So I’ll go with my gut. For once ambivalence is not a bad thing.
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two concurrent stories, as often happens with the genre, but two consecutive cases--with a few through lines and back references to tie it together. Upon finishing the first “novel,” I suspected we were being given a hard, real world conclusion up front because there had been a couple of mild psychic and metaphysical touches introduced along the way, and perhaps these mystic influences might end up playing a role in the second finale; maybe this was a way of changing the ground rules without cheating the reader. I was wrong in that regard. We never completely left the hardboiled world to which we were introduced.We first meet New York City Police detective Charlie Parker as he stumbles home after another night of drinking, which in turn was preceded by another fight with his wife. Through a drunken haze he discovers her body, and that of his 7-year-old daughter, both brutally murdered and mutilated. About a half a year later, after absolutely no progress in finding the killer, Parker has left the Department and now chases bail jumpers for a lowlife bondsman, mostly to keep active since he had stopped drinking out of guilt. A shootout on the street sets the book on several journeys.
Not just the obvious journey: the first case, where incidental involvement leads Parker to being asked to find a missing woman. We also learn, through some of the failed attempts at tracking down his family’s killer, how he’d fallen so far. And how he’d gotten to the point where we initially met him, both good times and bad. And, of course, the second half of the book with the actual tracking of the killer once some solid leads surface in New Orleans. But the overreaching journey is Charlie Parker’s climb from the depths of despair. It starts with growing concern for the missing woman’s safety and concludes with literally facing his demon.
Two consecutive cases, two separate conclusions; one over-arching journey. It’s a journey well worth following. However . . .
[Warning: There are some graphically disturbing images in this book. They are not described in gruesome detail but they are gruesome nonetheless.]
Upon finishing Every Dead Thing, it felt like a 4-and-a-half Star book to me. The problem is, I can’t say why. It’s just a feeling. And yet I couldn’t stop reading. By definition that’s a 5-Star book, right? So I’ll go with my gut. For once ambivalence is not a bad thing.
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Subjects
Awards
Bram Stoker Award (Nominee — First Novel — 1999)
Barry Award (Nominee — 2001)
Shamus Award (Winner — 2000)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1999-04-13
Physical description
496 p.; 6.7 inches
ISBN
1416595988 / 9781416595984