JohnC_WrathTHE WRATH OF ANGELS by John Connolly
2013 from Atria (US)/ Hodder & Stoughton (UK)
 
I’ve been reading John Connolly since the first book picking up EVERY DEAD THING the week it came out. Charlie Parker continues to be one of my all time favorite series characters. Connolly was already great in his first book and he’s only gotten better as time goes on.
In THE WRATH OF ANGELS we get to see some old friends and foes as the book makes it’s way through the ghostly story. And ghost story seems appropriate as the book opens with a chapter that feels like it should be read out loud around a campfire, and while it’s read I would be pulling my sleeping bag over my head as I get the willies. So here’s a quick run down of the book. A plane went down years ago and some of the things on it are important and dangerous. Some evil people want the papers and to know what happened when the plane went down. Others oppressing the evil have a similar interest but for a different reason. As usual, Charlie Parker and his friends are caught in the middle not knowing who to trust and not knowing how deep some of the danger goes.
As with his other books in the series, Louis and Angel provide some lighter moments and are also there to back Parker up. Great side kicks. We also get to spend a little time with Charlie as he revisits part of his past, which for me is always a great addition to the book. Charlie seems to have come to except his role in life – it’s oddities and dangers. We get a look inside his thoughts and it is done with out getting maudlin or cliché, which is another reason I love these books.
The layers of this book enveloped me a bit at a time until I was completely covered and immersed in the story and lost track of everything that was not a part of it. Quite possibly my favorite Charlie Parker to date, and that’s saying a lot because I love all the books.
Jon Jordan
This review originally ran in Crimespree Magazine issue 50