The White Road
Private Investigator Charlie Parker takes on evil in the fourth novel in the globally bestselling series
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4.4 • 30 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
There is no hope of death for these souls . . .
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. But this case runs deeper, into the dark history of the American South.
Investigating the mystery, Charlie Parker is suffocated by its dark spectres: a murderous hooded woman, an anonymous black car, and an old enemy sitting in a cold prison cell plotting his revenge.
These threads will converge, on the burial mound of lost souls. On the path where the living and the dead intersect.
On the White Road . . .
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Praise for The White Road:
'A darkly atmospheric and menacing tale'
Irish Times
'A cracking read'
Sunday Independent
'Powerful'
Sunday Times
'An assured, sophisticated tale . . . Exciting, but bittersweet'
The Times
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). 25-city author tour.
Customer Reviews
The White Road
Every chance I had I was reading The White Road. I love the characters of Louis and Angel. I can’t get enough Of John Connelly’s Charlie Parker series. They are an absolutely amazing series. I have just commenced Book of Bones.