disclaimer – i received a copy of this book via atria books in exchange for an honest review.
this is the first book i’ve read by john connolly. it sat on my to be read shelf for several months because i knew it was part of a series and wasn’t sure i was ready to get attached to a long-lived character. sometimes, walking in on a character with a well-developed back story seems overwhelming and just the idea of trying to catch up is daunting. i was lucky because connolly made it easy in a time of torment. there’s obviously A LOT i missed by coming into the series in the 14th book but i didn’t feel as behind as i could have. connolly presented the highlights of charlie parker’s life that were relevant to this point but didn’t overwhelm with superfluous details. in addition to making it easy to relate to a character i was meeting far after his premiere, connolly’s other characters were well written and, given the setting, realistic.
it is important for me to note that connolly did present the physical abuse and repeated sexual assault of two characters. i didn’t feel at any time that he was doing it simply as a plot point. he handled it tactfully, wrote about it without providing details, and presented it as the horror that it was regardless of the reasoning used by the men committing the crimes.
overall, i enjoyed a time of torment and it was a good way to meet charlie parker.
three out of five stars
turtle's songs 