Wow! I wasn't expecting to get this type of plot or how the series is planning on moving forward.Going with 4.5 stars with The Black Angel.After finishing up The Black Angel late last night, I had a few thoughts.1. How will I sleep now after that ending? Ha!2. If one of the main characters (Charlie, Louis or Angel) gets killed, I will throw the damn book across the room and be in despair.3. John Connolly just took this series in a whole new supernatural angle and I'm here for it!And one last thi...

This is the book where all previous references towards the paranormal seem to come together for a large part. It is also the book that made me take some pause from the writings of mr. Connolly, because some of the topics in his books are well worth some time thinking about them.In this 5th Charlie Parker novel he once more is on the road with Louis & Angel. They play a more important part this time one of them is actually the cause of Charlies quest. A family member of Louis dissapears and an au...

So I left a wonderful review about this book on another book (don’t ask— never write midnight reviews for books with authors that have similar last names). Loved this book— not used to a subdued Charlie Parker but don’t worry, by the end, the dude got his mojo back. And if you appreciate the unnatural aspects of Parker’s life— this one will give you the creeps more than usual— at least it did for me. At this point in the series, I feel myself pacing myself— just two or three each year.

Upon completing book 5 in the Charlie Parker series, I continue to find it to be my favorite on-going series. There is no disputing that they are dark stories, and deal with tough subject matter. But the writing is so good, the thoughts so deep, the mysteries so thoughtful and intriguing that they drag you in and just don't let you go. I finished this book yesterday, and haven't stopped thinking about it. One of the aspects I enjoy about these books is that they're not just straight up good vs e...

This series just keeps getting darker. Not the type of book to read if you're in the wrong frame of mind.The fat man smelled peculiar. He hadn't noticed any stench from the other one in blue but the tubby guy had an unusual body odor. He smelled earthy and Ruiz involuntarily found himself picturing pale worms breaking through damp clods of dirt and black beetles scurrying for the shelter of stones.9/10re-read 2020They identify what they believe to be the flaw in God's creation: God has given man...

So weird to give a Charlie Parker book 3 stars, but here we are. This one did not work as well as previous installments in the series. I think that there was a lot going on and the book just drags for the last 30 percent of it. I just didn't care anymore about "the black angel" or who would find it first. I did think it was interesting to find out about the mysterious "captain" though. I think the book was hurt by trying to cram Louis and Angel in there too (and I say this as huge fans of both o...

The fifth Charlie Parker novel and also the scariest so far. In this one we plunge deep into the supernatural but not so far that I could not read the book in bed at night! So no actual nightmares but a lot of serious thought about the weird and the creepy. I love that Louis and Angel always have Charlie's back and that together they always come out smarter than the bad guys. I was very disappointed in Rachel - she knew what she was getting into and now she is letting him down. I guess I am gett...

“Normality had no place in his existence.”The Black Angel is a complex and complicated story about a missing woman and the people known as The Believers who have taken her. All are inextricably linked to Charlie Parker.Grounded in the supernatural and religious prophetic text, this installment is the turning point in the series. A good portion of the book takes place in the past, recounting events that occurred at the Sedlec Ossuary. What I loved was the focus on Louis and seeing him grapple w...

This book is always a stumbling point in the series for me, but I've finally done it!The Black Angel is where the ambiguously supernatural nature of this series really ramps up - while simultaneously cooling down the relationship between series hero Charlie Parker and his psychologist sweetheart, Rachel. Between those two things, this book lost me a little.Firstly, I'm just not a fan of the "man must save world bravely sacrificing relationships he was happy getting into until they required real

I highly recommend this strange, peculiar series (so far), but for the life of me, I don’t know why I am liking it. There is no reason for this atheist reviewer to give a dark Christian-theology-based noir series any of my time, except that I am very curious and entertained (plus I didn’t know what the series was about). It is a thrill ride (so far), if gore, torture, justified and unjust murder, terror and horrific graphic death doesn’t cause vomiting, gentle reader. (On second thought, people

2nd read - Parker is pulled into a search for Louis's blood relation, a prostitute missing from the streets of NYC. Along the way, the threads weave into a missing statue, that, according to legend, encompasses half a demon, trapped by monks in the 15th century. "Reid flinched slightly, but otherwise gave no indication that my awareness of the Black Angel, and the story of it's creation, was perhaps greater than he had anticipated. 'It wasn't an item that the order was anxious to display,' he sa...

THE BLACK ANGEL IS NOT AN OBJECTTHE BLACK ANGEL IS NOT A MYTHTHE BLACK ANGEL LIVESA Young woman goes missing on the streets of New York those who have taken her thinks nobody cares about her& that no one will look for her they were wrong!!She is blood to the killer Louis the man who stands at the hand of detective Charlie Parker & he will stop at nothing to find her, but as Louis attempts at finding her Charlie concludes that it is part of an old mystery that is linked to an ornate church of bon...

So, I'm 5 books into the Charlie Parker saga and so far, so good.With this book, Connolly seems to have completely abandoned the realistic approach taken with the earlier books and gone full force into supernatural mode. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, if it's done right anyway and Connolly seems to know just what he's doing.When I read the initial plot and some spoiler free reviews, I was a little worried that Connolly was going to take Parker somewhere that I wasn't interested in r...

The sixth entry in the Charlie Parker series takes a slightly different approach. To date, Parker has been involved in cases that touched him or were jobs he willingly took on. In The White Road, Parker began to seriously evaluate his connection to evil though the cases he took on. The Black Angel begins with the christening of his and Rachel's daughter, and though it is initially played for laughs, it becomes emotionally fraught as Rachel starts to overreact to any hint of danger or John's conn...

Book came with a music CD to accompany the book and is signed by John Connolly.

BLACK ANGEL in Connolly's Charlie Parker series is even darker than some of its predecessors. This supernatural thriller goes to great lengths in furthering the possible origins of Parker, and why he stands apart from others around him. Joining him once more--in a very personal role for one--are Lewis and Angel. As in all of John Connolly's books, there are many quotes that stand out to me. In this one, one of my personal favorites comes from (view spoiler)[ Lewis in regard to his and Angel's in...

THE BLACK ANGEL (Thriller-US/Europe-Cont) – G-Connolly, John - 5th in seriesAtria Books, 2005 - ARCCharlie Parker is trying to settle into life with his partner and new baby. At a party celebrating the baby's baptism, the Aunt of Charlie's friend, Louis, arrives telling him his niece, a prostitute and addict, has disappeared. But when Charlie, Louis and his partner, Angel, go looking for her, they find something much bigger, and rooted in history, killing young women.*** I have loved Connolly's

I am really enjoying this series. I think that Connolly bit off a bit too much with this one, however. It read to me more like a Preston/Child supernatural thriller than an installment in this gritty noir series. That isn’t a bad thing really but it made this book feel different to me that than the ones in the series. In The Black Angel, Mr. Connolly provides a history of the source of evil that has permeated the first two books and fills out a mythology of sorts to explain it all. In the first

The main problem here is the author spends most of his time narrating rather than writing scenes. Page after page of "telling" with a few scenes here and there that dramatize/show us. This gets especially boring when he goes into historical detail so we get the backdrop on artifacts and ancient connextions. At its worst is when you have characters in the present interacting and then suddenly there is a long narrative of what happened between then fifty years ago.I imagine most readers want drama...

'She is blood to me.'Louis and his revenge brought the dark team together, and boy did it get dark! The pathway that this unfolds onto brings such excitement into what lies in wait beyond. As always Connolly brings alive the real monsters that should only ever be make believe, surrounding them in excellent dark and historical settings. Even with a lamp on you feel yourself entering his dark realm, pulled deeper with each turn of a page. An exciting and thrilling ride for sure!'Through these year...