The Dirty South
Private Investigator Charlie Parker hunts evil in the eighteenth book in the globally bestselling series
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4.6 • 87 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
EVIL TAKES MANY FORMS.
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR CHARLIE PARKER HUNTS THEM ALL.
It is 1997, and a serial killer is on the loose in Burdon County, Arkansas. But no one wants to admit it, not in the Dirty South.
In an Arkansas jail cell sits a former NYPD detective, stricken by grief. Charlie Parker is mourning the death of his wife and child, and searching in vain for their killer. He cares only for his own lost family.
But that is about to change . . .
From the number one Sunday Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author John Connolly comes the most compelling and unsettling thriller yet - witness the making of Charlie Parker.
The Charlie Parker novels can be read and enjoyed in any order. The Dirty South is the eighteenth book in this globally bestselling series.
Customer Reviews
The audio version is better
Author
Irish author best known for a series now numbering 19 (20 depending on how you classify a novella that appeared in a short story collection back in the day) about anti-hero NYC detective Charlie Parker, who carries considerable personal baggage (don’t they all?). As distinct from his namesake Michael, this Mr Connolly injects paranormal elements (especially ghosts of the protagonist’s murdered wife and kid) into traditional American crime fiction, which explains why Every Dead Thing (1999), won both the Shamus award for best first private eye novel and the Bram Stoker first novel award (for horror writing) in 2000, and why I have tended to avoided them. This one, a prequel to the series, was touted as straight crime, which is what convinced me to give it a go.
In brief
The setting is rural Arkansas in the latter part of the Clinton presidency. A perennial backwater town is counting on being lifted from the mire of poverty by aerospace investment they were allegedly promised by Slick Willie during his quest for the White House (and before Whitewater). One rich family headed by a ruthless man now in his dotage controls most of the county including law enforcement, which obliges wth a cover up after someone brutally murders a black girl. Our boy blows into town, chasing down leads in pursuit of the dude who offed his missus and child. When a second black girl gets dead, same M.O., a small town sheriff with moral fibre is determined to investigate. He gets off to a bad start with our boy before enlisting him to the cause. Stuff happens. Charlie talks to his dead wife a bit, although not enough to put me off. Twists, turns, swamp, more murders, another swamp for the big reveal, the end.
Writing
Abundant familiar tropes, not that there’s anything wrong with that if they’re as well executed as they are here (in contrast to my puns). The staccato style is reminiscent of Jack Reacher novels, punctuated by ironically erudite descriptions and observations that sparkled in the audio version narrated by the great Jeff Harding (who also narrates the Reacher books).
Bottom line
The audio version was excellent. I was less impressed by the sample of the text version I read. #19 in the series is out now. I’m not tempted at present. That might change if we have another lockdown.