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In his first collection of short fiction, New York Times bestselling author John Connolly offers a selection of dark, daring, and utterly haunting tales. Here are lost lovers and missing children, predatory demons, and vengeful ghosts. In "The New Daughter, " a father comes to suspect that a burial mound on his land hides something very ancient, and very much alive; in "The Underbury Witches, " a pair of London detectives find themselves battling a particularly female evil in a town culled show more of its menfolk. And finally, private detective Charlie Parker returns in the long novella "The Reflecting Eye, " in which the photograph of an unknown girl turns up in the mailbox of an abandoned house once occupied by an infamous killer. This discovery forces Parker to confront the possibility that the house is not as empty as it appears, and that something has been waiting in the darkness for its chance to kill again. In these stories, Connolly ratchets up the tension to almost unbearable-and irresistible-levels. Nocturnes is a deliciously chilling collection. show lessTags
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El irlandés John Connolly es mundialmente conocido por las novelas protagonizadas por Charlie Parker, y ha demostrado más que de sobra su capacidad para crear atmósferas sobrenaturales. Siempre pensé que Connolly sería un buen escritor de relatos cortos, y con ‘Nocturnos’ lo ha conseguido con creces. Sus relatos recuerdan a los autores de fantasmas más reconocidos, M.R. James, E.F. Benson o Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, pero también hay elementos de Stephen King, e incluso algo de Clive Barker.
A lo largo de los diecinueve relatos incluidos en ‘Nocturnos’, Connolly nos acerca al horror más primario, la mayoría de las veces desde un escenario cotidiano, y otras veces desde lugares macabros y tenebrosos. Son relatos de corta show more extensión, excepto el primero. En ellos nos encontramos los elementos más comunes del mal: un enigmático vaquero que se dedica a contaminar a otras personas, criaturas ocultas en iglesias, bestias subterráneas, embalses malditos, extraños payasos, brujas ocultas, mujeres lobo, elfos, vampiros. En resumen, estamos ante una muy buena colección de cuentos que disfrutará cualquier amante del género. show less
A lo largo de los diecinueve relatos incluidos en ‘Nocturnos’, Connolly nos acerca al horror más primario, la mayoría de las veces desde un escenario cotidiano, y otras veces desde lugares macabros y tenebrosos. Son relatos de corta show more extensión, excepto el primero. En ellos nos encontramos los elementos más comunes del mal: un enigmático vaquero que se dedica a contaminar a otras personas, criaturas ocultas en iglesias, bestias subterráneas, embalses malditos, extraños payasos, brujas ocultas, mujeres lobo, elfos, vampiros. En resumen, estamos ante una muy buena colección de cuentos que disfrutará cualquier amante del género. show less
This book was exactly my cup of tea. I enjoyed all the stories. This is a book for those of us who enjoy a subtle scare and especially for those who prefer their scares to roam freely rather than being pinned down like a butterfly; quantified, categorized and immutable.
'Nocturnes' is the best single author horror story collection from a modern author that I have ever read. I'm not quite sure how to describe it for recommendation, but I think that by using a film/tv comparison I can provide an accurate assessment. If you loved 'The Wicker Man', you will enjoy this book. If American Horror Story:Asylum is more to your taste, you probably won't like this book.
Some have accused Connolly of misogyny in their reviews of this book, but I have show more a different take on his attitude towards women. I got the impression that he is fascinated and fearful at the same time; as well he probably should be. For all his ambiguity he seems to be full of respect and admiration; he simply understands that we have our own agendas and motivations incomprehensible to men. I take his fear as a compliment; we can be very powerful and ruthless creatures......it only bothers me when an author marginalizes women.
That said, 'The Erlking' and 'The New Daughter' were two of my favorites in this book; both tales of mysterious and unnamed elemental beings threatening the human interlopers in their territory. 'The Inn at Shillington' is a straightforward traditional ghost story. The Charlie Parker novella in the middle of the book was also very good and makes me want to read some of the mystery novels revolving around him. show less
'Nocturnes' is the best single author horror story collection from a modern author that I have ever read. I'm not quite sure how to describe it for recommendation, but I think that by using a film/tv comparison I can provide an accurate assessment. If you loved 'The Wicker Man', you will enjoy this book. If American Horror Story:Asylum is more to your taste, you probably won't like this book.
Some have accused Connolly of misogyny in their reviews of this book, but I have show more a different take on his attitude towards women. I got the impression that he is fascinated and fearful at the same time; as well he probably should be. For all his ambiguity he seems to be full of respect and admiration; he simply understands that we have our own agendas and motivations incomprehensible to men. I take his fear as a compliment; we can be very powerful and ruthless creatures......it only bothers me when an author marginalizes women.
That said, 'The Erlking' and 'The New Daughter' were two of my favorites in this book; both tales of mysterious and unnamed elemental beings threatening the human interlopers in their territory. 'The Inn at Shillington' is a straightforward traditional ghost story. The Charlie Parker novella in the middle of the book was also very good and makes me want to read some of the mystery novels revolving around him. show less
My only prior experience with John Connolly’s work was his novel The Book of Lost Things. That book definitely has some dark overtones, but the stories in Nocturnes make it look full of sweetness and light in comparison.
The stories all have some level of creep to them, and each has a small drawing on the proceeding page that captures a little bit of the story. It’s actually interesting to look at the picture after reading the following story, as it’s often more meaningful looking back.
As I said before, my only prior experience with Connolly was The Book of Lost Things. From that, I knew he was Irish. What I didn’t know is that he’s written a number of novels about PI Charlie Parker, which are actually set in my home state, and show more to varying degrees, in my home town. The first hint of this I got was in the story “The Furnace Room”. While it’s never mentioned where the story is actually set, it was clear from the very beginning that he was describing the waterfront in Portland. I can only say that I’m rather relieved that while I do know the general area where the main action takes place, he didn’t choose an obviously existing building to house the furnace room. I’m not sure I’d be able to look at such a building the same way ever again if it were real.
What finally sent me online to read up on Connolly was the “The Reflecting Eye: A Charlie Parker Novella”. This time, the story was set in Maine, beginning in Portland, fully named, and fully realized. The beginning scene in the Old Port was absolutely perfect. Again, fortunately, while I know the general area where the village of Two Mile is set, it’s not a real location. Again, I’m not sure I’d be able to look at the same way if it were.
There are plenty of other stories in the book set in other parts of America and in England or Ireland as well. I definitely enjoyed the book – it was a perfect choice for this season, and fitting that it was the last RIP III selection that I read, this close to Halloween. show less
The stories all have some level of creep to them, and each has a small drawing on the proceeding page that captures a little bit of the story. It’s actually interesting to look at the picture after reading the following story, as it’s often more meaningful looking back.
As I said before, my only prior experience with Connolly was The Book of Lost Things. From that, I knew he was Irish. What I didn’t know is that he’s written a number of novels about PI Charlie Parker, which are actually set in my home state, and show more to varying degrees, in my home town. The first hint of this I got was in the story “The Furnace Room”. While it’s never mentioned where the story is actually set, it was clear from the very beginning that he was describing the waterfront in Portland. I can only say that I’m rather relieved that while I do know the general area where the main action takes place, he didn’t choose an obviously existing building to house the furnace room. I’m not sure I’d be able to look at such a building the same way ever again if it were real.
What finally sent me online to read up on Connolly was the “The Reflecting Eye: A Charlie Parker Novella”. This time, the story was set in Maine, beginning in Portland, fully named, and fully realized. The beginning scene in the Old Port was absolutely perfect. Again, fortunately, while I know the general area where the village of Two Mile is set, it’s not a real location. Again, I’m not sure I’d be able to look at the same way if it were.
There are plenty of other stories in the book set in other parts of America and in England or Ireland as well. I definitely enjoyed the book – it was a perfect choice for this season, and fitting that it was the last RIP III selection that I read, this close to Halloween. show less
When I recently saw a photograph of the author online, it occurred to me that behind that kindly-looking face must reside a very dark imagination, judging by this anthology of creepy and disturbing short stories and two novellas. They are populated by a whole range of supernatural beings that are already well known to readers of ghost and horror stories, and there are others that are unique to John Connolly's fancy, but no less terrifying for that. As always with such collections, some stories work better than others, but on the whole all offerings here are of a consistently high quality. Recommended, but be warned: some of the stories will invade your dreams.
This is one of the best story collections that I have read. Nocturnes is a great title as the stories are truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. It is rare that a single author collection doesn't have one story that would be better off in the dust bin but that is the case here. Even the worst story is pretty darn good.
On a side note, as Connolly is the author of the excellent Charlie Parker detective series I thought that some of the stories in this collection, particularly The Underbury Witches featuring Inspector Burke and Sergeant Stokes, could serve as a seed for another series, sort of a Scotland Yard/X-Files/Hound of the Baskervilles mash-up. Just a thought in case Connolly ever reads this review.
FYI: Nocturnes is considered show more book 4.5 of the Charlie Parker mystery series as it includes the novella, The Reflecting Eye which includes significant events in the Charlie Parker story arc. show less
On a side note, as Connolly is the author of the excellent Charlie Parker detective series I thought that some of the stories in this collection, particularly The Underbury Witches featuring Inspector Burke and Sergeant Stokes, could serve as a seed for another series, sort of a Scotland Yard/X-Files/Hound of the Baskervilles mash-up. Just a thought in case Connolly ever reads this review.
FYI: Nocturnes is considered show more book 4.5 of the Charlie Parker mystery series as it includes the novella, The Reflecting Eye which includes significant events in the Charlie Parker story arc. show less
Short stories are typically not my preferred genre, but I loved this book. Each story was unique, a horror tale which drew on commonalities of the genre but didn't just repeat the same old, same old. Avid readers will see an homage here and there to other authors - Sheridan LeFanu, Stephen King, and Ray Bradbury stick out to me - but the stories, at least to me, seem uniquely Connolly's own, new but familiar. The very first story, The Cancer Cowboy Rides, offers a beautifully portrayed original villain. Miss Froom, Vampire twists without twisting . And Some Children Wander by Mistake gives us a new reason to fear clowns, who are apparently "chosen in the mudderwomb".
Excellent short story collection, horror and supernatural stories that aren’t gory but instead haunting and chilling all expertly well told.
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John Connolly is the author of "Every Dead Thing" which was a bestseller in Britain and Ireland. He is a regular contributor to "The Irish Times," and has traveled extensively in the United States. He lives in Dublin, Ireland. (Publisher Provided) John Connolly was born May 31, 1968 in Dublin. He is an Irish writer who is best known for his series show more of novels starring private detective Charlie Parker. His first novel, Every Dead Thing was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and went on to win the 2000 Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel (he is the first author outside of the US to have won the award). Connolly's debut introduced readers to the anti-hero Charlie Parker, a former police officer hunting the killer of his wife and daughter. Connolly has since written a further 5 books in the popular Parker series and a non-Parker thriller, as well as venturing outside of the crime genre with the publication of first, an anthology of ghost stories and later, a novel about a young boy's coming-of-age journey during World War II England. Before becoming a full-time novelist, Connolly worked as a journalist, a barman, and a local government official. After graduating with a B.A. in English from Trinity College, Dublin and a M.A. in Journalism from Dublin City University, he spent five years working as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper. He quickly became frustrated with the profession, and began to write Every Dead Thing in his spare time. Connolly continues to contribute articles to the paper. His eighth book in the Charlie Parker series, The Reapers, was published in 2008. The tenth Parker novel, titled The Whisperers, was published in 2010. His current bestseller is A Time of Torment, the fourteenth in the Charlie Parker series.. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Nocturnes
- Original title
- Nocturnes
- Original publication date
- 2004-10-11
- People/Characters
- Charlie Parker; Rachel Wolfe
- Related movies
- The New Daughter (2009 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- For Adèle, who will always be missed
- First words
- The rutted track was playing hell with Jerry Schneider's shocks.
- Quotations
- I watched him draw upon the stem until I could abide the sucking of his lips no longer, then turned my attention to the volumes upon his shelves. I wondered how many of them the bishop had read. He seemed to me to be the kind... (show all) of man who distrusted books, wary of the seeds of sedition and independent thought that they might sow in minds less disciplined than his own.
From 'Mr Pettinger's Daemon', pp. 81–2
But he never spoke of the Erlking. All that my father would say was that I should not venture into the woods alone, and that I should never stay out beyond nightfall. There were things out there, he would say: wolves, and wor... (show all)se-than-wolves.
There is myth, and there is reality; one we tell, and one we hide. We create monsters, and hope that the lessons wrapped in their tales will serve to guide us when we encounter that which is most terrible in life. We give forged names to our fears, and pray that we may face nothing worse than what we ourselves have created.
We lie to protect our children, and in lying we expose them to the greatest of harms.
From 'The Erlking', pp. 97–8 - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Or open, perhaps, depending upon one's misfortune.
- Publisher's editor
- Fletcher, Sue
- Original language
- English
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