[Books 2007] John Connolly
Feb. 16th, 2007 10:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulroI think I've been hit by a truck. Got home from the gig at a reasonable time and then had a visit from the insomnia fairy. Bastard. Anyway, finished another book yesterday:
13. The Killing Kind by John Connolly
A few months ago I raved about Connolly's collection of short stories. I have now acquired some of his novels from the library. The use of the supernatural in this book is confined to the fact that Charlie Parker sees ghosts, and a couple of the characters seem not quite human. I was expecting more because the Charlie Parker novella at the end of Nocturnes has some serious demonic stuff going on. Although The Killing Kind is technically a straightforward private detective novel, it feels more like a horror novel.
I was less impressed by this book than by Nocturnes, but it is still very good. If I stop and think about it, the number of people Parker kills is somewhat disturbing, as is his choice of sidekicks (Louis and Angel are respectively a hit man and a thief), but if I just let myself get carried away by the story, it's all OK.
Connolly has set his series in Maine, which is significant because a certain other well-known horror writer also does so. Whereas Stephen King's Maine is a place you'd never want to go, Connolly's is far more appealing. Despite the fact that he doesn't live there (he's from Dublin), he's spent time there and done copious research, and there's even a bibliography at the end. He's interested in the history of Maine and how that's led to it being such an odd place, which I of course think is totally cool.
So, definitely another winner.
13. The Killing Kind by John Connolly
A few months ago I raved about Connolly's collection of short stories. I have now acquired some of his novels from the library. The use of the supernatural in this book is confined to the fact that Charlie Parker sees ghosts, and a couple of the characters seem not quite human. I was expecting more because the Charlie Parker novella at the end of Nocturnes has some serious demonic stuff going on. Although The Killing Kind is technically a straightforward private detective novel, it feels more like a horror novel.
I was less impressed by this book than by Nocturnes, but it is still very good. If I stop and think about it, the number of people Parker kills is somewhat disturbing, as is his choice of sidekicks (Louis and Angel are respectively a hit man and a thief), but if I just let myself get carried away by the story, it's all OK.
Connolly has set his series in Maine, which is significant because a certain other well-known horror writer also does so. Whereas Stephen King's Maine is a place you'd never want to go, Connolly's is far more appealing. Despite the fact that he doesn't live there (he's from Dublin), he's spent time there and done copious research, and there's even a bibliography at the end. He's interested in the history of Maine and how that's led to it being such an odd place, which I of course think is totally cool.
So, definitely another winner.
