The modern thriller genre is wildly fortunate to have a writer as skilled as Connolly dedicated to growing this series. The Lovers is dark, bleak, prickly, adventurous, well paced, and precisely plotted. Connolly makes only smart narrative choices and leads the reader down many dark hallways before flipping on the light. Secrets revealed are acted upon and our understanding of this universe expands.

A smart and very well written novel. Highly recommended to fans of dark thrillers

I started reading John Connolly both as a new author I had not read before and because the jacket blurb was intriguing. There are some insightful and memorable paragraphs... I would go further and say that some chapters are good. But it seems to me that John actually wants to be Stephen King but does not dare... so he puts in some aspects of the mystical/macabre/cabalistic/dark features without much explanation or background. In summary a disappointing read and though this is Charlie Parker #8 I doubt I will attempt any more! ( unless I totally run out of reading material and that is unlikely what with kindle and nook for android!)

still dark, still compelling - old stories and lies being unravelled

I think this is my favorite book so far. It delves into Charlie’s history and the events leading up to and surrounding his dad’s death. Charlie is also stuck right now, he doesn’t have his PI license therefore he can’t work and finds himself as a bar manager in the local brewery. His relationship with Rachel has finally ended and he has had to send his dog off to live with Sam as he is away for long periods of time and it is affecting Walter. While this is going on he is being annoyed by a true crime writer that was to tell his story and won’t take a hint.

This book is split between Maine and New York. We don’t see much of Angel and Louis but we learn a lot more about Epstein and the FBI agent Ross.

I found this story to be riveting and while it cleared up a whole lot of loose ends it also left a lot of questions too.

This addition to the Charlie Parker series was just outstanding!

The Lovers is the 8th book in the series and goes into the life and circumstances of Charlie’s parents and the actions his Dad commits on a dark and twisted night.

Honestly, I’m not sure how much to go into with this review. There’s too many spoilers, along with potentially ruining a new reader that decides to take on this series.

But here goes with some limited information!

The Lovers starts off with Charlie Parker not being in a good place. He’s working at a bar and has lost his private investigator license. Things are not going well in in his life and he’s got tons of questions.

One of those questions involves his Dad. He was a police officer for the NYPD and one night, his Dad kills two unarmed teenagers and then takes his own life.
This has haunted Charlie his whole life so he decides to jump into the mystery and uncover the why.

Besides this going down, Charlie has an investigative journalist, Mickey Wallace who’s on his tail. Mickey wants to write about Charlie’s life and all the cases he’s been involved in over the years. And Charlie wants nothing to do with Mickey!

The Lovers is such a great addition to the series.
It really gets into the backstory of Charlie and what I believe this whole series is going to be about.
And all I have to say about that is "Hello Darkness, My Old Friend!"

This series brings out lots of emotions and I can’t wait to find out what happens in the next addition!
I’m so glad I finally started this series. It’s becoming a favorite and John Connolly has also become one of my favorite authors! His writing is descriptive, atmospheric and just damn good.

This guy never misses. 5/5 again