The Black Angel - Hardcover

Connolly, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743487869 ISBN 13: 9780743487863

Publisher: Atria Books, 2005

Synopsis

To those who have been forsaken, hell has no geography.The Black Angel begins with the disappearance of a young prostitute from one of New York City's seamiest neighborhoods. Like so many tormented souls before her, the girl's mother is inevitably drawn to Charlie Parker's doorstep desperate for redemption and revenge. Despite the danger that his chosen profession imposes on his wife and newborn daughter, Parker knows that the woman and her troubles cannot be ignored. As always, he is driven as much by the evil that simmers in the hidden honeycomb world as he is by the ties of friendship and blood. As Parker gets closer to the girl's captors, he discovers that her disappearance is linked to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, to the slaughter at a French monastery in 1944, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel -- an object considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins.

About this title

Review:

With The Black Angel, John Connolly takes his Charlie Parker series a step further away from the conventional serial killer thriller and over the border into supernatural horror--which, in fairness, is where these extraordinary books have been heading from the beginning. The question of why and how so many bad people find their way into Parker's orbit has always been lurking in the background of his novels; why so many ghosts of victims point him the way to vengeful justice and why so good a man is so fond of his killer for hire friends Louis and Angel. Many writers would just leave these as givens, but Connolly has too much integrity for that.

The search for Louis' junkie whore cousin, and her abductors, leads the trio ever further into darkness. They have fought evil obsessives before, but none as bad as the Believers, a group obsessed with fallen angels and with the strange sculpted objects men have made from human bones. This time at least there is a possibility that what the Believers believe is true, both what they believe about the world and what they believe about Parker--this is a book which ought to be insane and ludicrous and is in fact chilling. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

Connolly has virtually no match when it comes to chilling his readers. (Daily Express)

The master of supernatural sleuthery. (The Times)

Colourful but visceral grand guignol, and definitely not to be read at night. (Guardian)

About this edition

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0743487869
• ISBN 13: 9780743487863
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 488