Most Popular Books by John Connolly

When his friend, a former member of an elite assassin organization, is abducted by a vengeful adversary, Charlie Parker and his associates set out to find him, in a case that forces Charlie to test the boundaries of his ethics.

Driven by visions of the dead, former NYPD detective Charlie Bird Parker tracks a serial killer from New York City to the American South--and confronts a monster beyond his imagining. Reissue.

In Volume I of this special collectors’ edition, visit the terrifying world of John Connolly’s #1 internationally bestselling thrillers: Every Dead Thing, Dark Hollow, and The Killing Kind. EVERY DEAD THING Haunted by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, and tormented by his sense of guilt, former NYPD detective Charlie Parker is a man consumed by violence, regret, and the desire for revenge. But when his ex-partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker embarks on an odyssey that leads him to the heart of organized crime; to an old black woman who dwells by a Louisiana swamp and hears the voices of the dead; to cellars of torture and murder; and to a serial killer unlike any other, an artist who uses the human body as his canvas and takes faces as his prize, the killer known only as the Traveling Man. 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 awakens 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 figure who lurks deep in the dark hollow of Parker''s own past, a figure that has haunted his family for generations: the monster known as Caleb Kyle.... THE KILLING KIND When the discovery of a mass grave in northern Maine reveals the grim truth behind the disappearance of a religious community, Charlie Parker is drawn into vicious conflict with a group of zealots intent on tracking down a relic that could link them to the slaughter. Haunted by the ghost of a small boy and tormented by the demonic killer known as Mr. Pudd, Parker is forced to fight for his lover, his friends...and his very soul.

A USA TODAY Bestseller “Complex, pulse-pounding...Connolly’s nuanced characterizations and facility at creating spooky atmospherics make it easy to suspend disbelief about the threat of cosmic horror from other dimensions.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Private Investigator Charlie Parker returns in this heart-pounding thriller as he seeks revenge against the darkest forces in the world, from the internationally bestselling author of the acclaimed The Woman in the Woods. He is our best hope. He is our last hope. On a lonely moor in northern England, the body of a young woman is discovered. In the south, a girl lies buried beneath a Saxon mound. To the southeast, the ruins of a priory hide a human skull. Each is a sacrifice, a summons. And something in the darkness has heard the call. Charlie Parker has also heard it and from the forests of Maine to the deserts of the Mexican border, from the canals of Amsterdam to the streets of London, he will track those who would cast the world into darkness. Parker fears no evil—but evil fears him. With John Connolly’s signature “blend of crime and supernatural horror” (Crime Reads), A Book of Bones is a terrifying and suspenseful thrill ride that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

Assisting a friend in a search for a kidnapped woman, detective Charlie Parker links the abduction to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and the myth of an object known as the Black Angel.

"In Amsterdam, four bodies, violently butchered, are discovered in a canal house, the remains of friends and confidantes of the assassin known only as Louis. The men responsible for the murders are Serbian war criminals. They believe they can escape retribution by retreating to their homeland. They are wrong. For Louis has come to Europe to hunt them down: five killers to be found and punished before they can vanish into thin air. There is just one problem. The sixth"--

Haunted private detective Charlie Parker returns in this “not to be missed” (Bookreporter) thriller by New York Times and internationally bestselling author John Connolly. Daniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing, following revelations about the harm done to children in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge, and Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay to be revealed, and those who will go to any lengths to keep it hidden. As with his previous novels, John Connolly masterfully intertwines mystery, emotion, and violence in this gripping page-turner. Fast-paced, hypnotic, and elegantly written, The Unquiet is John Connolly at his chilling best.

The next pulse-pounding thriller in John Connolly''s internationally bestselling Charlie Parker series. The community of Prosperous, Maine has always thrived when others have suffered. Its inhabitants are wealthy, its children''s future secure. It shuns outsiders. It guards its own. And at the heart of Prosperous lie the ruins of an ancient church, transported stone by stone from England centuries earlier by the founders of the town... But the death of a homeless man and the disappearance of his daughter draw the haunted, lethal private investigator Charlie Parker to Prosperous. Parker is a dangerous man, driven by compassion, by rage, and by the desire for vengeance. In him the town and its protectors sense a threat graver than any they have faced in their long history, and in the comfortable, sheltered inhabitants of a small Maine town, Parker will encounter his most vicious opponents yet. Charlie Parker has been marked to die so that Prosperous may survive. Prosperous, and the secret that it hides beneath its ruins.

“With its singular characters, eerie subject matter, and socko style” (The New York Times), this gripping thriller from the internationally bestselling author John Connolly follows Private Investigator Charlie Parker as he is hired to track down the identity of a dead woman—who apparently died in childbirth—and her missing child. In the beautiful Maine woods, a partly preserved body is discovered. Investigators realize that the young woman gave birth shortly before her death. But there is no sign of a baby. Private detective Charlie Parker is hired by a lawyer to shadow the police investigation and find the infant but Parker is not the only one searching. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in much more than a missing child…someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake. And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring and a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman. With breathless pacing and shivery twists and turns, “this is Connolly’s masterpiece” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

"In the small Maine town of Boreas, private investigator Charlie Parker is recovering from life-threatening wounds after facing an adversary of incomparable evil. But the longer he stays in Boreas, the more he realizes tha this recuperation will by anything but restful. The town holds dark secrets, and old atrocities hidden since the Second World War are about to come to light. As he befriends single mother Ruth Winter and her young daughter, Amanda, he learns how far the residents of Boreas will go to hide their sins. And now Parker is about to risk his life for a woman he barely knows, one who fears him almost as much as she fears those who are coming for her. His enemies believe him to be vulnerable. Fearful. Solitary. But they are wrong. Parker is far from afraid, and far from alone. For something is emerging from the shadows."--Back cover.

Includes excerpt from The wrath of angels.

"Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies comatose following a car accident, a body without a spirit. Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bedside and read aloud the fairy stories Phoebe loves in the hope they might summon her back to this world. But an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a vanished author, is calling to Ceres. Something wants her to enter, to journey to a land colored by the memories of childhood, and the folklore beloved of her father, a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes--a land where old enemies are watching and waiting?"--

New York Times bestselling author John Connolly writes an “unfailingly compelling” (New Orleans Times-Picayune) and lyrical tale that forces Private Investigator Charlie Parker to examine his haunting past and all that he has ever believed true about his beloved parents—and himself. Charlie Parker is a lost soul. Deprived of his private investigator''s license and under scrutiny by the police, Parker takes a job in a Portland bar. But he uses his enforced retirement to begin a different kind of investigation: an examination of his own past and an inquiry into the death of his father, who took his own life after apparently shooting dead two unarmed teenagers. It''s a search that will eventually lead Parker to question all that he believed about his beloved parents, and about himself. But there are other forces at work: a troubled young woman who is running from an unseen threat, one that has already taken the life of her boyfriend; and a journalist-turned-writer named Mickey Wallace, who is conducting an investigation of his own. And haunting the shadows, as they have done throughout Parker''s life, are two figures: a man and a woman who seem driven to bring an end to Charlie Parker''s existence. Haunting, lyrical, and impossible to put down, The Lovers is John Connolly at his best.

When the discovery of a mass grave in northern Maine reveals the truth about the disappearance of a religious community, private detective Charlie Parker becomes embroiled in a deadly conflict with a group of religious fanatics.

In Volume II of this special collectors’ edition, visit the terrifying world of John Connolly’s #1 internationally bestselling thrillers: The White Road, The Black Angel, and The Unquiet. THE WHITE ROAD 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. It''s a case that nobody wants to touch, deeply rooted in old evil—and old evil is Charlie Parker''s specialty. He''s about to enter a living nightmare, a dreamscape of sorrow haunted by the murderous specter of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the sinister complicity of both friends and enemies in Larousse''s brutal death. Soon, all will face a final reckoning in an unearthly realm where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road. THE BLACK ANGEL When a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel—considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker''s own origins. THE UNQUIET Daniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing. His daughter insists that he killed himself after allegations surfaced surrounding the harm done to patients in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge—and private investigator Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay’s disappearance to be revealed, and those who will go to any length—no matter the cost—to keep a deep, dark secret about a local town hidden.

From the bestselling author of the Charlie Parker mysteries—"the finest crime series currently in existence" (The Independent)—comes a new anthology of chilling short fiction. A decade after Nocturnes first terrified and delighted readers, John Connolly, bestselling author of thirteen acclaimed thrillers featuring private investigator Charlie Parker, gives us a second volume of tales of the supernatural. From stories of the monstrous for dark winter nights to fables of fantastic libraries and haunted books, from a tender account of love after death to a frank, personal, and revealing account of the author''s affection for myths of ghosts and demons, this is a collection that will surprise, delight—and terrify. Night Music: Nocturnes 2 also contains two novellas: the multi-award-winning The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository and The Fractured Atlas. Night Music: Nocturnes 2 is a masterly collection to be read with the lights on—menace has never been so seductive.

“Books alter men, and men, in their turn, alter worlds.” Soter is a man who has been haunted by World War I. But when he’s sent to investigate the disappearance of Lionel Maudling, the owner of a grand country house whose heir may be accused for his death, he encounters a home that will lead him to nightmares he could have never imagined. Maudling’s estate houses countless books of every sort—histories, dramas, scientific treatises. But none seems to offer Soter any hint to Maudling’s whereabouts, until he’s led to an arcane London bookseller where the reclusive scholar made his last purchase. What Soter finds at the end of a twisted maze of clues is a book like no other, with a legacy that will put everything he knows in danger… An inventive horror novella from internationally bestselling author John Connolly, this is a story of madness, of obsession, and of books’ power to change the world.

"Private investigator Charlie Parker descends upon a strange, isolated community called the Cut, and will face down a force of men who rule by terror, intimidation, and murder."--Provided by publisher.

Racing against a serial killer in the depths of the Maine woods, private detective Charlie Parker searches for a secret list of names in the wreckage of a plane that has never been reported missing.

A decade after NOCTURNES first terrified and delighted readers, John Connolly, bestselling author of thirteen acclaimed thrillers featuring private investigator Charlie Parker, gives us a second volume of tales of the supernatural. From stories of the monstrous for dark winter nights to fables of fantastic libraries and haunted books, from a tender account of love after death to a frank, personal and revealing account of the author''s affection for myths of ghosts and demons, this is a collection that will surprise, delight - and terrify. NIGHT MUSIC also contains two novellas: the multi-award-winning THE CAXTON PRIVATE LENDING LIBRARY & BOOK DEPOSITORY, and THE FRACTURED ATLAS, featuring The Wanderer in Unknown Realms, previously published as an ebook, developed here into a five-part novella. NIGHT MUSIC: NOCTURNES 2 is a masterly collection to be read with the lights on - menace has never been so seductive.

"Chaos and murder arrive in Charlie Parker''s hometown of Portland, Maine, with two connected crimes which prove to be among the most complicated of Parker''s entire career."--

Twenty thrilling writers. One chilling mystery. Pericles "Perry" Christo is a PI with a past--a former cop, who lost his badge and his family when a corruption scandal left him broke and disgraced. When wealthy Upper East Side matron Julia Drusilla summons him one cold February night, he grabs what seems to be a straightforward (and lucrative) case. The socialite is looking for her beautiful, aimless daughter, Angelina, who is about to become a very wealthy young woman. But as Christo digs deeper, he discovers there''s much more to the lovely "Angel" than meets the eye. Her father, her best friend, her boyfriends all have agendas of their own. Angel, he soon realizes, may be in grave danger. and if Christo gets too close, he just might get caught in the crossfire. This classic noir tale twists and turns down New York''s mean streets and along Hamptons'' beaches and back roads during a bitterly cold and gray winter where nothing is as it seems and everyone has something to hide.

“An epic supernatural suspense that will forever reset your standards for summer thrillers. From secret realms and horrific homicides to hauntings and criminal empires, there isn’t a single dull sentence found in the pages of A Game of Ghosts—and you’ll love it.” —Redbook: 10 Books You Have to Read This Summer Books Every Dad Will Love This Father’s Day—PopSugar Internationally bestselling author John Connolly returns with another “superb fusion of noir and the supernatural” (My Bookish Ways) in this latest thriller in his gripping Charlie Parker series. It is deep winter and the darkness is unending. A private detective named Jaycob Eklund has vanished and Charlie Parker is assigned to track him down. Parker’s employer, Edgar Ross, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has his own reasons for wanting Eklund found. Eklund is no ordinary investigator—he is obsessively tracking a series of homicides and disappearances, each linked to reports of hauntings. Now Parker is drawn into Eklund’s world: a realm in which the monstrous Mother rules a crumbling criminal empire, in which men strike bargains with angels, and in which the innocent and guilty alike are pawns in a game of ghosts...