Three hundred years ago, the settlers on the small Maine island of Sanctuary were betrayed by one of their own, and slaughtered. Now a band of killers has returned to Sanctuary to seek revenge on a young woman and her son, and the only people who stand in their way are a young rookie officer and the island's resident policeman, the troubled giant known as Melancholy Joe Dupree. But Joe Dupree is no ordinary policeman. He is the guardian of the island's secrets, the repository of its memories. He knows that Sanctuary has been steeped in violence, and that its ghosts will tolerate the shedding of innocent blood no longer. On Sanctuary, the hunters are about to become the hunted.
'Bad Men is thoughtful, dark and absolutely addictive' -- Irish Times 'John Connolly writes like an angel, but about evil men and their diabolical deeds... Written with some style and by a man completely at ease with his work, Bad Men is probably John Connolly's best novel yet. It is five-star chill with enough menace to keep the pages turning well into the wee small hours.' -- Irish Times 'Will the film version be directed by John Carpenter or Quentin Tarantino? ... Connolly spins his gruesome yarn with relish' -- Mail on Sunday 'a unique blend of crime and horror' -- Crime Time 'In the crowded killing fields of crime fiction, John Connolly has quickly and decisively established himself as a unique voice. With BAD MEN he does it again, giving us a powerful story that is dark, daring and original. This one is his best.' -- Michael Connelly 'Think Thomas Harris by way of Stephen King: haunting, compelling, but not for the faint of heart.' -- Publishers Weekly 'Connolly writes like a poet ... A stylish darkness sucks you under.' -- Kirkus Reviews 20040201
About the Author
John Connolly was born in Dublin in 1968. His debut -EVERY DEAD THING - swiftly launched him right into the front rank of thriller writers, and all his subsequent novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers. He is the first non-American writer to win the US Shamus award.
Product Details
Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Coronet; First edition & printing in this form edition (November 22, 2003)
I was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1968 and have, at various points in his life, worked as a journalist, a barman, a local government official, a waiter and a "gofer" at Harrods department store in London. I studied English in Trinity College, Dublin and journalism at Dublin City University, subsequently spending five years working as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times newspaper, to which I continue to contribute, although not as often as I would like. I still try to interview a few authors every year, mainly writers whose work I like, although I've occasionally interviewed people for the paper simply because I thought they might be quirky or interesting. All of those interviews have been posted to my website, http://www.johnconnolly.co.uk.
I was working as a journalist when I began work on my first novel. Like a lot of journalists, I think I entered the trade because I loved to write, and it was one of the few ways I thought I could be paid to do what I loved. But there is a difference between being a writer and a journalist, and I was certainly a poorer journalist than I am a writer (and I make no great claims for myself in either field.) I got quite frustrated with journalism, which probably gave me the impetus to start work on the novel. That book, Every Dead Thing, took about five years to write and was eventually published in 1999. It introduced the character of Charlie Parker, a former policeman hunting the killer of his wife and daughter. Dark Hollow, the second Parker novel, followed in 2000. The third Parker novel, The Killing Kind, was published in 2001, with The White Road following in 2002. In 2003, I published my fifth novel - and first stand-alone book - Bad Men. In 2004, Nocturnes, a collection of novellas and short stories, was added to the list, and 2005 marked the publication of the fifth Charlie Parker novel, The Black Angel. In 2006, The Book of Lost Things, my first non-mystery novel, will be published.
I am based in Dublin but divide my time between my native city and the United States, where each of my novels has been set.