A River Red With Blood, the twenty-third title in John Connolly’s international bestselling Charlie Parker series, is set in Maine’s rural Kennebec River Valley. It is a gritty, twisty, and absorbing blend of supernatural crime thriller, horror, and hardboiled detective mystery. But does it measure up to its predecessors? Read my review.
An eccentric private detective and his longtime associates work to untangle a web of murder and contemporary wickedness linked with ancient supernatural evil in this dark, riveting crime thriller from John Connolly, the bestselling author of the Charlie Parker series.
A horrifying crime. A tenacious investigator. A supernatural thriller of epic proportions.
In the rural Kennebec River Valley in northern Maine, the body of a teenage runaway from a private disciplinary school for boys is discovered in the water. It appeared he had broken his right leg before going into the water. The Maine authorities ruled it an accidental drowning, a death by misadventure, but the boy’s father, Ward Vose, an inmate at the Maine State Prison doesn’t believe it. Vose feels sure someone killed his son.
Called in to investigate the circumstances of the troubled boy’s death is Charlie Parker, a private investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by his eccentricity. Parker visits Vose at the prison and listens to his story. Unconvinced that anything had happened but an accidental drowning, he still takes the case after Vose tells him his son’s death may be connected to a teenage girl living near his son’s school, who has gone missing. Parker then discovers a past acquaintance with the reputation of being a medium who communicates with the dead, is also in the area attempting to find the missing girl or her remains.
Soon, the mystery takes a disturbing supernatural turn. Parker uncovers a critical clue. It all makes for a thorny puzzle when he learns that present-day evil may be connected to an ancient one that holds a personal connection for him.
My Review
Having read all the books in the series, I am well acquainted with and thoroughly enjoy John Connolly’s writing. He is a gifted storyteller and writer. While the books of this series always contain elements of supernatural and horror, the majority are more crime thrillers than supernatural, which is what I most enjoy reading. But Connolly does such a brilliant job of writing both elements and blending them into a complex whole that I always find his stories entertaining and enjoyable reading even though I don’t generally read novels about forces, beings, or occurrences existing outside the laws of the physical universe that cannot be explained by science.
While an entertaining and worthwhile read, A River Red With Blood, isn’t my favorite Charlie Parker novel. While the violence in these books tends to be graphic and disturbing, the graphic descriptions of child abuse, torture, and rape in this novel were hard to read and may be too graphic and disturbing for some readers. This is in no way meant as criticism of Connolly’s work. None of the violence was gratuitous but important to the overall story. And after all, it is a work of fiction, a well-crafted one with both new and familiar vivid characters. I enjoyed reading it and recommend it for crime thriller fans who would like to read a crime thriller with a unique twist and for horror and paranormal fans who might enjoy a bit of realism along with fantasy. Of course, Charlie Parker fans like me will find it another welcome addition to the series.
I received a digital advanced reader’s copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this honest review.
My Rating: ★★★★