Dark Hollow [Import] [Paperback]

John Connolly (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (2000)
• ISBN-10: 034076659X
• ISBN-13: 978-0340766590
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,923,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MENACING CHARACTERS IN SHIVER PRODUCING CLIMES, July 9, 2001

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Hollow (Hardcover)

With an opening line signaling devilish doings, "I dream dark dreams," Irish thrillersmith John Connolly launches his second suspenseful tale featuring New York policeman turned private investigator Charlie Parker. Connolly copped the 2000 Shamus Award for his debut, "Every Dead Thing." "Dark Hollow" assures readers that he deserved it.

Unable to set aside the murders of his wife and daughter, a haunted Parker returns to his hometown of Scarborough, Maine. Rather than finding solace in the northeast woods Parker is faced with a series of seemingly unrelated mysteries and a terrifying sociopathic mobster, Tony Celli.

Oddly enough the current series of murders are remarkably akin to 40-year-old killings - crimes that Parker's grandfather spent most of his life trying to solve. What is the connection between today's violence and killings almost half a century old?

Author Connolly pulls out all the stops with this highly readable, almost surreal tale involving mysterious forces lurking in the wilderness, and a long buried past seemingly rising from the grave. Connolly's an ace at creating menacing characters and shiver producing climes.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter Dark Hollow at your own risk!, July 4, 2001

By 

jim munchel (Camp Hill, P.a USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Hollow (Hardcover)

John Connolly's Dark Hollow is a prime example of bringing two genres together. The thriller and horror genres collide in the second installment of the cases taken on by Charlie "Bird" Parker and his backup Angel and Louis. This time around Parker agrees to help an old classmate Rita and her small son find her abusive ex hushand Billy Purdue. Billy is in over his head with some serious ****. Also thrown into the mix is a case Parker's grandfather could not close over thirty years ago. if you see Caleb Kyle you better run a mile! Something watching in the woods of Dark Hollow, stolen money, an old romance, a body count to numerous too mention, and enough scenes of out and out horror, make this my favorite book so far this year. Note: Read Every Dead Thing from John Connolly, the first Charlie Parker novel! I'm sure you can get it here at Amazon.com

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chiller!, August 5, 2001

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Hollow (Hardcover)

Connolly's books are a kind of hybrid: the mystery/horror novel. Every Dead Thing's hero, Charlie Parker, returns in Dark Hollow in pursuit once again of a singular force of death and destruction (with a few peripherhal malevalent forces to be dealt with, as well). Charlie "Bird" Parker, who has nothing whatever to do with his musician namesake, is the adult equivalent of the child in The Sixth Sense (he sees dead people.) It is to the author's credit that the reader is able to take this seriously, primarily because of the oddly lyrical descriptions of the horrors that face the hero at almost every turn. Connolly's continuing theme is of lives and loves lost to horrific violence, and in Dark Hollow he takes us on a wretchedly cold trip through the upper reaches of Maine, in pursuit of Caleb Kyle who may or may not be the mythical, local equivalent of the bogeyman.

With the help of his two wonderfully well-conceived sidekicks, Louis and Angel, Bird sets out to accomplish several tasks: to find the missing daughter of a former police officer friend, to locate the missing Billy Purdue (and the millions in payoff money he may have intercepted with the result that quite a number of villains are on his trail), and to find the killer of Billy's estranged wife and son. There are many killings, all linked in some way or another to Caleb Kyle.

This is compulsive reading, highly recommended for those not faint of heart.