If you love dark and suspenseful mystery/thrillers with a dash of the supernatural and have not discovered John Connolly's signature character Charlie Parker, I urge you to jump into this series as soon as possible and, hopefully, in order of printing of the 15 or so novels. John Connolly is a master at his craft and is a true wordsmith with the ability to depict a gloomy atmosphere or a palpable sense of dread in just a few well turned words. I find his literary style to be similar to that of James Lee Burke, another of our living treasures. And Parker is a private detective who is unlike most others in that he died and was reborn with the ability to "see" and sense his murdered daughter who seems to watch over him. Along with Louis and Angel, his two closest allies, Parker seeks justice and retribution for those who have been touched by the absolute evil in some men and communities.
In "A Time Of Torment", Parker is hired by Jerome Burnel, a former hero who may have been framed by a child porn charge which made him a pariah; furthermore, sensing his own impending death, he enlists Parker to find out who framed him and why. Parker and his pals soon discover a strong link to an isolated and forbidding mountain community known simply as "The Cut"; a community with an ancient evil past highlighted by crime and death and housing an entity known as the "Dead King". Soon Parker and team join with a local sheriff to investigate The Cut and its depraved leaders Oberon and Cassander. Knowing that kidnapped girls are secreted somewhere in The Cut, Parker's team goes on the offense to try saving the girls, find Burnel, and end the stranglehold that The Cut exerts on Plassey County.
"A Time Of Torment" is a fine addition to the lore of Charlie Parker but it is not a good starting point for someone unfamiliar with the series. My two quibbles revolve around the fact that Connolly occasionally rambles and stretches out the narrative a little too much and he has a tendency to reuse his villains more often than I would like. A comic book editor once said that good villains are hard to find which may explain why so few comic book villains ever truly die and, regretfully, Connolly seems to subscribe to the same notion.
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