White Road [Paperback]

John Connolly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2003

In South Carolina, a young black man faces the death penalty for the rape and murder of Marianne Larousse, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the state. It's a case that nobody wants to touch, a case with its roots in old evil, and old evil is private detective Charlie Parker's speciality. But Parker is about to make a descent into the abyss, a confrontation with dark forces that threaten all that Parker holds dear: his lover, his unborn child, even his soul...For in a prison cell, a fanatical preacher is about to take his revenge on Charlie Parker, its instruments the very men that Parker is hunting, and a strange, hunched creature that keeps its own secrets buried by a riverbank: the undiscovered killer Cyrus Nairn. Soon, all of these figures will face a final reckoning in southern swamps and northern forests, in distant locations linked by a single thread, a place where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I have learned to embrace the dead and they, in their turn, have found a way to reach out to me." It's becoming increasingly clear from pronouncements such as this that PI Charlie Parker is hardly your garden-variety mystery protagonist. In Connolly's latest spine-tingling opus (after The Killing Kind), readers gain further insights into the soul of this tormented man-a hero of uncommon depth and compulsions. We also learn more about Angel and Louis, Parker's longtime cronies (and gay Odd Couple) who function as Greek chorus, avenging angels and their buddy's conscience. Angel resembles "the runway model for a decorators' convention, assuming that the decorators' tastes veered toward five-six, semiretired gay burglars," while Louis possesses "six feet six inches of attitude, razor-sharp dress sense, and gay Republican pride." (Note to Connolly: how about a spin-off novel for these two idiosyncratic supporting players?) Parker's description of his newest case-"dead people, a mystery, more dead people"-exemplifies his bluntness; true to form, he's never far from a cutting remark or casual wisecrack (hearing that an especially odious character has "found Jesus," Parker observes, "I figure Jesus should be more careful about who finds Him"). When a former colleague who's practicing law in Charleston, S.C., asks for Parker's help on a racially charged murder case, Parker reluctantly leaves his Maine habitat. The South that he encounters is found in no guidebook: it's a pernicious locale where the good old boys are far from good, where country music speaks "of war and vengeance" and where one soulless individual "smelled of slow burning... like the odor left after an oil fire had just been extinguished." Adding eerie overtones to Connolly's intricately plotted tale are more of Parker's musings on the concept of death and the nature of evil-soliloquies often accompanied by spectral visions. The malevolence here is almost palpable (even more so than in Parker's earlier outings).
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Things turn surreal when P.I. Charlie Parker starts investigating the ugly rape and murder of a Southern millionaire's daughter.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Coronet (January 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0340821205
• ISBN-13: 978-0340821206
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,639,268 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

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Total Stunner, March 17, 2003

By 

Sherrie Martin "sherchez" (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Road (Hardcover)

Charlie "Bird" Parker has settled down in rural Maine with his new love, Rachel, and is awaiting the birth of their child when he gets a call from an old friend, Elliot Norton. Elliot is a lawyer in Charleston, SC, who is handling a powder-keg of a case -- a young black man accused of the rape/murder of the daughter of a rich and powerful white family. When Elliot all but grovels as he begs Charlie to come to SC and do some investigation for him, Charlie can't say no.

And so begins Charlie's odyssey on the long and twisted White Road. Connolly writes of the dank Congaree Swamp and other Low Country environs as though he were born in the languid South rather than Ireland, and every paragraph he writes flows like dark and haunted poetry. For every step forward Charlie takes in seeking information to help Elliot's client's case, forces and villains from his past converge to drive him backwards and to kill him if they can. (*Note: do read "The Killing Kind" first to understand who Faulkner, Pudd, et al., are.) And then there is the hooded Lady in White, who might or might not be real as she wanders the shimmering White Road where the past meets present and future and where old wrongs are righted.

This stunning novel is absolutely mesmerizing as it races forward to a shattering denouement. It will leave you breathless, but don't read it at home alone late at night.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite simply wonderful, December 29, 2002

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Road (Hardcover)

This is the best of the four. Every Dead Thing was a good read, but overcomplicated with too many characters and plots. Dark Hollow was much better. ANd even that warranted five stars. Then came The Killing Kind which was stupendously excellent. The best thriller of 2001. Even better than Dark Hollow. But now comes The White Road. And it's even better.

John Connolly's prose is simply wonderful. It is superbly lyrical, and his descriptions are superbs. I was in awe when he described a world as being "painted on glass". He has many sentences like that, which stop you in your tracks and make you realise how truly [darkly] beautiful his writing is.

Charlie Parker is back, and fighting for his life, and thst of his lover and unborn child. the demonic preacher Faulkner is out for revenge, the instruments of which will be horrfying killer Cyrus Nairn, who keeps his secrets buried by the riverside. At the same as Parker is investigating the rape of the young daughter of the wealthy Earl Larousse. Accused is her black boyfriend, Atys Jones. But deep in the nearby swamps something lurks...something connected to a long ago crime, and it wants vengeance...

This is a stunning novel. The darkness of it is haunting, and its complexity astounding, but JOhn COnnolly manages to tell you the tale in an easy to undderstand way.

It is truly chilling. The way Connolly blends subtle elements of horror in with a crime novel is awe-inspiring. And with this book he has created his most dark plot yet, yet it seems to contain a tiny snub of light shining through at points. At times the darkness becomes too much, and the light disappears as if gone forever, but at others, it reappears, burning brightly anew, and you can hold out some hope for Charlie Parker and his quest.

I cannot praise this novel highly enough. The resolution, and the way in which it is all brough together is brilliant, and the final solution shocking.

Connolly, with this book and the last created possibly the most chilling villain in the religious fanatic Reverend Aaron Faulkner, and in this book he is even more chilling than before. He simply oozes evil. This time, he is out to get Parker, and he is going to use killer Cyrus Nairn, recently released from the wing of his prison, to execute that revenge. It is a truly chilling book, with a wonderful plot, and a colourful cast of characters, including Angel and Louis, who are back in full force. This time we learn a little about why they are who they are.

From the excellent prologue to the epilogue this book is a sucess on every level. Connolly just gets better and better. If you haven't read him yet, you're missing out.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A notion of evil-- compelling, but messy to read., October 21, 2005

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The White Road: A Thriller (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first John Connolly book, and it may be that part of my confusion comes from the fact that I have not read the other books in the series. Although I was ultimately able to catch up with Pudd and the Faulkner and the Traveling Man, there were an overhwelming number of backstory threads to assemble before I really got a full view of this book. The resulting reading experience for a first-time view of the series is jumpy and incomplete.

I liked Charlie Parker as a hero. I like the darkness and I am even willing to buy the flirtation with the horror/dark fantasy genre. A psychic detective is an interesting idea, and Connolly does a good job in fleshing him out.

The structural issues were the biggest flaw in the book for me. I disliked the way that it jumped times and place (too often, and without much sense). The use of foreshadowing irritated me (example: "I never sam him again, and I wonder now if my intervention cost him his life."). I also have a personal pet peeve with authors who manage to work every last loose end into one story. Particularly in a novel with so many threads (Faulkner, Cassie Blythe, Marianne Larousse, the lynchings, the White Road) it is a whole lot to swallow that they all end up linking so neatly together.

Overall, I liked the book enough that I will probably circle back around and start with the first in the series. I will hold off on an opinion as to whether I would recommend the series or not until after I have done so. In any case, I would not recommend that another first time Connolly reader start here.