The White Road (original 2002; edition 2004)

One of the things I'm discovering about John Connolly's Charlie Parker private detective series is that his cases aren't confined to one book. The White Road is a follow-up to The Killing Kind and it deals with the aftermath of Reverend Faulkner's bloodbath. We're also reminded that The Traveling Man, the man who killed Parker's wife and daughter, is somehow connected to Faulkner. It definitely feels like something is slowly building up.

Although I didn't enjoy the mystery in this book as much as I did in previous ones, Connolly's writing style is just a joy to read. It's dark and atmospheric and it just really feels both alive and oppressive. He's just damn good. I enjoyed getting to learn more about Louis and Angel this time around. They're very unique, I don't think I've come across characters like them before. ( )

P.I. Charlie Parker travels to Charleston, South Carolina to help a friend, Eliot Norton who is defending a black man accused of the rape and murder of his white girlfriend. The girlfriend was the daughter of one of the richest men in the area.

Charlie is joined by his two friends, Angel and Louis. They discover that the man and his girlfriend are members of two families who have been feuding since before the Civil War.

John Connolly is an excellent story teller who knows the way to his reader's heart and mind. There is enough of legend and history of racial tensions in this area so that the reader is immediately captivated.

There is also a connection with Connolly's last book, "The Killing Kind."
In that novel, Rev. Faulkner was captured by Parker and is awaiting trial for the murder of the Aroostook Baptists. Faulkner has promised to get out of jail and take revenge on Parker's family. In this case, Parker learns that some right wing liberals are helping to fund Faulkner's defense.

The novel is skillfully plotted and is a first rate thriller. ( )

A great suspenseful thriller. Charlie Parker and friends are back in this 4th book as the evil preacher from the previous book, is likely to get out of prison. Charlie is called to help a friend in South Carolina and his investigation uncovers many past secrets that involve racism,white supremacists and murder. Louis and Angel help out and we learn more about their pasts. ( )

The story does stand on its own, but if you've read the Killing Kind first (the book right before this one), it makes the characters' motivations a bit more clear.

I do not like supernatural components in non-paranormal genre books and had been a bit concerned with this series since Charlie sees "ghosts" or something... this story wasn't as bad for that as some of the earlier ones, and all the supernatural stuff has a rational explanation by the end of the book.

It was surprisingly engaging - I wanted to read faster so I could find out what was going to happen, how the author was going to wrap it up without (hopefully) killing any of my favorite recurring characters.

It was nicely wrapped up and I'm going to get the next in the series.

You can also check out my blog at http://the-shit-that-goes-on-in-my-head.com/ ( )

Charlie Parker goes down to South Carolina to help a friend when things start going south literally. This book is a kind of sequel to his earlier The Killing Kind. ( )