About Cherry Mischievous » Contact »

Thursday 3 January 2013

Review: DARK HOLLOW

Dark Hollow by John Connolly
Read by Jeff Harding
Book 2 of Charlie Parker series
Genre: crime fiction
Format: paperback & unabridged audiobook

About Dark Hollow:
Internationally acclaimed author John Connolly thrilled readers with his debut bestseller, Every Dead Thing. Now he gives a new name to fear with this atmospheric, spine-tingling page-turner. DARK HOLLOW

Haunted by the murder of his wife and daughter, former New York police detective Charlie Parker retreats home to Scarborough, Maine, to rebuild his shattered life. But his return reawakens old ghosts, drawing him into the manhunt for the killer of yet another mother and child. The obvious suspect is the young woman's violent ex-husband. But there is another possibility -- a mythical killer who lurks deep in the dark hollow of Parker's own past, a figure that has haunt....
Source: Info in the About Dark Hollow was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175243.Dark_Hollow on 17/09/2012.

Review:
It took a bit of perseverance at the start. The intro salvo of this book is a long prologue worth a chapter and a half of mishmash of unrelated events which won't make sense until later on in the book. It didn't make real sense so I couldn't get into it despite having read Book 1 and knowing that this author has a compelling voice... slooow start kinda book....

Being a visual reader, book covers play a significant role in my reading habit. I like the audio cover art as opposed to the paperback cover art. If I wasn't already a John Connolly fan, I would never buy the paperback. But even if I haven't read John Connolly yet, the audio cover art would have triggered my book buying radar. It's the mysticism with the gritty crime that draws me in. Just pure crime is not as much fun for me as the mystical crime that the audibook cover art implies. And the story telling quality IS compelling. To lure me into crime is not easy because I am a die-hard fantasy geek, so that tells you just how good the story telling quality must have been to make me a John Connolly fan. This book also reminded me why I am not a crime fiction fan though. I am a wuss, okey! I don't like gory killings. I am an escapist reader. I don't want to know about the state of the world or anything about the human nature. I want to escape reality. So gory murders is not the way to this reader's heart. And yes, this book is a gory crime fiction... But, if the story telling quality is masterful enough, I can be persuaded....

This book also reminded me why I like angsty heroes. Yeah, they are fun with the right story teller. Charlie makes mistakes. Just like the rest of us. But he is not too stupid to live like Sookie Stackhouse. Just human enough for a reader to make a solid connection with. I would rate the character development a 5 out of 5.

At the end of it, I enjoyed this book despite it being a gory crime fiction and would definitely be reading the next Charlie Parker book.

CymLowell Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (14 hrs listening time)
Plot = 4
Narrator = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

9 comments:

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Hm... might have to try one of his books on audio. This one sounds good. I like a good angsty hero sometimes too. I also love the audio cover better too.

Blodeuedd said...

So many cops haunted by the death of a daughter and wife. Must be a good trope

Cherry said...

Melissa (Books and Things) - I hope you'll enjoy it too should you decide to try it!

Blodeuedd - It works in this one :)

Tales of Whimsy said...

Great review :)

Cherry said...

Juju at Tales of Whimsy.com - Thanks Ju! ;)

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer said...

Wow, I love the cover of the Unabridged version..so dang creepy. This is new to me, and I definitely want to give both books a try. I love dark, crime thrillers and your view of the characters and plot have me drooling..thanks Cherry!

Cherry said...

kimbacaffeinate - Yeah, I love the audiobook cover! :D

Sus said...

I've read one of John Connolly's books and I loved it, so I've been meaning to pick up the Charlie Parker series. Thanks for the reminder.

Happy Hopping!

Unknown said...

Great review. I never think to review the cover of a book although I have noticed that often the cover of a book is different from the audio version.

I did a review of a Cop Suspense story and linked up on Cym's linky. =D I actually reviewed Sons of Jude back in October I think - but I enjoyed revisiting this book and can't wait for the new one.

Would love to have you stop by if you have time. =D

Tina 'the book lady'
http://givingnsharing.blogspot.com/2012/10/sons-of-jude-book-tour.html

Post a Comment

Due to high volume of spam I have to utilize comment moderation. Please bear with me. Thank you!

 
Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog