Review: EVERY DEAD THING

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
Read by Jeff Harding
Book 1 of Charlie Parker series
Genre: crime fiction
Format: unabridged audiobook

About Every Dead Thing:

Now available in trade paperback, the first installment of the Charlie Parker series by internationally bestselling author John Connolly. Haunted by the unsolved slayings of his wife and daughter, former New York City detective Charlie Parker is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his search for a missing woman leads him to the killer who destroyed his family, Parker knows payback time has come at last.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and two career criminals, Parker soon becomes the bait in a trap set in the balmy bayous of Louisiana to catch a murderer unlike any other — a monster who believes himself to be an artist and uses the human body as his canvas. Driven by his visions of the dead and the voice of an old Creole psychic, Parker must seek — and win — a final brutal confrontation with the serial killer known as the Traveling Man.

Every Dead Thing is a richly textured, intricately plotted novel that probes the mind of a tormented man whose buried instincts — for love, survival, and even killing — awaken as he confronts a monster beyond imagining and relentlessly pursues justice for the murder of his family.

Source: Info in the About Every Dead Thing was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175242.Every_Dead_Thing on 08/09/2012.

My Thoughts:

I picked this book up just because I met John Connolly on his book tour when The Wrath of Angels was released and I was impressed of how nice and down to earth the man is despite the success of his books and the fame. So I decided to try out his work.

There was a chapter which confused me a little where the narration continually swapped from a "Goldilocks" and an "autopsy". I didn't know whether Charlie was dreaming or going mad or thinking aloud. Or was it suppose to direct the readers' thinking in a certain direction?... This book also reminded me why crime fiction is not my genre, because I am not fond of gore stories, which most crime fiction inevitably is, including this one. Although compared to other crime fiction books, Every Dead Thing, may not be as gory in the gore-rating. Still, gory enough for me.

The plot is twisty enough to keep you guessing and the world building is masterful! I also appreciate John Connolly's wry humour. A book which makes me laugh would always get lots and lots of kudos and higher rating from me. Add humour to a compelling author's voice and you get a must-read book!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (15 hrs and 45 mins listening time)
Plot = 5
Narrator = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

BlogInk:

This review is also my entry to the blogink competition. Wish me luck!