Review: The Unquiet

It’s been a few years since we last saw John Connolly’s tortured PI Charlie Parker. The last time he appeared was in ‘The Black Angel’ back in 2005 [as last year Connolly published a non- series work ‘The Book of Lost Things’], so it was with great anticipation that I cracked the spine of ‘The Unquiet’ – and to say that I was not disappointed would be a gross understatement. ‘The Unquiet’ is a deeply unsettling work, a dark and dangerous journey which starts with a feeling of dread, and just builds and builds, until the tension becomes unbearable. If you’ve not been introduced to Connolly’s Maine-based Private Eye, then this novel is a great place to start. ‘The Unquiet’ involves Parker looking back into his past and that of others, to find the redemption and atonement of past sins, of which some may never be forgiven.

Charlie Parker is as melancholic as ever, hearing the voices of his dead first wife and daughter [who were brutally murdered in the debut work ‘Every Dead Thing’], and trying to find peace with Rachael [his estranged wife] and daughter. To break the melancholic mood he takes on a simple job to protect Rebecca Clay and her daughter from a mysterious stalker. In the world of Parker, nothing is simple, especially the people that populate his world, because the Parker books have a supernatural aspect. For Charlie Parker - the world of the living intersects with the world of the dead and past sins are propelled into the future. It seems that the stalker harassing Rebecca Clay and her daughter is an underworld hit-man called Frank Merrick. It appears that Merrick is working for a lawyer called Eldritch [a homage to H P Lovecraft], and together they are attempting to trace Rebecca’s father, the child psychologist Dr Daniel Clay, a man who’s career was ruined by the whispers of paedophilia [and who subsequently vanished in disgrace]. This assignment proves troublesome so Parker calls upon Louis and Angel, his rough and tough sidekicks as well as Jackie Garner and his bodyguards – Tony and Paulie Fulci to protect Rebecca Clay from Merrick, while Parker investigates Merrick’s motives. He soon discovers that things are far from straight, as it appears Merrick’s young daughter went missing at the same time that Dr Clay vanished [while Merrick was in prison]. Then there is evidence that the children that Dr Clay was involved with, drew pictures of their abusers wearing sinister bird-masks. We learn also that at the Canadian border rests an abandoned community called Gilead, a community that Dr Clay visited, and one that became abandoned after it was discovered that ritual child abuse occurred.

Parker soon discovers links to Boston’s Russian Mafia who traffic in children, internet child abuse and murder. All the while Parker and Merrick hear voices from the dead, voices who are hollow, voices that no longer walk the earth, and into this potent and chilly mix comes the cigarette smoking and chilling avenger - ‘The Collector’, who asks Parker ‘You think you are a good man?” and continues “How can one tell the good from the bad when their methods are just the same?”

‘The Unquiet’ is one of the finest reads of this or any year, from the man with the darkest imagination. I was enthralled and terrified at the same time, but it’s the wit Connolly employs that prevents this dark tale from becoming too malevolent – Ali Karim

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM

Book Review: The Unquiet