The Black Angel

Mystery, thriller, suspense with hints of the supernatural (or super disturbed,) The "Black Angel" will lure you into a world where evil brushes casually by on busy city streets, and it will keep you there way past your bedtime. I enjoyed this book a great deal, and would recommend it generally, with the proviso that it's VERY,VERRY strong in terms of horror and suffering.

The sixth entry in the Charlie Parker series takes a slightly different approach. To date, Parker has been involved in cases that touched him or were jobs he willingly took on. In The White Road, Parker began to seriously evaluate his connection to evil though the cases he took on. The Black Angel begins with the christening of his and Rachel's daughter, and though it is initially played for laughs, it becomes emotionally fraught as Rachel starts to overreact to any hint of danger or John's connections. The celebration is interrupted by Louis' aunt seeking him out and enlisting his help in finding her daughter, a prostitute and heroin addict. Parker has one of his premonitions and feels called by both friendship and his inner compulsion show more to help.

The narrative explores a number of viewpoints getting to the actual beginning of the case, including that of the niece, her pimp, and a killer. As the story progresses, he brings in even more viewpoints, usually not for long. It isn't always well done or pertinent, and I'd question what his point was. Sometimes it seems as if it is supposed to contribute to the tension, making it clear how awful the antagonists are. Not infrequently the viewpoints are people who are about to die or play only a very limited role. Connolly might also have done it in service of plot points he thinks are necessary (a hotel near the border of Mexico is a brief setting), but I think it actually just confuses the plot and the narrative flow.

Speaking of plot, this one is a bit different. While most of the stories to date have revolved around solving a murder and confronting the killer(s), in this one the mystery of the killer is solved relatively quickly as incidental to a larger goal. There's a lot of forced situations here (Louis' aunt taking a bus to Maine, the journalist/art critic having an in to an auction). The plot eventually takes a DaVinci Code type turn that feels somewhat incongruous with where the story actually began. This is also the book where the supernatural/spiritual angle becomes more overt, with Parker's connection to these evil cases become clear. Connolly plays it cagey, leaving open the possibility for more real-world explanations for those who have trouble believing, but ultimately, it's the foundation for the series. Less satisfying is the storyline between Parker and Rachel, not necessarily because of the drama, but because it makes so little sense in context of all they've been through together. It felt in service of a plot more than congruous.

But I'll tolerate a lot of plot issues with such beautiful writing. There's a connection to a kind of effigy art that ends up being a powerful part of the book. A passage from Parker's reflections on his life:

"The past lies in the shadows of our lives. It is endlessly patient, secure in the knowledge that all we have done, and all that we have failed to do, must surely return to haunt us in the end. When I was young, I cast each day aside unthinkingly, like dandelion seeds committed to the wind, floating harmlessly from the hands of a boy and vanishing over his shoulder as he moved onward along the path toward the sunset, and home...

Now, as I look back over my shoulder at the path that I have taken, I can see that it has become tangled and obscured by undergrowth, where the seeds of past actions and half-acknowledged sins have taken root. Another shadows me along the path. She has no name, but she looks like Susan, my dead wife; and Jennifer, my first daughter, who was killed beside her in our little house in New York, walks with her."

Overall, a good installment, and likely critical to the series in terms of Parker's mystical connection to his cases. It could serve as a jumping-in point for people who would like to give the series a try. show less

Number 5 in the Charlie Parker series. This book went in a bit of a direction than previous books in the series. I’m not sure that I really liked this direction. The first four books in the series were tight, dark thrillers that I just couldn’t put down. There was a little bit of a supernatural twist in these books, but nothing really took over the story as it does in this book. This book is more dark horror than it is dark thriller. It did have my favourite two characters—Louis and Angel with Louis taking more of a starring role. Charlie is in a good place when the book opens he and his partner Rachel have a young daughter, Samantha and they’re living in their new home, but at Samantha‘s christening Louis brings something to show more Charlie’s door that Rachel really doesn’t appreciate. Louis’ aunt crashes the celebration, and has asked Louis to help find her daughter who has been missing for a few weeks. Alice has been living on her own and mostly on the streets prior to when this book begins. She hasn’t phoned her mother in weeks and she seems to have disappeared. Charlie wants to help Louis find his cousin, so in spite of Rachel‘s misgivings, he heads out with Louis and Angel to New York City. These three intrepid heroes find themselves in a whole pile of trouble while they try to find Alice. At the same time there appears to be very dark under-currants that keep drawing Charlie in. They find themselves on the track of the Black Angel. The book takes us to foreign parts and disappears into the past around World War II as well, as more and more information comes to light. This is a very complex and dark story with lots of references to the occult and many side trips into places like the Czech Republic where we get more information on the Black Angel. I thought the book dragged a bit with all the historical references, and I don’t think that they were all necessary in order for the story itself to be told. So therefore for me, this is a three star book which is the first for a Charlie Parker book coming from my pen. I probably will continue with the series, but I’m going to take a bit of a break after this one. show less

So, I'm 5 books into the Charlie Parker saga and so far, so good.

With this book, Connolly seems to have completely abandoned the realistic approach taken with the earlier books and gone full force into supernatural mode. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, if it's done right anyway and Connolly seems to know just what he's doing.

When I read the initial plot and some spoiler free reviews, I was a little worried that Connolly was going to take Parker somewhere that I wasn't interested in reading. I mean, I have enough supernatural in my reading life with Stephen King and I really enjoyed the Parker series having its distinct feel - the career of a witty and sarcastic P.I. with his two buddies, a hit-man and a retired career show more criminal specializing in B&E. However, Connolly does not go over board. Yes, this novel is supported on the readers ability to grasp the existence of Angels and seemingly immortal individuals but Connolly's back story supports it so well that it honestly does not seem like that much of a stretch.

While he spends a good portion of the book developing his characters (old and new) and their reasons for the acquisition of The Black Angel itself; he spends very little time on action. So little that I think that Connolly is not aware of just how well he writes action. The scenes involving intense shoot outs are far and few between - that being said, I can do without Connolly throwing in that stuff for the sake of it - I'm just craving more of it.

I'm a big fan of where this book went when the initial plot seemed to be taken care of. Connolly never abandons old plots and important events from previous novels - he blends everything in so very well. It's clear that he's not doing it to only seem consistent; he appears to have a long and drawn out vision of where this character is going. Which is reassuring considering I have the next 3 sitting on my bookshelf.

While the ending of this book isn't exactly the most thrilling of his work to date, the events that unfold could not be better for the longevity of the Charlie Parker character. I'm still just as interested to read the 6th book as I was to pick up the 2nd. show less

“In the crowded killing fields of crime fiction, John Connolly is a unique voice.” — Michael Connelly

Indeed he is. As my first foray into John Connolly’s work, I am amazed by his ability to elevate crime fiction writing with beautifully crafted prose. He has a rare knack of weaving elegant, loftily worded paragraphs with contemporary, casually-toned ones. The result is a smooth read with seamless alterations in moods, without jarring stops and starts, mid-stride.

Black Angel is the fifth novel in a crime series. The central hero, Charlie Parker, embroils himself in an investigation over the disappearance of a close friend’s cousin, Alice. His search leads him to face a horrible truth—the existence of a demonic being known as show more the Dark Angel, whose lost whereabouts over the centuries have led The Believers, an army of evil men and fallen demons in human guise, to carve a bloody, gruesome trail of death in their search for him. The Believers is championed by the Dark Angel’s twin, accompanied by a malevolent soul-eater.

The novel is heavy on the paranormal and the gothic, its inspiration drawn largely from at least three major sources:

a) an Old Testament apocryphal book, The Book of Enoch;

b) the Sedlec ossuary in Czechoslovakia, which as a major setting, appropriately lends the macabre flavor to the story;

c) a controversial Mexican religion venerating the Santa Muerte.

John Connolly’s delightfully detailed historical accounts in this book have probably fired up some readers to learn more about them. I know they have compelled me to scurry through the internet for my own research. So midway through the book, I’ve been entertained with a mound of fascinating albeit morbid material on this novel’s inspirations.

The characters are also what make the book interesting. This particular novel, being the sequel to four others, does not elaborate on the backgrounds of its protagonists; but, you may glean some bits and pieces about them as the story progresses. Not knowing much about them, though, will not impede anyone’s enjoyment of this book. However, to know the characters intimately, a new reader to John Connolly would be better served if he were to start from the first in the series, Every Dead Thing.

A lot of credit should also go to the author’s ability to present violence so artistically. He has an intensely meticulous graphical style that makes his descriptions so vividly crystalline. Unfortunately, it is precisely this quality that may render the novel too verbose for some readers. People who prefer a straight-to-the-point manner may be annoyed at being drenched with all that verbiage.

True, the novel could have been a shorter read. But for readers like me who revel in Connolly’s beautiful phraseologies, there is no such wordiness. It is a rare treat to find a crime-thriller written with such eloquent and oftentimes almost poetic language; and, an even rarer pleasure to discover one that dared to successfully defy the accustomed patterns of its genre.

My Mark : Excellent show less

This may be the weirdest book I've read in a long time, but it's also undeniably one of the best. Don't read this one as your first Connolly; you'll be completely lost and utterly freaked out. That's not to say this book can't stand on its own, it certainly can, but the richness and depth are greatly increased if you've followed Charlie Parker, the protagonist, through his previous trials. [return][return]In the first book of Connolly's Parker series, Every Dead Thing, Parker's wife and daughter are killed (no spoiler here as it happens on the first page) and through successive books they become rather more present in his life than less so. Thus by the time The Black Angel comes along, you've been introduced to this side of Parker's show more personality and The Black Angel is not as unexpected as it might be if you just picked it up off the mystery/thriller rack in your local bookstore. [return][return]Other reviewers have outlined the plot in detail, so I won't go into that. I will say that Connolly just gets better and better. Reading his books, I've learned more about the history and life of various US cities than I have ever known even though I have lived here all my life. [return][return]I've read everything Connolly has written -- including the blog on his own site -- and cannot recommend his work highly enough. His writing sucks you right in and keeps you in his world far beyond the time you read the last word of the text. show less

This may be the weirdest book I've read in a long time, but it's also undeniably one of the best. Don't read this one as your first Connolly; you'll be completely lost and utterly freaked out. That's not to say this book can't stand on its own, it certainly can, but the richness and depth are greatly increased if you've followed Charlie Parker, the protagonist, through his previous trials.

In the first book of Connolly's Parker series, Every Dead Thing, Parker's wife and daughter are killed (no spoiler here as it happens on the first page) and through successive books they become rather more present in his life than less so. Thus by the time The Black Angel comes along, you've been introduced to this side of Parker's personality and The show more Black Angel is not as unexpected as it might be if you just picked it up off the mystery/thriller rack in your local bookstore.

Other reviewers have outlined the plot in detail, so I won't go into that. I will say that Connolly just gets better and better. Reading his books, I've learned more about the history and life of various US cities than I have ever known even though I have lived here all my life.

I've read everything Connolly has written -- including the blog on his own site -- and cannot recommend his work highly enough. His writing sucks you right in and keeps you in his world far beyond the time you read the last word of the text. show less