As if to prove this series is a long way from losing steam, with the 17th Charlie Parker thriller - and marking 20 years as an author - In A Book of Bones John Connolly gives us a double length (700 pages!) adventure for Charlie, Angel, Louis and many of his wider cast. Not only that, but in this book themes from several recent novels come together. And it also contains what's basically an entire police procedural featuring two new (but believable, likeable) characters.

Finally, in an Afterword, Connolly reveals the background to the publication of his first book, Every Dead Thing, in 1997.

So A Book of Bones is a great gift to the readers - a bumper helping of Charlie Parker, but also an ambitious novel at a point where the temptation must be to rest on the oars and let the momentum carry things forward. That's maybe something of a risk.

Who, we might ask, are this pair of detectives, Gackowska and Hynes, investigating the murder of young teacher Romana Moon on a lonely moor in Northumberland, half a world away from Parker's usual hunting grounds in the USA?

Who are the other voices we hear?

How does everything join up?

If it is a risk, it's amply justified as Connolly delivers a complex and interesting novel that engages from the very start when we see Parker, called in to advise on a killing in a New Mexico junkyard, presented almost as our guide to the inferno that seems be looming, the junkyard "descending in a series of declivities to a massive pit at its heart, where Parker glimpsed a fire burning." If you're a longtime reader of this series you will I think regard Parker - even an older Parker, a damaged Parker - as a sure guide through this territory. And so it proves. In a world polluted, tainted, walking among moral hazards, temptations and threats, Charlie Parker, who has endured much, can still be relied upon.

We know from the ending of The Woman in the Woods that Parker is hunting down sinister lawyer Quayle and his murderous henchwoman Pallid Mors. The pair are formidable adversaries, so things seem set for a confrontation, a battle royal. But the book is actually more subtle than that. There is a great deal here, and it would be silly to list all or, or even most, of the threads - and probably spoilery to try, since, however circumspect one thinks one is being, the combination would give too much away. I will say that A Book of Bones skilfully explores different sorts of evil, and the relationship between them - not just flashy, supernatural evil but the mundane sort. Some of its most effective writing in this book (and it is also the most grim reading) portrays the actions and motivations of the evildoers in this book and, often, the sheet casualness of it all ("Oh, and he'd started killing women: there was that as well.")

Unpicking it all, Parker seems to be peeling back layer after later of corruption (of pollution, as someone observes at one point) moral, legal, and financial; historical and modern, and revealing the strands that connect present day misogyny and male entitlement ("That was the way women were... They were conniving, always looking for the advantage. You had to teach them their place...") to both modern centres of power and influence (whether in London, or Boston,where the Colonial Club looms again) and the warped - polluted - cults of the past.

The hunt ranges geographically, taking in many parts of England, where women's bodies are being dumped at ancient sacred sites (it was a shock that one was just up the road from me: I see Wittenham Clumps daily on the skyline as I walk my dogs) and the Netherlands, where Angel has bloody history. It also plays games with time, giving us documents, histories and accounts from over the past few centuries, all part of the fractured narrative that will climax in the modern(?) London of Quayle.

This is, as I've said, grim at times, but thankfully Connolly doesn't just give us 700 pages of darkness. There is hope here too - flawed but ultimately brave people standing against the darkness, for example that police duo again delving into grim realities, unaware of any supernatural connection (though we are, as various pieces of weirdness are exposed) but simply trying to bring some order and justice to the world. They offset Parker's much less orthodox enquiries, supported by his ragtag crew and even his iffy connection with FBI Agent Ross. (What's going on with Ross? I can't quite put my finger on it...)

It's a complex, doubled, story. Parker, we know, is hunting Quayle and Quayle knows this. But Quayle has other irons in the fire as well. Exactly what he's up to - and thus, how one might stop him - only emerges slowly, because, for the longer part of this book, Parker hasn't joined up what is going on. We, the readers, know much more than Parker about what Quayle's planning, about his tools, his history.

Through all that - from Miss Moon's agony at the start of the book to an... unravelling... at the end - there is a repeated focus on other possibilities, other outcomes, other potential worlds, foreseen by characters for themselves or others ("He could see her sadness, and a future where he was no longer in her life...") or moments when things change forever, closing down choices and alternatives ("'I'm coming' says Soter. And is damned.'")

Choices matter, from a countryman who stokes up his fire against the prowling spirit of wood and leaf worshiped by Parker's old adversaries the Familists: "Because all wood fears the flame" to an ex soldier who falls in with what he knows is the wrong company. But can they be reworked, undone, on a larger scale? Quayle certainly thinks so, which is why he is chasing down a certain ancient Atlas which has the power to make and remake the world according to those alternatives. Quayle and his associate Pallid Mors have killed for this before and will do so again, in their different styles. Quayle, a figure who seems to haunt the centuries - "After a time, it became difficult to distinguish between memory and dreaming" - is a most clear eyed but almost regretful killer, Mors an enthusiast who seems to enjoy causing pain.

All of this builds on the world that Connolly has built, the characters he has developed, across his whole series. That's a lot of background, though you don't need to have read them all to appreciate this book, but this book is about more than background, it has its own focus, its own themes, its own darkness, and if that is a risk then - by not taking the safe option - A Book of Bones succeeds triumphantly. It carries Parker's story forward to new places (literally) and shows that this series has a great deal of life in it yet (as well as deaths, of course. I lost count of the deaths).

An absorbing book, a book whose pages one can simply get lost in - and one I'd strongly recommend.

A difficult book to review this, even if I hadn’t said pretty much every good word available in previous reviews of the series- because there is a kind of end game for a particular story arc here that I need to be careful not to spoil- whilst also getting across how utterly brilliant A Book Of Bones is. Because it is. Utterly brilliant.

A warning though. If you are not up to date, or indeed have not even started the Parker series, this is definitely not an entry level story. There are various books along the way that you could start or return to the journey with but A Book Of Bones is a culmination of sorts,as such the last few books are must reads.

If you are prepared then BE prepared. This is an epic tale, dark, realistically creepy and all kinds of emotional. The authors talent for freaking you out and engaging you deep down in the depths of the mind is on full power here, before you know it you’ll be sucked back in to that honeycomb world we Connolly fans know so well yet don’t know at all – where the familiar is off kilter and you never know where you’ll end up.

Fully committed within moments I read this fast, despite its tome like quality it felt like it went by in an instant.It threw me out the other side unrepentant in its addictive and traumatic quality and I loved every last moment. Even when I was tempted to hide in a cupboard.

As ever beautifully written, intelligently plotted and wonderfully complex, our very anti heroes get better with age and a treat for us British fans finds them very close to home.

Magnificent. That is all.

Highly Recommended.

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of John Connolly’s ‘A Book of Bones’ in exchange for an honest review.

This is the seventeenth in Connolly’s very successful Charlie Parker series. Although I am not up to date with the series, I have read and loved all those that I have read to date.

In the first novel, ‘Every Dead Thing’ Parker received a ‘dark gift’ from an old woman he encountered in a Louisiana swamp. As a result he is aware of the murdered dead and compelled to seek justice for them. Clearly a lot of time has passed since then and while I am behind Connolly provided enough background on recent events so I didn’t feel at all lost.

‘A Book of Bones’ marks the conclusion of a story arc that appears to have been introduced in Book 12, ‘A Wolf in Winter’, and is a direct sequel to the previous one in the series, ‘The Woman in the Woods’. Religious and supernatural themes have run throughout the series.

The plot is complex and impossible to effectively summarise. I will just say that baddies are seeking to bring about the end of the world (in a metaphysical sense) using a legendary book titled ‘The Fractured Atlas’. This book was introduced in a novella included in his ‘Night Music: Nocturnes 2’. Though a summary of its history is included here.

For most of the novel Charlie and his allies, Louis and Angel, are in Holland and England seeking the two fugitives who left chaos and many bodies in their wake in Book 16. There is a British police investigation seeking the murderers of a number of young women running alongside Parker’s quest.

Connolly provides plenty of background on his settings, characters and as well as detailed historical material. I found this a highly engaging novel as all of them have been. It is long and very intense and I found that it took me a considerable amount of time to read it.

My only issue is why is Connelly (and by extension Parker) so antithetical towards the Green Man? Is it due to a Christian bias in the text branding nature based religions as inherently evil? I likely will need to read the earlier novels in the series that I have skipped to gain a better sense of the reasoning behind this aspect of the series.

The series as a whole is recommended though I will warn that some scenes contain graphic violence. While I certainly give it 5 stars, I ideally would have read this after reading‘The Woman in the Woods’ for continuity. I have that book and a few other Parker titles waiting for my attention on my Kindle.

I'm a long time fan of Connolly's Parker series and have read everyone of them and they are amongst only a handful of books I get in hardcover rather than waiting for the paperback.. Some of the books are better than others but there isn't an actual bad one among them. I was delighted to receive a review copy as I had just finished the previous book The Woman in the Woods. A Book of Bones starts not long after The Woman in the Woods ends and I probably benefited from having it so fresh in my memory. Connolly's writing in A Book of Bones is up to its usual high standard, I'm not sure he is capable of writing a bad sentence. No spoilers but basically the story revolves around a very dangerous book and those who desire it. It is long (720 pages according to Amazon) but to be honest I prefer longer books so long as they keep your attention. I believe Connolly said it is longer because he wanted to bring a variety of threads together to bring some themes which have run through the series to a close. There are certainly references to previous books, perhaps most notably (I think) The Wolf in Winter although there are references to books as far back as the very first, Every Dead Thing, and The Killing Kind. The story gets pretty gruesome although in Connolly's hands it's 'literary gruesome', i.e., not mindless 'pulp gruesome'.! As others have stated, Parker himself features less often. I found this a little disappointing given that this is marketed as "A Charlie Parker Thriller" but would more accurately be a thriller which includes Parker amongst many other characters. Having less of Parker means the book relies on the strength of the other characters to keep your attention and thankfully most do yet especially in a longer book I'd have hoped that meant more of Parker yet I do wonder if Connolly is trying to give 'air time' to other characters who may be central to 'post Parker' books?. I could be completely wrong, it happens! Parker's lethal sidekicks Louis and Angel are present and have roles but as with Parker, all show signs of age and greater frailty, and the all out gun battles etc that were present in earlier books are largely absent here. While I understand Connolly's decision to age his main characters with the resulting slowdown in their violent tendencies and escapades, it can be a drawback because one of the reasons this is such a much loved series is precisely because of the younger Parker, Louis and Angel, their energy and predilection for lethal force. When you remove that or 'wind it down' then you lose some of the magic the Parker series had in the first place. It doesn't detract from the quality of writing and it doesn't mean the main characters lose your interest but it does mean you detect a tangible sense of 'the end is nigh' for the series as a whole. I'm wondering how many more books this current Parker, Louis and Angel can sustain? I'd hope for at least two or three more but you do sense the series is in its 'home straight' now. I confess I will be sad when the series eventually ends and I can't say that for many books. A Book of Bones can be read as a standalone but in all honesty I'd at the very least read The Woman in the Woods first, if not starting at the beginning with Every Dead Thing. It's one of the best series currently available and well worth taking the time to go through...so long as you don't mind the violence and some pretty gruesome scenes. There are definite supernatural elements to A Book of Bones which I am fine with (I actually prefer the ones with supernatural elements) and think they add to the stories but others dislike these. Finally, I'd advise not reading the final page of A Book of Bones first, not even on a quick flick through. It contains what I guess is meant to be a revelation which to be honest I thought has been telegraphed for awhile now and came as little surprise but it may be a surprise to others so don't look at the last page first. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of A Book of Bones, the seventeenth novel to feature Maine PI Charlie Parker.

Parker and his friends, Angel and Louis, are hunting the perpetrators of a series of murders across the United States and finally arrive in England where a series of grisly murders is perplexing the police in various counties.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Book of Bones which is a long, detailed tale of violence and supernatural beings. I have not spent time recently with the boys, not having read the previous four novels, so I’d forgotten how intense the read can be. I also think I’ve missed something, more detail and background than events, by not having read the previous novel, The Woman in the Woods, as this seems to be a sequel.

This is a difficult novel to review without spoilers as it covers so much ground and is complex as a whole. It is not, however, difficult to follow once the reader becomes familiar with all the characters. It is told from multiple points of view, each with their own trajectory, mostly in the present with some delves into episodes in the past. These episodes have tangential links to the present and are told from the point of view of the character involved at the time. It is long, sprawling and extremely compulsive. I really enjoyed seeing all these plot lines develop and gradually come together. It is an absolute tour de force of planning as Mr Connolly gradually pulls all these disparate threads together.

No Charlie Parker novel could ever be reviewed without discussion of the supernatural and it seems very prominent in this novel. It may be my faulty memory but I always thought, at least in the early novels, that there was room for rationalisation. Not here as this is out and out woo woo. I like rational, logical novels so this is rather outside my comfort zone but this is so entertaining and informative I just went with the flow. There is a wealth of detailed research in the novel about small corners of England which I found fascinating and a rich imagination in imbuing these corners with a supernatural meaning. It makes the novel very atmospheric with a sense of danger, menace and uncertainty.

It is a more encompassing novel than the usual three go mad with guns. Parker, Angel and Louis are not as centre stage as I’m used to. Louis is injured, Angel is tired from chemotherapy and Parker seems content to take a more cerebral role working to bring the strands together rather than precipitating the action, until the denouement of course. I loved the police investigation scenes which has great characters, some fun lines and a great sense of purpose.

A Book of Bones is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

After reading Woman in the Woods I was thrilled to be given a copy of A Book of Bones. To be honest I struggled with this book from the first page, it didn't seem as good as Woman in the Woods. There are more new characters to get to know and it was hard to get to grips with. Fortunately I persevered as this tome of a book just got better and better! The ending is superb. I highly recommend this book and it is possible to read this as a standalone. Though to really get it you should probably read Woman in the Woods.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this epic book

and what a tale it was, a mammoth of a read, very long and intricately laid out from start to finish with in depth detail about a book that has been taken apart as much as it would allow and then during the centuries search for it would bring about the end of world with a new beginning with the horrors that it would bring...when it was put back together again, if those searching for it can find those last pages

like i said an epic book with a little bit to much detail for my liking but the horror and mystery was what kept me reading...love the parker character and all that it entails...

my first book by this author and it wont be the last...

April each year, John Connolly releases the next part of the Charlie Parker series, this is THE book I wait for each year. A Book of Bones is the 17th in the series. I have followed this series since the first book , Every Dead Thing.

Each book seem to be better than the last. This, the 17th part is also the biggest weighing in at 720 pages this is no light read, it’s an epic piece of work.

From the outset this reads as a sequel to the Woman in the Woods. Whilst you dont have to have read that book, or the previous 16, Connolly writes enough to make this easy to read as your first in the series,I really do suggest you do because you are missing a stunning series, in my opinion currently the Best crime series currently being written .

Charlie Parker is a private investigator, who has suffered from tragedy and heartache in his life, Father to 2 daugthers,1 living, 1 not. He is working a case in Texas when he receives a call from his ally, not sure so much friend, but definitely ally in a SAC Ross of the FBI, a body has turned up in Arizona, believed to be that of the missing Pallida Mors, if you follow the series you will know her from book 16, The woman in the woods.

Parker heads to Arizona to meet Ross and investigate the body , which turns out not to be Mors.

The despicable Mors and her Master, The Lawyer Quayle, who crave and search for the Fractured Atlas, a book of immense power, are still very much alive. So the hunt begins,Parker calls in Louis and Angel, His only real friends, the only People he trusts , who beginning with Amsterdam begin the hunt for Quayle and Mors, leading them finally to London.

A body is found in England Northumberland found on the site of an accident church site belonging to the familists. As more bodies turn up around the country, Parker begins to investigate.

Early on in the book, in the first 100 pages there is a noticeable addition of new characters which is not usually the norm in the Parker series, this takes a bit of getting used to as Parker,Louis and Angel almost take a back seat.

Its almost 2 books at once, an investigation in England and Parker and the gang doing their stuff whilst also telling the back story of the mad man Quayle and filling out the story of the Fractured Atlas, the book Quayle hunts to end the world , towards the middle of the book though it begins to pull together and the Parker element of the book really starts to come to the fore.

As with every book, the writing is simply stunning, Connolly uses words i dont know exist but they fit perfectly, the sense of the macabre is throughout whilst the cutting humour of Parker , Louis and Angel is simply brilliant.

This is a very different book from all the others, Parker, Louis, Angel are aging but it feels like they are readying for the final battle, regardless of age, health or whatever, the small band of brothers will be together till the end.

A master of the macabre and the supernatural, this is another outstanding work in the series, the biggest most detailed and dense.

The finale begins to ramp up in the final quarter of the book as Parker starts to close in on his Prey. What ensues is classic Parker, Action Packed, Violent and more, and it brings, what feels like closure to this particular part of the series. I cant wait until next April

5 Stars

John Connolly as always does not let me down. This book is another in the Charlie Parker series which I have followed all the way here. If you like twists in your stories and fast paces story telling here we are! Another excellent edge of my seat book I excpect from him. Recommend this series to anyone!

A few confessions to make...

I'd rate a Charlie Parker book as great every time unless things had gone seriously wrong.
I've only read 14 of the previous books,I've yet to catch up with the last two,but the joy of Connolly's writing means enough information is given for it to make sense,but not too much to make it pointless reading the missed ones.
Don't jump in at book 17 though.
Quite exciting to have Charlie,Angel and Louis on British shores,some loose ends were tied up,and here were stories crossing international borders galore.
There was the usual humour,magic and creepiness you'd expect from these books.
I enjoyed it.
BUT,there were times were Parker himself wasn't mentioned for page after page after page.
So,as much as I enjoyed being on home turf,throwing in some Ripper references and understanding better how British cops work than Americans,can we take the trio back home for the next outing please?

I've been a fan of John Connolly for ages, and not only because of the Charlie Parker series. However, this series is addictive, and I, like many other fans, can hardly wait till the next one. And I always have to wait a bit longer because I don't buy hardcovers. So, when Hodder & Stoughton approved my request for a review copy on Netgalley, I was over the moon.
And then I discovered that this story follows the one in The Woman in the Woods... My disappointment on missing out on that title didn't last long, because, as the brilliant author he is, John Connolly gives the reader exactly the right amount of information to be able to enjoy A Book of Bones without having read The Woman in the Woods (by the way, I bought this one and will be reading it soon...).
In A Book of Bones Parker, Angel and Louis travel around the world, because the Atlas they need to find and destroy was scattered over the globe in earlier times. From the US to the UK and even the Netherlands, they follow an intricate trail of otherworldly and not so otherworldly clues and events. They get help from various sources, although it is not always clear what that help is, and if it is freely given or with an ulterior motive.
A Book of Bones is not an easy read. It is a fat volume with a lot of 'new' characters drawn into the story. You have to keep a sharp eye on what is happening when, and how all the different story lines come together. Sometimes it was not easy to remember where the story was going because of all the characters but eventually it all comes clear.
Because of how the story evolves, there is a little less information about Parker himself, his daughters, and his friends Angel and Louis than I would have liked. The story was brilliant however, so I'm now looking forward to the next Charlie Parker novel.

Every Spring I like to take the phone off the hook (well, switch the mobile off, but that doesn't sound as exciting), brew up a pot of coffee, maybe have a plate of snacks and settle down for the latest Charlie Parker adventure. It's a treat that I look forward to, counting the days to the release date in the next book in the series. This is why I have delayed writing this review. It's a weighty tome,(literally and metaphorically) full of information about Quayle, Mors and the Atlas. It weaves and veers off in different directions, and there are lots of intricate and tangled threads (perhaps too many?) that need unravelling if good is to prevail over evil. But....(hides behind hands)....there is very little story line that I felt actually had anything to do with Charlie Parker, and the conclusion of this thread in the overarching theme of the series was something of a damp squib after the build up over several books.
I'm still giving the book 4 stars, because this is such an amazing series, but I hope that the next book is a return to the blend of introspection and action that I have come to love and expect.