Every Dead Thing

By: John Connolly

Narrated by: Jeff Harding

Have faith. I will find you.

Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge.

When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining - one where 30 year old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family, a serial killer unlike any other, a monster who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of career criminals, he becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth: the serial killer known only as the Travelling Man.

In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly-plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, of love, and of forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realized.

©2012 John Connolly (P)2012 Simon & Schuster, Inc

Critic reviews

"A stunner...as riveting and chilling as The Silence of the Lambs." ( San Francisco Examiner)

" Every Dead Thing is intelligent, deep, and literate, and it is difficult to believe that this is John Connolly's first novel, so confident is the writing.... Buy it and be scared." ( The Saturday Times, London)

"[A] darkly ingenious debut novel." ( Publishers Weekly)

Horrible narration

I actually enjoyed the book. It was classic Connolly, with maybe even a bit of Dave Robicheaux's South Louisiana tossed in, for good measure. Not great literature, but a much better than average detective novel.

The real problem was with the narrator. Yes, I know that he made no real attempt to add a serious Louisiana accent, and I can deal with that, since some accents are very tough to get right. Or, in the case of a Scottish accent, if you get it right, the narration is totally unintelligible. The problem is that there were 1/2 dozen words that he completely mispronounced. Since some of them were place names and not just N'Awleans, but when he mispronounces Metarie, Ponchartrain, etc. and they are words/place names that come up repeatedly, it's like fingernails on a chalk board. It should have been basic research to check on those names.

Awesome!!

Sets up his other books in the series. Great characters! John Connolly is my favorite author with his mystery, crime, supernatural mix.

Clever Twists and Turns Story&Narration is Good

I'm not sure why some are critical of the narrator. He is as good as most. Anyway, after hearing the first in this series, I plan on going through them all. I love finding a new writer/character to follow.

Whispersync Really Works!

This is actually my first time re-reading Connolly's Charlie Parker series consecutively. When the latest book was delayed in arriving, I decided to stop putting off the pleasure of reading them all over again, further delaying the delight of reading the latest novel in the series. But, for this first book in the series, I quickly realized that I had loaned out my copy and decided on an impulse to purchase the audio and Kindle versions and try out the Whispersync.

Not only was as I as impressed as ever with Connolly's writing, but I enjoyed switching seamlessly between the two versions. The performer's voice does not quite match up with what I had envisioned, but after some time, I grew accustomed to his cadence and for the most part, it wasn't too distracting (though Louis and Angel's voices made me wince the first few times...). Connolly's rich writing translates well to an audio version though and I love re-discovering this first appearance of the characters. I had forgotten how much I had initially liked Rachel in particular. And I had completely forgotten how much of this one takes place in New Orleans! When I first read this series, I had not ever been there, and now that I have, I think I enjoyed this one even more the second time around!

And while the identity of the Traveling Man was not a surprise to me (his identity was pretty memorable), I genuinely enjoyed re-reading (and listening!) to this one! Connolly consistently maintains the suspense quite well and weaves a surprisingly complex plot with enough legs to grow this series into its current length (and well beyond, I hope!). It is a tightly written book that I think a lesser writer would have turned into a trilogy with just this plot. What a treat to enjoy again!

Extremely dark; vividly violent

This was a lengthy, complex story based on a premise of ubiquitous, gruesome violence that had me desensitized to “shocking” deaths by about mid-story. I can’t say that I was surprised by the plot twist near the end, when we learned the identity of the evil mastermind. But, the narration was flawless, as each character was realistically brought to life by Jeff Harding.

pronunciation

NOLA has a very particular way to pronounce streets and areas. The performer must not have done any research because he pronounced almost all of them incorrectly. His character voices were great though.

Really Enjoyed It

I found the story compelling. As I neared the conclusion, I just had to keep listening, couldn’t turn it off. I didn’t love the narrator, but he did an adequate job. I only wish he had done his research more thoroughly. A book that spends a lot of time in New Orleans, I’d expect the correct pronunciation of Matairie, Pontchartrain, and beignets. It was annoying each time he said them incorrectly. He even had trouble with Nissan. Oh well, the story was great and I intend to try the next one.

Did not live up to expectations

I wanted to like this book. It is a long series with great reviews.... But this audio version is pretty bad. The main character is your typical Hard-Boiled detective that answers every question with a question and always has a snide comeback. It pretty much hits every cliche that has ever existed for detective books. Nothing new, nothing memorable, and nothing to make me pick up the second book. The narrator mispronounces seemingly normal everyday words. Half way through ROOM switches to RUUM. I don't know if he cannot pronounce the word correctly or if it is suppose to be regional accent or a speech impediment. And his gangster voice is like an over-acted cartoon. The body count is crazy high. I think most of the gangsters in NYC and New Orleans died in this book. If I listened to this book 20 years ago I might have liked it. But now it just seem dated and forgettable.

No NOLA For Narrator

The pronunciation of the New Orleans related places was awful! If the narrator had done just a little research, it would have helped. A lot of the story took place in Meterie, LA. I cringed every time he said it.

Seemed like two or three separate novels.

May re-read to see if I still feel the same.
Some words were occasionally mispronounced strangely. (Maybe because the narrator lives/lived in Britain?) Those occurrences were not distracting for long, though, and the reading was largely very entertaining.
I’m glad the book is first in a series to come. Looking forward to more.