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| The Reapers |
I hardly ever do this, but I skipped a book in a series. I didn’t read the latest novel in the Charlie Parker series, The Unquiet. It’s sitting on my shelves waiting for me to get around to picking it up. The last John Connolly book I read was Bad Men. But I was trolling one of the local public libraries, and found a copy of The Reapers on the new book shelf. It’s not really a Parker novel, but he makes an appearance. Instead, this is about a couple of Parker’s friends, Louis (a former hitman) and Angel (a former thief). But I always like Louis and Angel, so I figured what the hell.
While the novel is nominally about Louis and Angel, it’s narrated for the most part by Willie Brew, a mechanic that Louis bailed out of debt many years ago. While Willie is a pretty good narrator, it made me feel like I was getting the story second-hand. And I didn’t really like it. It took away some of the tension that I look for from mysteries and thrillers. I think that’s a big part of why I didn’t like this book as much as I liked the earliest Parker novels. The other reason is that a lot of the characters spend their time being introspective rather than acting. I probably came to this book with the wrong expectations. I think what Connolly is trying to do (and has been trying to do) is use his characters to explore the effect that a life of violence has on your soul (or anima or whatever you care to call it). Consequently, it feels like the whole dramatis personae needs a good dose of prozac or something.
What I liked the most about this book was the character descriptions when a new character would come on the scene, like this one of a pair of enforcers:
Unfortunately, there are individuals whose physical appearance comdemns them to a certain path in life. The Fulcis looked liked criminals, and it seemed inevitable that criminals they would become. The possibility of their cheating fate was further hampered by their emotional and psychological makeup, which might charitably be described as combustible. The Fulcis had fuses so short they barely existed. As time went on, a great many medical professionals…attempted unsuccessfully, to balance the Fulcis’ moods by pharmaceutical intervention. What they discovered in the process was quite fascinating, and interesting papers for professional and academic study might well have resulted hand the Fulcis been willing to stay still long enough to cooperate in their formulation. (257)
Connolly still has his magic when it comes to the noir-ish passages. His language is elegant and unusual. And the book was really good in places where he let his inner noir take over. But looking back at the foreshadowing in the first Parker novels, I can see why Connolly has turned introspective in these later books. I’m not sure if I’ll keep reading the series, though. I want more plot in my books, more action, more suspense.