Book 8 The Whisperers by John Connolly

Finished 16th February 2011

Thrillers are not usually my bag. But this book was brought as a present by my wife a few weeks ago, and it was pleasantly surprising. Surprisingly enjoyable. That's probably more to do with this being a dark thriller ( a thriller-horror ) than anthing else. It was more than just the usual cops and suspense that you find in a lot of books. The great thing about it was the layers. This one has more layers than an onion and that is what made it so rich and readable. In fact I don't think I have read a book with as many layers as this since probably Stephen King's 'The Stand'. And just when you think that you have uncovered all the layers then it provides new ones. In this way, The Whisperers has a canny way of keeping your interest throughout.

This is the first John Connolly book I have had the pleasure of reading and I guess the only slight problem I had with reading this was the fact that I read it out of sequence. The Charlie Parker books can be read as stand alone books but I think I would have enjoyed it and fully ( better ?) understood the ending if I had read the other books first !

The ending was good but it left me with probably a few more questions than answers. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to actually read all the books in order at some point.

The basic plot centres around an ancient box being stolen from an Iraqi museum during the invasion ( liberation ?)of the country and then one by one,returning soldiers start to die in strange circumstances. Charlie Parker is asked to investigate and finds himself up to his neck in a struggle between rival gangs of smugglers and some rather spooky demonic characters.

Would love to read the other books in the sequence. As a writer this has taught me the value of adding skins (layers) to a story. Hopefully something I can incorporate in my own work.

8/10