The Unquiet: A Charlie Parker Thriller: 6 - Tapa dura

'Connolly handles the unspeakable with consummate ease' -- Daily Mirror 'Connolly writes convincingly of thugs, criminals and the supernatural, and Parker is a classic character who walks straight and tall like someone from the old west, and the reader knows all will be well once he arrives in town. THE UNQUIET just won't let you put it down as the plot careers across the pages like a runaway train. Excellent!' -- Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday 'This man's so good, it's terrifying ... a quieter, subtler, more reflective way of scaring us into shivering wrecks ... His gift for instilling terror in undimmed ... Connolly operates in the terrain between unease and horror and does so without resorting to hysteria. He writes about evil lyrically, with biblical fervour. At times he approaches the spiritual and the supernatural without falling into the abyss of total impossibility.' -- Marcel Berlins, Saturday Times 'As usual, there is an element of the supernatural, taking the reader into a place where the real, contemporary world is touched by something from our worst nightmares, and he does it in lyrical, almost poetic language which grips and chillls.' -- Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph 'John Connolly draws their shady presence into his rich, southern Gothic style which assumes evil to be an omnipresent, corrosive force of nature. Parker seeks truth and discovers pain His sleuthing is fast-packed, which makes THE UNQUIET a thrilling read' -- FT Magazine 'Connolly is a master of suggestion, creating mood and suspense with ease, and unflinchingly presents a hard-eyed look at the horrors that can lurk in quiet, rustic settings.' -- Publishers Weekly 'Connolly's books are shot through with bitter poetry, and couched in prose as elegant as most literary fiction ... But it's not just the US voice of his books that has made waves on both sides of the Atlantic;there's the sweeping canvas, more ambitious than most British-set crime thrillers. However, all of this is not the overriding reason why Connolly has risen above most of his peers. It's because Connolly's work has raised the stakes, beyond the quotidian concerns of most crime novels, into a grandiose conflict between the forces of good and evil, with religion and the paranormal stirred into the heady brew.' -- Independent 'Originality in story and style is what makes Connolly stand out from the thriller pack. THE UNQUIET is plotted and paced not to break your neck, like those of his rivals in the business, but to efficiently crush every bone in your body.' -- Daily Sport 'In two fascinating confrontational scenes between Parker and He/It-who-will-not-be-named here, (Connolly) writes superbly mesmerising dialogue. You'll be running shards of it through your mind after the book is finished ... THE UNQUIET ends with the tantalising suggestion that the detective, after years of relentless, self-righteous violence, has literally lost his soul - and that the ultimate enemy has yet to come. I can't wait.' -- Irish Times 'It is not every day that one gets to read a detective novel that penetrates deep into the world of abuse. Credit should go to Connolly for his willingness to tackle this difficult topic and for the depth of his research. THE UNQUIET reveals both pace, full description and a compelling central character. It's a rich achievement -- and strange that a master of the macabre like Connolly should seem such a nice guy.' -- Daily Express 'Connolly's greatest skill lies in his descriptions of the bad guys ... The description of their crimes are where Connolly is at his chilling best, and it is his attention to detail that makes them so terrifying and so believable.' -- Sunday Business Post Dublin

Daniel Clay, a once-respected psychologist, has been missing for years following revelations about harm done to the children in his care. Believing him dead, his daughter Rebecca has tried to come to terms with her father's legacy, but her fragile peace is about to be shattered. Someone is asking questions about Daniel Clay, someone who does not believe that he is dead: the revenger Merrick, a father and a killer obsessed with discovering the truth about his own daughter's disappearance. Private detective Charlie Parker is hired to make Merrick go away, but Merrick will not be stopped. Soon Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Daniel Clay to be revealed, and those who want it to remain hidden at all costs. But there are other forces at work here. Someone is funding Merrick's hunt, a ghost from Parker's past. And Merrick's actions have drawn others from the shadows, half-glimpsed figures intent upon their own form of revenge, pale wraiths drifting through the ranks of the unquiet dead. The Hollow Men have come ...