A Book of Bones

A Thriller

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Private Investigator Charlie Parker returns in this heart-pounding thriller as he seeks revenge against the darkest forces in the world, from “one of the best thriller writers we have” (Harlan Coben, number one New York Times best-selling author) and the internationally best-selling author of the acclaimed The Woman in the Woods.

He is our best hope. He is our last hope. He is our only 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.

“A seamless, expansive, and chilling blend of police procedural and gothic horror tale” (Kirkus Reviews), A Book of Bones will keep you guessing until the very last chapter.

©2019 John Connolly (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

An excellent Charlie Parker book!!

I love all of the Charlie Parker books, but this one is one of my very favorites!

Wrong reader and 20% too long

I love John Connolly’s books and have read or have the audible file for every single one. This one was over 22hrs long on Audible but I went for it. The story suffered from the same affliction that affects Stephen King: no editor to insist it be trimmed. This was easily 20% unnecessary, complicated fluff. The reader emphasized every last word in every sentence which is horribly annoying. He mispronounced common words and his attempt a a Yorkshire or English accent was farcical and distracting.

Worth the Wait

I absolutely love this series!!! A year felt long. I think I listened too fast!
2021 Update: I am sure that I have listened to this book at least 3 times since my first comment. I can't wait for Nameless Ones!!!

Overall, again, a good story ruined by meandering prose and an annoying reader.

I’m almost there. I’ve almost listened to nearly all of Charlie Parker series books by John Connelly. It’s been a long time! I’m a little sad, actually, that it’s all coming to an end (until the next book, of course).

I wish I could say I loved this story, but I can’t. I can’t get past the meandering prose that has always existed in these books, but seems to be prevalent as of late. Parts of the book just drone on and on and on and… you get the picture. This book could seriously lose a good 100-150 pages and still be overlong. Way too much exposition on characters that are entirely meaningless to the story, feelings and thoughts given voices that do not fit the character’s personality (there’s probably a literary term for this but I don’t know what it is.), and the aforementioned meandering prose - all lend themselves to what feels like a chore of a book.

Don’t get me started on Jeff Harding.

Ok… just a few points. The good: Jeff Harding is easily the best of all the readers in the Charlie Parker series, which really isn’t saying much. His constant mispronunciation of common words like “nomenclature”, “pasta”, and “minutiae” make me cringe every time he utters them. It begs the question: is there a director or does Jeff just phone this stuff in? His voice characterizations make everyone either sound like 5 year old girls (the women) or adults with speech issues - just… ugh!!!

The story… let’s see. It’s long. It takes over half of the book for something to actually happen, and the foreshadowing is terribly heavy-handed. The story is fine. All of the Charlie Parker stories are fine. They aren’t great, but they aren’t literary genius either.

Could be worse. It could be James Patterson!

narration distracting

This is one of my favorite writers and favorite series but deserves MUCH BETTER narration! Think Scott Brick or Ari Fliakos. Maybe even Craig Wasson. Harding's narration, especially with dialects,is laughable and knocked me out of the story numerous times, like something out of bad community theatre. Shame.

Disappointed

I love all of the Charle Parker books in the series until this one. If this was my first Charlie Parker book I wouldn't have finished it. I was so excited when I saw the book was 22 hours but felt like it was 20 hours too long. it gives so much useless information that by the time it got to something useful I wasn't paying attention anymore. I really hope this isn't a sign for future books. The only positive with this audio book is the narrator who I think always does s great job. I know his accents can be off at times but in my mind he is the perfect Charlie Parker

We still don't know what Sam is

Great story, a little hurt by the characters that died, but I liked the end

The best book in awhile for John Connolly.

Worthy book for the series. The plot moves the story well and the book was hard to put down. Lots of interesting twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Very good. Not his best, but very good.

This one straggled just a little. Even so, any John Connolly/Parker novel is a gift.

Long

Too long. Could have been done better if some of the background was eliminated. I fell asleep during parts and continued on with the tale never missing the slept through parts. I so like Parker. Hope the next is better.